How Accurate Is the Perception That Spain Underwent a Transformation from an Open and Tolerant Society in the Late Middle Ages to a Closed and Intolerant one in the Early Modern Period?
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How accurate is the perception that Spain underwent a transformation from an open and tolerant society in the late middle ages to a closed and intolerant one in the early modern period?
Medieval Spain society was a society of uneasy coexistence, called convivencia,. This convivencia was increasingly threatened by the advancing Christian reconquest of lands that had been Muslim since the Moorish invasions of the eighth century. The reconquest did not result in the full expulsion of Muslims from Spain, but instead yielded a multi-religious society made up of Catholics, Jews and Muslims. Granada to the south, in particular remained under Moorish control until 1492, and large cities, especially Seville, Valladolid, and Barcelona, had large Jewish populations centered in juderias. The reconquest produced a relatively peaceful co-existence – although not without periodic conflicts – among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the peninsular kingdoms. Then, how accurate is the perception that Spain underwent a transformation from an open and tolerante society in the late middle ages to a closed and intolerant one in the early modern period? First, it is important to define more precisely the terme convivencia. Then, we will interested in the Jewish situation and anti-semitism which motivated the Spanish Inquisition. Finally, we will study the Muslim situation and the measures that could make appear Spain as a closed and intolerant society.
For long periods, close contact between communities had led to a mutual tolerance among the three faiths of the peninsula. The different communities, occupying separate territories and therefore able to maintain distinct cultures accepted the need to live together. St Ferdinand, king of Castile from 1230 to 1252, called himself “king of three religions”, a singular claim in an increasingly intolerant age: it was the very period that saw the birth in Europe of medieval papal Inquisition (c.1232).
However, the communities of Christians, Jews and Muslims never lived together on equal terms. Within that inequality, the minorities played their roles while attempting to avoid conflicts. In fifteenth century, in Murcia, the Muslims were an indispensable fund of labour in both town and country, and as such were protected by municipal laws. The Jews, for their part, made an essential contribution as artisans and small producers, in leather, jewellery and textiles. They were also important in tax administration and in medicine.
The three faiths had coexisted long enough for many people to accept the validity of the three. Thus, in 1501, a Christian of Castile asked ÐWho knows which is the better religion, ours or those of the Muslims and the Jews?.
The atmosphere of this mixed cultural world is depicted in the miniatures which illustrate Alfonso Xs Book of Chess.. Also, one of the 1000 miniatures pictures two jongleurs, one of them a Moor and the other a Christian dressed in the Provencal fashion, singing a duet and playing lutes together.
What factors explain the growth of anti-Semitism and the frequent pogroms which replaced the relative tolerance of previous centuries?
Despite royal protection of these minorities, there were violent outbursts of anti-semitism, as the pogrom in 1391. It began in Seville on 6 June and quickly engulfed numerous other Andalusian towns.
Undoubtedly religious factors were important in causing such disturbances. In fact, this wave of anti-judaism was encouraged by the preaching of Ferrant Martinez, archdeacon of Ecija. The pogroms of 1391 were especially bloody: in Seville, hundred of Jews were killed, and the synagogue was completely destroyed. The number of victims was equally high in others cities, such as Cordoba, Valencia and Barcelona..
One of the consequences of these disturbances was the massive conversion of Jews. Before this date, conversions were rare, more motivated by social than religious reasons. But from the 15th century, a new social group appeared: conversos, also called new Christians, who were distrusted by Jews and Christians alike. By converting, Jews could not only escape eventual persecution, but also obtain entry into many offices and posts that were being prohibited to Jews through new, more severe regulations.
The paradoxical result of the 1391 pogrom, therefore was that the Jews who became conversos found the legal impediments removed, and their success in gaining entry into public offices was so marked that contemporaries inevitably began to talk about widespread corruption and conspiracies.
Although the successes of the conversos after 1391 emphasised the fluidity and “openness” of society, it is clear that the anti-converso movements of the second half of the fifteenth century became progressively racial in nature. As we have seen, since conversos were Christians, they could not be barred from urban, ecclesiastical or royal offices on religious grounds. Consequently purity of blood (limpezia de sangre) became the criterion for advancement, and the obsession over the issue was one of the major factors in the development of the more “closed” social structure with caste-like features which characterised the early modern period. The economic background helps to explain why unrest was predominantly, but not exclusively, anti-semitic in nature. As nominal price rose so did the price of tax farms, and this resulted in an obvious increase in taxes for which, of course, Jews and Conversos were held responsible. The pogrom of 1449 in Toledo for example, was sparked off by an additional heavy tax levied by the Crown. The tax farmer was a converso, Alfonso Cota, and his house was the first target of the enraged populace.
A second important consequence arose from the way in which popular agitation became linked to the disputes between the monarchy and the nobility. The late medieval kings condemned the persecutions of the Jews and conversos, and acted as best they could to prevent the worse excesses. But in Toledo in 1449, a nobleman, Pero Sarmiento, intervened and redirected the popular fury into a movement against the monarchy. Thereafter, popular unrest came to be increasingly used as a weapon against royal government, and the Crowns hold on both the towns and the populace was seriously endangered. The monarchy regained the initiative, however, when it set up the Inquistion in 1478; for the urban populace now witnessed the official persecution of many of those who had previously been the targets of popular insurrection. The Inquisition was, in a different sense, a “popular” institution and Isabella the Catholic was a “popular” monarch.
The setting up of the Inquisition in 1478 marked the official transition from a pluralistic and heterodox society to a rigid