PROMULGATION

ON 31 MARCH 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Edict of Expulsion, whose text is given at the end of this chapter with an English translation. We do not know how the copies sent to the cities, towns, and settlements of Castile were prepared, nor how the edict was promulgated, or whether it was promulgated at the same time everywhere it was sent. With absolute certainty it was proclaimed in Castile on 1 May 1492, but at Zaragoza in Aragon two days earlier, on 29 April, an announcement was made in public to the procurators of the kingdom of Aragon of the Crown's decision to expel the Jews within three months and forty days. The forty additional days were not observed in Castile, nor were they officially observed in Aragon, and the provision apparently referred to the time needed to board the ships in which the exiles departed (see Ch. 5).

Before publication, the Edict of Expulsion was kept from the eyes of public officials to prevent it from being divulged prematurely. The Crown undoubtedly regarded it as very important to entrust the task of preparing the edict to the correct royal secretary, and his absolute loyalty had to be assured, so that he could be counted upon to keep the edict secret. The secretaries closest to the Crown were Juan de Coloma, Fernán Álvarez de Toledo, and Juan de la Parra. Juan de Coloma was chosen to prepare the Edict of Expulsion, which does not imply that the other two secretaries were in any way suspected of disloyalty to Ferdinand and Isabella, for it cannot be known whether his was an arbitrary appointment or a sign of special closeness. He had accompanied Ferdinand and Isabella in Santa Fe during the conquest of Granada. He came from Borja in Aragon, and it could be that his Aragonese origins were decisive in his choice. He was from a family with no means who had risen by his own talents and come to serve as the loyal secretary of King Juan II of Aragon from 1462 on. His identification with that king was so complete, and his service to him was so unconditional, that Juan II even gave him power of attorney to sign royal documents drafted by the king's command in his name.