Often overlooked when we look back at 1492 is the plight of Jews in Iberia — overshadowed by the Columbus expedition, but unfolding in the same pivotal year.
Often overlooked when we look back at 1492 is the plight of Jews in Iberia that was overshadowed by the Columbus expedition. There are several small references in Book Two: Into the Unknown of a period in Europe of escalated anti-Semitism in 1492. In truth, Jews in Spain faced informal and formal discrimination for a sustained period on the Iberian Peninsula. The Shepherds' Crusade of 1320 against Muslims morphed into widespread violent attacks that destroyed over 120 Jewish communities in Spain. Massacres in 1391 killed an estimated 4,000 Jews. The Spanish Inquisition began in 1478 targeting conversos (Jewish converts) suspected of secretly practicing Judaism. The Cortes de Toledo of 1480 forced Jews to live in separate quarters, where they could not leave except during daytime to carry out their professional occupations. In that same year, the first inquisitors appointed by the King arrived in Seville, Spain, where they gave out 700 death sentences and over 5,000 "reconciliations" — some form of punishment for being Jewish including prison, exile, or penances.
But 1492 represented a significant increase in anti-Semitism. References in the book to the daily life in Spain in 1492 include sentences such as "Friar Pérez was pleased about vanquishing the Muslims in Spain and the recent royal edict declaring that by July of this same year, all Jews were to leave Spain, convert to Christianity or be sentenced to death." and "The journey proved more difficult because the roads were clogged with Jews, making their way out of Spain."
Signed on March 31, 1492, by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, the Alhambra Decree stated that despite previous attempts to segregate Jews into separate quarters and the ongoing Inquisition, Jews were attempting "to subvert the holy Catholic faith" by "drawing faithful Christians away from their beliefs" — by teaching them Jewish laws and beliefs, providing religious materials, performing circumcisions — causing great harm to Catholicism.
The language of the decree itself reveals the dehumanizing logic behind it. The decree stated that the only effective remedy was the complete removal of Jews, since by their "diabolical astuteness" they "continually wage war against us and thus ... it is reasonable that such an organization ... should be dissolved and annihilated." Therefore, the monarchs decreed that all Jews residing in their kingdom must convert to Catholicism or depart Castille and Aragon by July 31, 1492. These departed Jews were forbidden to ever return, under penalty of death and confiscation of all property. After July 31, 1492, anyone assisting or sheltering Jews also faced severe penalties, including loss of possessions and titles.
This forced exile caused the Sephardic Diaspora, displacing an estimated 100,000 Jewish people from Spain to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and other parts of Europe. Historians' estimates vary widely — from 40,000 to 300,000 — depending on estimates of how many chose conversion over exile from a Jewish population in Spain estimated at 200,000 to 300,000. The decree aimed to achieve religious unification of Catholicism in Spain shortly following the defeat of the Muslims (Moors) on January 2, 1492 at Granada.
The Sephardic Jews who left carried their language, Ladino, with them — a form of medieval Spanish still spoken by some communities today, more than 500 years later.
Andrés Bernáldez, a Spanish priest and royal chronicler who wrote Historia de los Reyes Católicos — a firsthand contemporary account of Ferdinand and Isabella's reign — describes the Jews' departure:
"Within the terms fixed by the edict of expulsion, the Jews sold and disposed of their property for a mere nothing. They went about asking Christians to buy and found no buyers. Fine houses and estates were sold for trifles; a house was exchanged for a mule, and a vineyard given for a little cloth or linen. The rich Jews paid the expenses of the departure of the poor, practicing toward each other the greatest charity, so that they would not become converts. In the first week of July they took the route for quitting their native land, great and small, old and young, on horses and in carts. They experienced great trouble; some falling, others rising; some dying and others being born; some being stricken with illness. Christians along the way persuaded them to be baptized, but those who converted were very few. The rabbis encouraged them and made the people sing and play instruments to enliven them and keep up their spirits."
While the decree set a deadline of July 31, 1492, the last Jews actually left Spain on August 2, 1492, which coincided with Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of fasting and mourning commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples of Jerusalem. Columbus was originally scheduled to depart on August 2, 1492. The rationale for the delay to August 3, 1492, the actual day of his departure, is unknown. Historians have suggested it was due to one of the following reasons: