THE KINGDOM OF CASTILE

RECIPROCAL CREDIT arrangements and the problems they entailed between Jews and Christians throughout Spain date to very early times. When the church and the secular government sought to restrict credit and limit the interest that borrowers were required to pay, they took decisions which for the most part failed to meet the test of reality. Evidence of this may be found in the numerous discussions and directives issued at meetings of the Cortes and of church councils, which were held repeatedly. No society can exist without credit. Our concern here is to examine the parameters of the problem during the transitional period, from the day that the Edict of Expulsion was published until the Jews went into exile, on the one hand, and to determine the fate of those debts which remained unsettled after the Jews’ departure.

To understand the extent of the problem one must examine it in great detail, for the credit system illuminates the mutual relations between the Jews and the Christian community. This detailed description also serves to map the financial activities of the Jews, showing their extent and delineating what was dismantled by the Edict of Expulsion. Moreover, the information provided here bears upon the social and financial crisis in Spain that ensued in the wake of the expulsion. The Christian population of Spain faced serious problems in constructing a financial system independent of the Jews after their departure. To a considerable degree one finds that certain individuals, primarily men of means, exploited the turmoil that followed the expulsion for their own benefit in respect of debts that remained unsettled. Without doubt the Crown was aware of this and took its own measures in its own interests. The financial problems of exiles who were owed money by Christians are also discussed here.

Immediately after the publication of the Edict of Expulsion the question of debts arose in its full gravity. On 16 May 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella answered the petition of the Jewish community by ordering the return of promissory notes given in payment for wool and merchandise that fell due after 31 July 1492. The problem of promissory notes due both before the final day of the Jews’ presence in the kingdom and also afterwards gave rise to many lawsuits for early payment.