SPAIN
CROSSROADS OF CHRISTIANITY, JUDAISM, AND
ISLAM
REMINDER: SPAIN CONQUERED BY
MUSLIM INVADERS
• In the early 700’s
AD
• Muslim invaders
called Moors- from
North Africa
RECONQUISTA
• Almost
immediately,
Christian kings
began taking
back territory
in the Iberian
Peninsula.
RECONQUISTA
• The Moors maintained only the southern tip of the
peninsula- the kingdom of Granada
The Alhambra- palace of the Moorish kingdom of Granada
THE CATHOLIC MONARCHS
• Spanish Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
• Very devout Catholic rulers
ISABELLA
• Queen of Castile, the
largest Christian
kingdom
• Known for beauty and
intelligence
• Helped the king
organize wars and
even joined him on
campaign
FERDINAND II
• King of Aragon
• Married Isabella and
together united most of
Spain under one crown
• Fierce warrior
WAR AGAINST THE MOORS
• Between 1482 and 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand
waged the Granada War to conquer all of Spain
and unite it as one Christian kingdom
• In 1492, they succeeded in defeating the last
Moorish King, Boabdil
EXPELLING THE MOORS
• At first the Catholic Monarchs allowed the Moors to
worship and govern themselves
• After a few years they began requiring the Moors to
convert to Christianity
• Many Moors fled to North Africa (called Morisco)
PAYING FOR THE WAR
• The Granada War was
very expensive (it lasted
10 years)
• Much of it was paid for by
confiscating the property
of Spanish Jews
JEWS IN SPAIN
• Jews in Spain held considerable power
• Jews in the courts of all the kings of Spain and Portugal
• In fact, Ferdinand and Isabella’s marriage was arranged by
a mutual Jewish friend.
• Many early bankers were Jewish because Christians
were prohibited from usury (charging interest on
loans).
• But banks are critical, without them businesses can’t get
started.
• These same bankers helped finance the war against the
Moors
ANTI-SEMITISM
• Still, Jews were hated by many. (This is called antiSemitism).
• Jews were often the scapegoat in the Middle Ages
• FYI: This is where the term ghetto comes from. It’s
an Italian word meaning “slag”- as in industrial
waste. Jews were forced to live in the crumby,
industrial parts of cities.
CONVERSOS
• Many of the most powerful and wealthy people in
Spain were conversos, Jews whose family had
converted to Christianity
THE SPANISH INQUISITION
• The Inquisition was launched to purify Spanish
society, especially of conversos who they believed
were returning to their Jewish faith
• This lapse of faith was believed to be heresy
PROVING A LAPSE OF FAITH
• Any traditionally “Jewish” rituals or
behaviors could be considered a
lapse of faith.
• Examples:
• not eating pork
• Not working Friday night-Saturday (the Jewish
Sabbath, Christian Sabbath is Sunday)
• Eating traditionally Jewish food (Kosher)
INQUISITION METHODS
• Under Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, the
Inquisition sought to find these heretics
• To get these heretics to confess, inquisitors would
employ threats and torture
• Thousands were tortured, imprisoned for life and/or
burned at the stake in auto de fe (Act of Faith)
INQUISITION TORTURE
AUTO DE FE
JEWS EXPELLED
• Torquemada
decided that the
reason so many
conversos were
heretics was that
Spanish Jews were a
bad influence, so
hundreds of
thousands of Jews
were forced from
Spain
SPAIN A UNIFIED CATHOLIC COUNTRY
• The Inquisition and expelling of the Jews and Moors
was so successful, that by the 1500’s, Spain was
almost completely Catholic
• In the process, Isabella and Ferdinand became the
most powerful kings in Europe