The Spanish Jews were now regarded simply as outlaws. The pious eschewed all dealings with them. Husbandmen deserted the fields, and shepherds the flocks belonging to the proscribed people; while the towns framed new regulations for their utter suppression. King Henry IV. of Castile and Juan II. of Aragon, horror-struck at the terrible cruelty of this treatment, or rather alarmed at its consequences on the royal exchequer, endeavoured to mitigate the sufferings of the Jews. But their efforts met with no success. The campaign on the part of the Dominicans was carried on vigorously, backsliders were scented out and punished, charges of child-murder were preferred against the Jews, and the populace was stirred up to acts of violence, which grew in ferocity and frequency as the years rolled on. In 1468 a charge of this description led to a massacre at Sepulveda. ♦1469♦ In the following year the Cortes of Ocaña insisted that the anti-Jewish edicts should be stringently enforced. Despite Henry’s feeble protests, the Jews for many years continued to be exposed to the utmost cruelty of the priests and of the populace in an age when the priests and the populace were most cruel. They were not members of the Church, of the feudal aristocracy, or of the commercial and industrial corporations. Though living among the Christians, they were not of them. They were unpopular. They could not defend themselves; and neither bishops, barons, nor burgesses would lift a finger in their defence. They were, therefore, abandoned without reserve and without remorse to the tender mercies of clerical and civic fanaticism. The Marranos especially continued to be the pet aversion and occupation of the Church.