Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Translator's Preface
- Preface to the Hebrew Edition
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen
- 2 The Edict of Expulsion
- 3 The Fate of Jewish Communal Property
- 4 Jewish–Christian Credit and its Liquidation
- 5 The Implementation of the Edict
- 6 Smuggling
- 7 Return and Conversion
- 8 The Senior Dynasty
- 9 The House of Abravanel, 1483–1492
- 10 Contemporaries Describe the Expulsion
- Appendix Other Activities of Some Royal Officials
- Bibliography
- Index of People
- Index of Places
- General Index
5 - The Implementation of the Edict
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Translator's Preface
- Preface to the Hebrew Edition
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Map
- 1 Introduction: Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen
- 2 The Edict of Expulsion
- 3 The Fate of Jewish Communal Property
- 4 Jewish–Christian Credit and its Liquidation
- 5 The Implementation of the Edict
- 6 Smuggling
- 7 Return and Conversion
- 8 The Senior Dynasty
- 9 The House of Abravanel, 1483–1492
- 10 Contemporaries Describe the Expulsion
- Appendix Other Activities of Some Royal Officials
- Bibliography
- Index of People
- Index of Places
- General Index
Summary
Señor, aqui estan pagados a vuestra merçed de aquellas casas en que moramos 17,000 maravedis, e pues que viene esta nueva que sabeys que ayamos de yr, de nos vuestra merçed alguna cosa por ellas que vayamos e tomese las dichas casas. Entonçes respondio don Ruys que no podia dar ninguna cosa, e con esto se salieron el don Ysaque Aljahen e su mujer llorando, e se vinieron.
Sir, here is paid to your grace the sum of 17,000 maravedís—for the house where we lived. Since this news arrived, which is known to you, that we must depart, be merciful with us and give us something in return, and take the house. Then Don Ruys replied, saying to them, that he could not give them anything. And with this [refusal] Don Ysaque Aljahen and his wife went out, and they were weeping.
THE ROAD TO IMPLEMENTATION
THE EDICT OF EXPULSION was signed by Ferdinand and Isabella on 31 March 1492, but not promulgated throughout the kingdom of Castile until 1 May. In Aragon it was published two days earlier, on 29 April. Most likely, knowledge of the existence of the edict was widespread in Jewish communities all over Spain. Jewish historiography has credited Abraham Senior and Don Isaac Abravanel with seeking to intervene with the Crown to prevent the promulgation of the Edict of Expulsion and to repeal it. For such intervention to have taken place, the two men must have been present in the military camp of Santa Fe near Granada, where the monarchs were staying. Ferdinand and Isabella spent the entire month of April there, remaining until 25 May. The Edict of Expulsion was published in Castile and Aragon during their absence.
We possess no information about an actual petition to the king and queen. It is no coincidence that this appeal was linked, though anonymously, to the legend of the intervention of Tomás de Torquemada. According to this legend, during negotiations held in Ferdinand's tent, the king was offered 30,000 gold ducats to rescind the edict; when Torquemada got wind of this, he burst into the tent, brandishing a cross. He laid it on the table and proclaimed that the Jews had already sold God once for thirty pieces of silver, and now the king was repeating the deed.
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- The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain , pp. 207 - 290Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2001