Their height of misery was reached when one Sisebut came to the throne in 612. Jews were now prohibited from holding slaves, though slaves were held by all others and formed a necessary class in the restricted civilization of the age. The climax was reached when he offered them the alternative of baptism or expulsion. Very many preferred exile to apostacy. Some found the sacrifice of land, home and possessions too great, and _externally_ submitted to a Faith that cruel experience had taught them to abhor. Under his successor, Swintilla, who repealed the harsh laws, the exiles returned to the land and the apostates to Judaism. But the Church Council re-enacted the unnatural command of forced baptism and the returned converts were compelled to become Christians again. What sort of Christians could they become under such conditions? But most cruel enactment of all--to think that a religious council should have proposed it--their children were torn from them and placed in monasteries to become completely estranged from both their Faith and their kindred. This hard law was mitigated however by the opposition of the powerful Visigothic nobles. The next king who occupied the throne offered the remaining Jews the same alternative of exile or baptism. Again they submitted to banishment. Once more they were allowed to return though under many restrictions. But the forced converts were held in the Church with an iron grip, while, strange contradiction, they had yet to pay the Jewish tax! In secret and peril they still continued to observe the Jewish festivals. But the spies of the Church soon discovered this double life and compelled them to spend Jewish and Christian holidays away from their homes and in the presence of the clergy. After a few years in which this cruel vigilance was relaxed, King Erwig won over the clergy to his support by reinstating this Jewish persecution with more violence than all his predecessors. Now baptism was demanded, with confiscation, mutilation and exile as the penalties of its rejection. The Jewish Christians who had secretly clung to Judaism right through, were placed under complete clerical espionage. These abortive edicts were passed in 681. The next king, Egica, "bettered the instruction" of his predecessor. Jews were now forbidden to hold landed property, to trade with the Continent, or to do business with Christians. In their despair, the Jews of Spain entered into a conspiracy against this barbaric government. They were discovered, and nearly all reduced to slavery. But relief was to come from an unexpected source. A new religion, Mohammedanism, had been brought to life and was becoming a great power in the world. It was destined to change for centuries the fate of the Jews of the Peninsula and transform an iron into a golden age. But to understand this movement, we must turn to Asia once more and look into the life of a new people--the Arabians. NOTE.