A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
Although Castile was slower than Aragon to receive impulses from abroad,
in the early fourteenth century we begin to find traces of a similar
movement of the Church against the Jews. In 1307 the aljama of Toledo
complained to Fernando IV that the dean and chapter had obtained from
Clement V bulls conferring on them jurisdiction over Jews, in virtue of
which they were enforcing the canons against usury and stripping the
Jewish community of its property. At this time there was no question in
Spain, such as we shall see debated hereafter, of the royal prerogative
to control obnoxious papal letters, and Fernando at once ordered the
chapter to surrender the bulls; all action under them was pronounced
void and restitution in double was threatened for all damage inflicted.
The Jews, he said, were his Jews; they were not to be incapacitated
from paying their taxes and the pope had no power to infringe on the
rights of the crown. He instructed Ferran Nuñez de Pantoja to compel
obedience and, after some offenders had been arrested, the frightened
canons surrendered the bulls and abandoned their promising speculation,
but the affair left behind it enmities which displayed themselves
deplorably afterwards.[283]
In spite of the royal favor and protection, the legislation of the
period commences to manifest a tendency to limit the privileges of the
Jews, showing that popular sentiment was gradually turning against them.
As early as 1286 Sancho IV agreed to deprive them of their special
judges and, though the law was not generally enforced, it indicates the
spirit that called for it and procured its repetition in the Córtes of
Valladolid in 1307.[284] Complaints were loud and numerous of the Jewish
tax-gatherers, and the young Fernando IV was obliged repeatedly to
promise that the revenues should not be farmed out nor their collection
be entrusted to caballeros, ecclesiastics or Jews. The turbulence which
attended his minority and short reign and the minority of his son,
Alfonso XI, afforded a favorable opportunity for the manifestation of
hostility and the royal power was too weak to prevent the curtailment in
various directions of the Jewish privileges.[285] We have seen, in the
preceding chapter, the temper in which the Spanish prelates returned
from the Council of Vienne in 1312 and the proscriptive legislation
enacted by them in the Council of Zamora in 1313 and its successors.
Everything favored the development of this spirit of intolerance, and at
the Córtes of Burgos, in 1315, the regents of the young Alfonso XI
conceded that the Clementine canon, abrogating all laws that permitted
usury, should be enforced, that all mixed actions, civil and criminal,
should be tried by the royal judges, that the evidence of a Jew should
not be received against a Christian while that of a Christian was good
against a Jew, that Jews were not to assume Christian names, Christian
nurses were not to suckle Jews and sumptuary laws were directed against
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account