Certain towns of northern Spain, such as Lerida and Barcelona, still obstinately resisted the introduction of the Inquisition. Their resistance proved vain. The iron will of Fernando and the bloodthirsty fanaticism of Torquemada overcame every obstacle, and the papal court was obliged to give its assent to every proposal. From that time forth the number of victims continued to increase. On the 12th of February, 1486, an auto-da-fé was celebrated in Toledo with 750 human burnt-offerings, while on the 2d of April in the same year, 900 victims were offered up, and on the 7th of May, 750. On the 16th of August twenty-five Jewish heretics were burnt alive in Toledo; on the following day two priests suffered; and on the 10th of December 950 persons were condemned to shameful public penance. In the following year, when the Inquisition was established in Barcelona and on the island of Majorca, two hundred Marranos suffered death by fire in these places alone. A Jew of that time, Isaac Arama, writes on this subject as follows: "In these days the smoke of the martyr's pyre rises unceasingly to heaven in all the Spanish kingdoms and the isles. One-third of the Marranos have perished in the flames, another third wander homeless over the earth seeking where they may hide themselves, and the remainder live in perpetual terror of a trial." So the tale of victims grew from year to year under the eleven tribunals which transformed the fair land of Spain into a blazing Tophet, whose flames soon reached and devoured the Christians themselves. The pitiless persecution of the new-Christians had its origin perhaps even more in the racial hatred of the pure-blooded Spaniards towards the children of Judah than in religious fanaticism. Persons of Jewish descent, whom it was impossible justly to accuse of heresy, were included in the accusations simply because they held high offices. They were not permitted to enjoy any dignity or to exercise any influence in the country. The inquisitor-general, Torquemada, even laid hands upon two bishops of Jewish blood, De Avila and De Aranda, so that, if it were impossible to consign them to the flames, he might at least expel them from their sees. CHAPTER XI. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM SPAIN. Friendship of Marranos and Jews--Torquemada demands of the Rabbis of Toledo the Denunciation of Marranos--Judah Ibn-Verga--Jewish Courtiers under Ferdinand and Isabella --Isaac Abrabanel: his History and Writings--The Jews of Portugal under Alfonso V--The Ibn-Yachya Brothers--Abrabanel's Flight from Portugal to Spain--The Jews of Granada: Isaac Hamon--Edict of Banishment promulgated by Ferdinand and Isabella--Its Consequences--Departure from Spain--Number of the Exiles--Decline in the Prosperity of Spain after the Banishment of the Jews--Transformation of Synagogues and Schools into Churches and Monasteries--The Inquisition and the Marranos--Deza, the Successor of Torquemada.