Samuel Nunez - Background: The Spanish Inquisition and Marrano Jews

Background: The Spanish Inquisition and Marrano Jews

Official, bloody persecutions in the year 1391 were the beginning of the destruction of Spanish Jews. Jews were faced with the bitter choice: forced conversion or execution. Many Jews chose to die for their faith; while others became "Christians" in name only, secretly practicing their Jewish faith. The number of those who had embraced Christianity, in order to escape death, was very large. They were called 'Marranos' (pigs) by the Christians and Crypto-Jews by historians. As the persecutions against the Jews increased, the number of Marranos grew.

The persecution was followed by the Inquisition which, ninety years later, was introduced as a means of finding and killing the converted Jews who still remained loyal to Judaism. The heads of the Catholic Church established a religious court, the Inquisition, where suspected Marranos were tortured to force them to confess their loyalty to their Jewish faith. All of their wealth would be confiscated, with a large reward to whoever had denounced them; and they would be burned alive publicly.

Nevertheless, the secret Jews showed wonderful tenacity and courage and continued to practice their faith in the cellars of their homes. They married only among themselves and remained faithful to the religion of their ancestors. When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain united all Christians under their rule in 1492, they were persuaded by the Inquisition to drive the Jews out of their land. In 1492, the remaining Jews of Spain were driven out of the country and many of them went to Portugal where they were heavily taxed and generally treated abysmally. A few years later, they were driven out of Portugal or forcibly converted to Christianity.

The Marranos continued to lead their lives as before, and the Inquisition had its hands full for hundreds of years afterwards.