The train had been laid, and it needed nothing but the application of the spark to fire it. Ferdinand’s favourite minister was a Jew named Samuel, a man of great ability, and, it is said, of a haughty, imperious temper. His death was mysterious. An assassin, who was never discovered, entered his house, A.D. 1305, at Seville, and stabbed him to the heart. It was not difficult to guess at the motives or the instigators of the deed; but nothing was brought to light. His successor seems also to have been a Jew, for a league was formed among the grandees against him. They presented a petition to the Cortes, assembled at Medina del Campo, requesting that measures might be taken to restrain the insolence of the Jews. An order was passed, accordingly, that they should not in future be collectors of taxes. This was soon followed up by other like attacks. In 1313, Rodrigo, Bishop of St. Jago, held a provincial council at Zamora, at which manifestoes were presented, which showed but too plainly how fast the animosity against the Jews was ripening. Several of the constitutions of the council breathe the same spirit. It was enacted that Jews, henceforth, shall hold no post or dignity; and any Jews who hold them shall resign such within thirty days. They shall not be admitted as witnesses against Christians, nor claim, as hitherto, the benefit of the laws. No Christian women shall be nurses to Jewish children. Jews shall not attend Christians as physicians. They are prohibited from inviting Christians to their feasts. They shall not associate with Christians, lest they teach them their errors. Some of these decrees were re-enacted at the Councils of Burgos and Salamanca, in 1315 and 1322, where it was also ordered that any Christians should be excommunicated who were present at Jewish marriages; and any Jews who called themselves by Christian names should be punishable as heretics!