#183: Spanish Jewry 1348-1460: Into the Abyss

The date of the Expulsion in 1492 is infamous. Less known or understood is the historical context that led there. How did a 1,000-year-old community lose its status and power?

The answer lies in the ferocious and sudden impact of 1391. With 100,000 conversions to Christianity, Jewish kehillos were left reeling and families were torn apart. Rebuilding became virtually impossible, and a new way of life was created for the Jews in Spain.

Jews were still part of society, but rising Church pressure forced many into hiding. And the urgent question arose of how to deal with conversos amid instability, the Tortosa disputation and hostility from ‘Old Christians’.

But the writing was still not on the wall.

 

Timestamps:

- 0:00 — Converts’ next-generation issue introduced  

- 0:42 — Podcast intro and host  

- 1:24 — Email about Radzivin/Vatican anecdote  

- 2:24 — Recap: Jewish history in Spain; Golden Age → decline  

- 4:20 — 14th-century status: wealth, roles, rising anti-Jewish politics  

- 7:17 — Civil war in Castile; Henry II’s measures; Ferran Martínez’s preaching  

- 12:45 — Martinez’s actions, weak government, lead-up to 1391  

- 16:20 — June 1391 pogroms begin (Seville)  

- 19:33 — Scale of conversions; conversos’ motives and consequences  

- 23:00 — Rav Crescas’s account and leadership role  

- 27:32 — Rebuilding efforts and royal interactions  

- 32:21 — Conversos’ social ascent; community tensions  

- 37:22 — Tortosa disputation lead-up; Vincent Ferrer’s influence  

- 43:07 — Tortosa debate outcomes and further conversions  

- 50:10 — Fragile recovery; papal/royal reversals  

- 57:32 — 1449 Toledo unrest; purity-of-blood measures begin  

- 1:02:16 — Long-term social exclusion of conversos; legacy and summary