Henry III. died in 1406, and was succeeded by his son John II., an infant not two years old. Early in his reign Vincentius Ferrer, a Dominican, made his appearance as an itinerant preacher in Castile and Aragon, calling on the Jews to renounce their ancient faith, and accept that of Christ. He was a man of the most ardent zeal, indefatigable energy, and burning eloquence; and the stern asceticism of his life caused him to be regarded as a saint. His fierce invectives against the impiety and obstinacy of the Jews exasperated the people against them; and it very soon became evident that there were for them two alternatives only—conversion or destruction. Vincent went from town to town, carrying a crucifix in one hand and a copy of the Mosaic Law in the other, followed everywhere by an armed rabble, who maltreated and murdered all who refused to hearken. Many of the Jews embraced, or pretended to embrace, Christianity. Many more abandoned all their worldly possessions, and fled to Barbary; some also to Portugal,[152] and other Christian States. Some would neither abjure their faith nor fly, and their descendants underwent the terrible consequences of their parents’ constancy. Ferrer is said to have converted 35,000, or, according to others, 50,000 Jews. Even a Hebrew authority places it at 20,000. How many of these converts were real believers in Christ we shall have occasion subsequently to inquire. In 1406 the old charge of insulting the Host was revived, though with some variation in the circumstances. Some Jews were accused of having bought the consecrated wafer from the sacristan of the cathedral at Segovia. They threw it into a caldron of boiling water, when it rose to the surface. Alarmed at the sight, they wrapped it in a cloth, and gave it to a Dominican friar, who informed the bishop of the occurrence. The bishop caused the Jews to be arrested and tortured. Among them was Don Meir, the king’s physician. The torture not only elicited a confession of the particular crime charged on the sufferers, but of the murder of the late king by poison. Don Meir and the others were drawn and quartered at Segovia; soon after which it was discovered that the whole charge was a fabrication. Another similar story is related about the same time. A nobleman, who bore a bitter dislike to a bishop, bribed his cook to poison him. The conspiracy was discovered, and the cook put on the rack; but he would not confess the name of his suborner. By the advice of the latter, the next time he was racked he declared it was the Jews who had bribed him. This was instantly credited; and, as he had named no particular persons as his accomplices, a great many Jews were put to death on suspicion.