SPAIN

SPAIN (in Hebrew at first אספמיא then ספרד), country in S.W. Europe. The use of the word "Spain" to denote "Sepharad" has caused some confusion in research. Spain came into being long after the Jews had been expelled from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, which were jointly ruled by the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, at the time of the expulsion. When Spain emerged, incorporating also the Kingdom of Navarre, there were no Jews officially living in the Iberian Peninsula. Sepharad was used in the Middle Ages to indicate the entire peninsula and the Jews who lived there whose culture emerged as result of the encounter of Judaism with Greco-Arabic culture that developed in Al-Andalus. Many major works devoted to Jewish history and culture treated as one unit the Jews of all the Hispanic kingdoms that subsequently constituted Spain, leaving out Portugal. Baer's monumental history does exactly that and he is followed by many scholars. According to various legends, there were Jews living in Spain in biblical times, but no proof exists in support of such stories. Most probably, the first group of Jews settled there under the Roman Empire and the communities grew rapidly. A tombstone inscription attests the presence of Jews in Adra (the ancient Abdera) in the third century C.E. They thus witnessed the conversion of the inhabitants of the Peninsula to Christianity, which is probably why the Council of elvira (305) attempted to effect or maintain a separation between the members of the two faiths by forbidding Christians to live in the houses of Jews, or to eat in their company, or to bless the produce of their fields. -Under Visigothic Rule The weakening of the empire and the arrival of the Visigoths changed the face of Spain. From their court in Toledo they attempted to restore the shattered Hispanic unity, initially on the religious plane, through the conversion of their king Reccared, originally an Arian, to Catholicism (587). Subsequently, in the political sphere, King Sisebut (612–21) broke down the last Byzantine stronghold in Spain. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Church councils of toledo , which were as much political as religious assemblies, should have played so important a role in the Visigothic state, and thus in the determination of its policy toward the Jews. As in the case of all other subjects, the policy was to have them adopt Catholicism, which had by then become the state religion. Reccared approved the decision of the third Council of Toledo (589) laying down that the children of a mixed Jewish-Christian marriage   should be baptized by force. Going even further, Sisebut inaugurated a policy of forcible conversion of all the Jews in the kingdom. From 613 they were ordered to be baptized or leave the kingdom. Thousands of Jews then left Spain, while others were converted. Most of the latter, however, took the opportunity of returning to Judaism under the rule of his more tolerant successor Swintila (621–31). They were joined at this time by a number of exiles returning to Spain. At that period the official Church doctrine on conversion was formulated: Jews must not be baptized by force, and the fourth Council of Toledo (633) accepted this. King Sisenand (631–36) supported this attitude but, like the council, insisted that those Jews who had been converted by Sisebut and reverted to Judaism under Swintila must return to Christianity. However, this relatively moderate attitude was revoked again under King Chintila (636–39) who compelled the sixth Council of Toledo (638) to adopt a resolution proclaiming that only Catholics might reside in the kingdom of Spain; he even anathematized those of his successors who did not hold to his decrees against the Jews. Numerous Jews accepted baptism and signed a declaration that they would respect Christian rites; others chose exile. Under Chintila's successor, Chindaswinth (641–49), the application of these laws had been neglected to such an extent that his successor, Recceswinth (649–72) complained to the eighth Council of Toledo (653) about the presence of Jews in the kingdom. Probably some of the exiles had come back and some of the converts had returned to Judaism. The king commanded that they be brought back within the fold of Christianity, by force if necessary. Those who had relapsed had to sign a new declaration, promising to be good Catholics, to reject all Jewish rites, and to execute themselves those of their erring brethren who backslid into Judaism. However, they were permitted to abstain from eating pork, which they abhorred. The king decided not to drive the unconverted Jews to the font but to make it impossible for them to practice Judaism by prohibiting circumcision and forbidding them to celebrate the Sabbath and the festivals. However, these ordinances were honored more in the breach than in the observance and, thanks to various allies, even among the clergy, the Jews were able to survive in Spain; so much so that the tenth Council of Toledo had to remind Christians that they were obliged to observe the laws relating to the Jews. The next king, Wamba (672–80), expelled the Jews from Narbonne and probably also from Septimania (then part of Spain), but they did not all leave the Visigothic kingdom. They were there when Erwig (680–87) convoked the 12th Council of Toledo to obtain in spite of the traditional ruling of the Church, the forced baptism of the Jews. Within a year every Jew had to foreswear Judaism, accept baptism for himself and his family, and pledge his fidelity to the Christian faith. Those who refused were to be penalized by having their belongings seized, by corporal punishment, and finally by exile. Similar penalties were to be imposed on those who, baptized or not, observed Jewish rites. The priests were to gather all the Jews in the churches to read out to them the text of the law so that none could claim he was unaware of it. Any noble who helped the Jews to evade these laws was to lose his rights over the Jews and pay a heavy fine. The execution of the laws was the task of the clergy, the king reserving several penalties for them if they were lax in carrying out his orders. Yet the Jews continued to Judaize and even to attack Christianity on some occasions for the king could not count on the assistance of his people in carrying out the whole of his anti-Jewish policy. His successor, Egica (687–702), reversed his attitude, restating once more the prescription on forced baptism and suppressing those disqualifications which oppressed converted Jews, while at the same time increasing the benefits to be gained from becoming Christian. He passed several measures tending to impoverish the Jews and make it impossible for them to buy protection from powerful nobles. They were forced to sell, at a price fixed by the king, all slaves, buildings, lands, and vineyards which they had acquired from Christians. On pain of perpetual servitude and confiscation of their goods, they were forbidden to conduct commercial transactions with Christians or overseas. At the same time their taxes were considerably increased. In spite of its ratification by the 16th Council of Toledo (693), this policy was unsuccessful. Soon it was rumored that the persecuted Jews were thinking of appealing to the Muslim invaders, who had shown themselves to be decidedly more tolerant than the Visigoths. Alarmed, Egica convened a 17th council on Nov. 9, 694, accusing the Jews of treason and demanding that the severest measures be taken against them. Declared as slaves and their possessions confiscated, all the Jews of Spain were given into the hands of Christian masters in various provinces. Their masters were charged to see that they did not practice Jewish rites and to take their children to be brought up from the age of seven by Christian tutors and later married to Christians. Those Jews who were able to, escaped; the rest were taken into servitude. (Simon R. Schwarzfuchs) -Muslim Spain When Tarik b. Ziyad in 711 crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and overran the Visigothic Kingdom, there were no communities of openly professing Jews in Spain. But there remained in the country many secret Jews who welcomed the Muslims as their saviors from long oppression and flocked to join them. According to reliable Arabic sources the Muslim invaders made it their custom to call together the Jews wherever they found them and to hand towns which they had conquered over to them to garrison. They mention that this happened at Córdoba, Granada, Toledo, and Seville. Since the number of Muslim soldiers was relatively small, there can be no doubt that they appreciated the military help of the Jews who enabled them to continue their campaigns without having to leave behind them sizable units. So the situation of the Crypto-Jews changed abruptly and they occupied the enviable position of a group allied with the new rulers of the peninsula. Probably their economic situation changed too, since most   of the Visigothic nobles had fled and they could appropriate abandoned estates. The immediate sequel of the conquest of Spain by the Arabs was apparently that many Jews who had left Spain at the time of the religious persecutions by the Visigothic kings or their descendants returned from North Africa where they had found shelter. But soon the Jews began to suffer from the exactions of the new rulers who imposed on them (as on the Christians) heavy taxes. Even the party strife and civil wars which flared up among the Arabs brought down many calamities upon them. UMAYYAD RULE The umayyad kingdom in Spain was established by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I in 755 with its capital at Córdoba in Andalusia. There was relative economic prosperity throughout Umayyad rule and Jews were represented in many occupations, including medicine, agriculture, commerce, and crafts. Jews continued to work in these fields after the fall of the Umayyad regime. The tolerance of the Umayyad regime rendered Muslim Spain a refuge for the Jews and their numbers increased within the country. In 839 the Frank bishop bodo converted to Judaism in saragossa , married a Spanish Jewess, and wrote a tract against Christianity to which Alvaros of Córdoba replied. Jewish scholarship and culture flourished alongside its Arab counterpart and was influenced by it. The Babylonian geonim corresponded with rabbis and scholars in the centers of lucena and barcelona . R. amram Gaon sent his prayer book to Spanish scholars. The academy at Lucena flourished into the 12th century and is mentioned in responsa as early as the ninth. Later Arab geographers cited Lucena, Granada, and tarragona as "Jewish cities." The real Jewish cultural revival began in the tenth century under ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III (912–961), who assumed the title of caliph in 929 in Córdoba. At that time Córdoba was a center of both Arab and Jewish culture. This was the time of the political rise of the court physician Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut , who attained the position of chief of customs and foreign trade. Ḥisdai was also a diplomat who negotiated with Christian rulers on behalf of the caliphate. In addition, he was a patron of the two leading Hebrew philologists, dunash b. labrat and menahem b. saruk . The Jewish literati acquired a sense of aesthetics and an appreciation of physical beauty from the artistic accomplishment of the Arabs in Spain. This sensitivity took root in the mid-tenth century and found expression in the Hebrew poetry of medieval Spain almost right up to the general expulsion in 1492. As head of Spanish Jewry, Ḥisdai appointed Moses b. Ḥanokh , who came from Italy, chief rabbi and head of a yeshivah at Córdoba. Thus, Spanish Jewry's reliance on the Babylonian geonim in halakhic matters decreased. Ḥisdai is the first example of the many-faceted Jewish statesman, communal leader, and intellectual who was characteristic of the community in Muslim Spain. After his death the post of rabbi of the Córdoba community was disputed by joseph b. isaac ibn abitur , supported by the wealthy silk merchant ibn jau , and R. Ḥanokh b. Moses . The latter emerged victorious and his appointment was sanctioned by Caliph al-Ḥakam II, the patron of the Jewish geographer Ibrahim b. Yaʿqūb. During the reign of al-Manṣūr (d. 1002) the great Hebrew philologist Ḥayyuj (Abu Zakariyyā Yaḥyā b. Daʾud), who established the principle of the trilitteral root, lived in Córdoba. THE PETTY PRINCIPALITIES With the decline of Umayyad rule after al-Manṣūr's death, the berber conquest of Córdoba (1013), and the demise of the dynasty in the 1030s, Córdoba lost its former prominence and the capitals of the various Berber and Arab principalities became cultural and commercial centers. Jewish taxfarmers, advisers, and physicians served at the different courts. The relatively tolerant rulers welcomed and esteemed Jewish financiers, advisers in matters economic and political gifted writers, scholars, and scientists. The ethos of this Jewish upper class was distinguished by several features: the desire for and attainment of political power, the harmony of religion and secular culture, the study of the Talmud along with poetry and philosophy, equal proficiency in Arabic and Hebrew. The epitome of the fulfillment of this ideal was the poet and halakhist samuel ha-Nagid, a refugee from Córdoba who served as vizier and commander of the army of Granada from about 1030 to his death in 1056; he was also head of the Jewish community. His remarkable career and military exploits are recorded in both Hebrew and Arabic sources, including his own poetry. Samuel was succeeded by his son joseph ha-nagid , whose pride and ambition aroused the enmity of certain Muslims, who assassinated him in 1066. Inspired by fanatics, Muslims then attacked Granada Jewry and many survivors moved to other towns, particularly Lucena. The Granada massacre marked the first persecution of Jews in Muslim Spain. Prominent communities in the middle to late 11th century also included Seville, then ruled by the abbasid dynasty. (See Map: Muslim Spain.) Jewish courtiers included Abraham b. Meir ibn Muhajir, to whom moses ibn ezra dedicated his Sefer ha-Tarshish (Sefer ha-Anka). Under al-Muʿtamid, isaac ibn albalia served as court astrologer and as chief rabbi of Seville, and the scholar joseph ibn migash was sent on diplomatic missions. Lucena remained an important center of learning. Its academy was led by the great talmudist isaac alfasi . His successors were isaac ibn ghayyat and Joseph ibn Migash. During Samuel ha-Nagid's term of office, the Jew jekuthiel , who was later murdered by political rivals, served as vizier in Saragossa. A dynamic cultural center, Saragossa was the home of the philologist and grammarian Ibn Janāḥ , the controversial Bible commentator moses ha-kohen ibn gikatilla , the important neoplatonic philosopher and poet solomon ibn gabirol , and the ethical writer Baḥya ibn Pakuda . The latter's major work, Farāʾiḍ al-Qulūb (Heb. Ḥovot ha-Levavot, "The Duties of the Hearts"), shows the influence of Muslim ascetic ideals. Other important communities were denia , a major port in eastern Spain and the residence of the talmudist R. isaac b. reuben al-bargeloni , tudela , almeria , and huesca . Eleventh-century Toledo, capital of a Berber kingdom,   Map 1. Jewish communities in Muslim Spain in the 11th century. Shaded area indicates the extent of Christian expansion by 1030. Map 1. Jewish communities in Muslim Spain in the 11th century. Shaded area indicates the extent of Christian expansion by 1030.   had a Jewish population of 4,000 and a karaite community as well. It was taken by the Christians in 1085. THE ALMORAVIDS The advance of the reconquest prompted al-Mut'amid of Seville to request the aid of Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn of North Africa, the leader of the fanatic almoravid sect. In 1086 the latter led the Muslim armies to victory at Zallaka against the Castilians commanded by Alfonso VI. Yūsuf attempted to force Lucena Jewry to convert to islam , but payment of a large sum of money caused him to rescind his decree. Under his son, Ali (1106–43), Abu Ayyūb Sulaymān ibn Muʿallim served as court physician and Abu al-Ḥasan Abraham b. Meir ibn Kamaniel was sent on diplomatic missions. During Ali's reign the poets Abu Sulaymān ibn Muhājir and Abu al-Fath Eleazar ibn Azhar lived in Seville. Córdoba continued to prosper and was a cultural center and the residence of the gifted poet joseph b. jacob ibn sahl (d. 1123) and the philosopher Joseph ibn Ẓaddik . THE ALMOHADS In 1146 the almohads , an even more fanatic Berber dynasty of morocco , led by ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, began their conquest of Muslim Spain, which put an end to the flourishing Jewish communities of Andalusia. The practice of the Jewish religion was forbidden by the authorities. Synagogues and yeshivot were closed and Jews were compelled to embrace Islam. Many emigrated to Christian Spain; others outwardly professed Islam but secretly observed Judaism, an ominous portent of the Conversos in Christian Spain a century later. R. abraham ibn ezra composed a moving elegy on the demise of the Andalusian communities. In 1162 these secret Jews were active in a revolt against the Almohads, particularly in deposing them in Granada. Almohad rule in Spain lasted longer than a century. In the mid-13th century the Castilians conquered a great part of Andalusia. The Muslims retained only the kingdom of Granada in southeastern Spain. This kingdom, which was ruled by the Arab dynasty of Banū al-Aḥmar and existed for nearly 250 years, contained the important communities of Granada, Málaga , and Almeria. Although there were periods when the rulers of Granada inclined toward religious fanaticism, they employed Jewish counselors and court physicians. Jews from Christian Spain immigrated to Granada as their situation deteriorated. The poet, historian, and talmudist   saadiah b. maimon ibn danan was rabbi of Granada in the late 15th century. At that time isaac hamon was court physician and very influential in government circles. When Granada surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, the last Muslim king stipulated that Jews enjoy the same rights as other subjects, i.e., judicial autonomy, freedom to practice their religion, and permission to emigrate. According to this treaty, Conversos who had come from Christian Spain could leave within a month. The Catholic monarchs, however, did not keep their word and proclaimed the edict of the expulsion of the Jews in Granada. (Eliyahu Ashtor) -The Reconquest Period For many years the history of the Jews in Christian Spain became an element in the struggle for the reconquest. In the early stages of this the Jews suffered alongside the Muslims from the violence of the newly-founded Christian state in Oviedo, which regarded itself as the successor of the Visigoths and felt bound to punish the so-called treason of the Jews. However, in many Christian principalities the influence of the Carolingian Empire was paramount and the Jews were treated more moderately. Little is known about the Catalonian Jewish communities during this period; their presence is attested by a few tombstones. More records are available on the communities in the county of León. In this province a problem arose which perplexed the Christian kings of the reconquest for many years: how to settle, colonize, and develop regions won back from the Muslim invaders. It is fairly clear that this preoccupation prompted a change in their attitude toward the Jews so that gradually they began to consider them a useful and even essential section of the population. Relations with the Christian population changed, and this period saw the emergence of organized communities, influential in trade and industry, in northwest Spain. In the new capital, León, from the tenth century the Jews controlled the commerce in textiles and precious stones. They also owned many estates in the kingdom. In the young state of Castile the judicial status of the Jews was almost equal to that of the Christians. In the meantime the Jewish population in the small Christian states was insignificant. At the beginning of the 11th century, assisted by the decline of the caliphate, the Christian hold in Spain increased through the initiative of Alfonso V of León (999–1027), who set himself out to attract settlers to his lands by granting them privileges and freedom. Among these new settlers were numerous Jews, who shared the same advantages as the Christians. It is difficult to establish their origins: did they come from France or from Muslim Spain, where their situation was now less secure than before? At any rate it is highly likely that at the beginning of the 11th century, especially with the onset of the Berber invasions, many Jews from the Muslim region made their way to the Christian kingdom, attracted by the advantages offered to new settlers, to join earlier Jewish arrivals. The face of Spanish Jewry was transformed; for the first time the influence of Oriental Jewry penetrated a Christian land, dislodging the influence of Franco-German Jewry from its monopolistic position. In spite of the internal reverses and setbacks disturbing the countries of Christian Spain, which also had an effect on the Jews, Jewish communities were organized and securely established. Their status was clearly defined: whether they lived on territory belonging to nobles, monastic orders, or elsewhere, the Jews belonged to the king, who protected them and to whom they owed fealty. For some time this principle was interpreted literally – as the blood money due on the killing of a Jew had to be paid directly to the king. The abortive Crusade of 1063 did not affect the development of the Jewish communities. According to legend, the great national hero El Cid employed Jews as treasurers, financial agents, lawyers, and administrators. Alfonso VI certainly employed as his physician and financier the Jew joseph ha-nasi ferrizuel , called Cidellus or little Cid, who did a great deal to help his coreligionists. It appears that Alfonso was the Spanish king who inaugurated a tradition that lasted as long as Spanish Jewry itself: that of the Jewish courtiers who, while still remaining faithful to their religion, exercised considerable authority over the inhabitants of the kingdom. During Alfonso's reign the reconquest suffered a setback with the defeat of Zallaker in 1086; no doubt there were some who cast aspersions on the Jews of the king who had refused to fight. In the meantime in barcelona the Jews continued to be important landowners. According to some estimates, in the 11th and 12th centuries they owned around one-third of the estates in the county, which explains why the second Council of Gerona demanded that they continue to pay the tithes due to the Church on land that they had purchased from Christians. In 1079 there were at least 60 Jewish heads of families in Barcelona. This was the milieu which produced the first great figures of Spanish Jewish culture: the rabbi Isaac b. Reuben al-Bargeloni ("from Barcelona") the many-faceted Abraham b. Ḥiyya ha-Nasi , and the rabbi judah b. barzillai al-bargeloni . Writing in a Christian land, these three authors belonged to a totally different cultural environment from their contemporary, Rashi, and attest the originality of Spanish Jewish thought which, from the end of the 11th century, gained in importance and impact. -The Golden Age in Spain When Toledo fell to Alfonso I of Castile in 1085 the Jewish inhabitants, unlike the Muslims, did not flee the town, and it seems that they continued to live in their old quarter, joined there by newcomers from old Castile and León and refugees from Muslim lands. On the death of the king in 1109, the security of the Jews was revealed as illusory since it was based solely on royal favor, which more tardily was again extended by Alfonso's successor. In the meantime Christianity gained ground in Spain. tudela fell to King Alfonso I of Aragon in 1115. Jews and Muslims alike were granted full religious freedom, but while the Muslims were ordered to leave the town itself the Jews were granted permission to remain in their own   quarter, which lay within the city walls. Thus, preferred to the Muslims, they were no longer an object of fear to the Christians. The Jews of saragossa , conquered in 1118, enjoyed the same privileges and this precedent was followed in almost all towns on the way of the triumphant Christian advance. The county of Barcelona, united with the kingdom of Aragon in the time of Count Ramón Berenguer IV (1131–62), had also taken part in the reconquest. In 1148 tortosa fell to the count who, having given important possessions to the Jews there, promised supplementary freedoms to any of their coreligionists who wished to settle in the town. When Lérida was conquered in 1149, the Jews were once more asked to stay and preferred to the Muslims. Nevertheless they were not always protected from the maneuverings of the Christian lords, who cared more for immediate gain than for future settlement. At this time the focal point of Spanish Jewry had shifted from the Muslim south to the Christian north, where the Jewish population had increased considerably. However, the internal structure of the communities changed little and the rule of the notables remained firmly established. The court Jews still occupied all important positions, which scarcely troubled newcomers, who were above all concerned with establishing themselves and finding a means of livelihood. They tended to settle in the towns more than in the countryside. Occasionally the Christian kings gave them the citadel of a conquered town and there they established themselves, assuring at the same time their internal communal autonomy and external security. Engaged largely in commerce and industry and in the administration of the possessions of the nobles, the Jews were barely concerned with moneylending. The Jews were serfs of the king, property of the royal treasury alone, but in times of stability this meant no more than an obligation to pay taxes; the king took no interest in the internal structure of the communities, which remained autonomous organizations. Known as aljama (the Arabic name being retained), the Jewish communities were each independent political entities paying taxes directly to the royal treasury, with full administrative and judicial autonomy, under the very general supervision of a royal functionary. In the case of suits with Christians, the Jews had to take a special oath more judaico and were forbidden to engage in judicial duels. From the end of the 12th century, however, municipal legislation weighed more heavily on the Jews: the municipalities were desirous of curbing the power of rich Jewish businessmen. But in spite of their efforts they did not succeed in supplanting the king as the supreme authority over the Jews. Meanwhile in Barcelona, Toledo, and Saragossa the Jewish courtiers, an aristocracy in their own right, acquired even greater importance. They were tax farmers and undertook diplomatic missions and were frequently looked upon askance by the communities too, whose authority they sometimes tried to avoid. It is therefore hardly surprising that from the early 13th century the first signs of a democratic reaction were apparent, the poorer demanding a voice in the communal councils alongside the rich. In this period the maimonidean controversy split Spanish Jewry. Beginning in Provence, it spread through the Midi, developing into a dispute on the very validity of philosophy within Judaism. It was the first sign of self-examination by the communities and of the renunciation of ideas absorbed from the Muslim and then from the Christian background. This tendency was expressed in the condemnation of the writings of Maimonides, several of them being suppressed. The controversy simmered down, only to break out with renewed ferocity some time later. In the meantime the reconquest proceeded apace. James I of Aragon (1213–76) took the Balearic Islands (1229–35) and Valencia (1238). Ferdinand III of Castile (1217–52) captured Córdoba (1236), murcia (1243), and seville (1248). Alfonso X (1252–84) extended the conquest so far that only the kingdom of Granada remained in Muslim hands. All these kings had employed Jews in their armies and all had requested them to settle in towns evacuated by Muslims. Everywhere the Jews who had lived under Muslim rule were permitted to remain in their old quarter, were preferred to Muslims, and their previous privileges were confirmed. Their ownership of land expanded, for the kings frequently granted them lands and other possessions in order to attract them to settle. More Jewish shops opened in the towns, arousing the opposition of the municipalities, who wished to limit their commerce. Around the middle of the 13th century King alfonso X prepared a code of laws covering all the inhabitants of his kingdom. This code, known as Las Siete Partidas, was formulated around 1263, but was only very gradually applied, especially from 1348. It defined with great precision the principles of royal policy toward the Jews and in this respect was extremely influential. The Jews were accorded complete religious liberty, on condition that they did not attack the Christian faith; measures were taken to prevent the possibility of blood libels ; and they were forbidden to leave their homes during Easter. They were also prohibited from holding positions of authority over Christians. The number and size of synagogues were strictly limited, but it was forbidden to disturb the Jews on the Sabbath, even for legal reasons. No force was to be used to induce them to adopt Christianity, while those who had converted were not to be taunted with insults about their origins, nor to lose their rights of succession to the property of their former coreligionists. By contrast, any Christian who converted to Judaism was to be put to death and his property declared forfeit. Jews and Christians were not to occupy the same house, and Jews could not own Christian slaves. They were also to carry a special badge which identified them as Jews. Thus the policy of the Church triumphed. The aljamas, turned more in on themselves, reinforced their autonomy. Under the direction of their muqaddamin (or adelantados ) they established their own courts of law, but maintained the right of appeal before the royal court. At this period the king appointed a functionary, known as the rab de la corte, to supervise the affairs of the Jewish communities. It appears that his nomination by the king did not give rise to any special problems, for   he generally did not interfere with the internal organization of the communities. Jewish courtiers, largely in Castile, rose to the highest positions. Therefore their fall was usually attended by the most brutal consequences for the communities to which they belonged, and thus the latter could not consider them as shtadlanim, but rather as high functionaries and financiers whose influence depended more on their talents than on any representative status. The Castilian monarchs seem to have been well satisfied by their services. As Jews they could not aim for political power nor could they ally themselves with the nobility or the clergy. Thus there developed in the Christian lands the custom, long widespread in the Orient, of employing Jews in the highest administrative and financial positions. The nobles imitated the kings in employing Jewish experts. Some of these Jewish courtiers, while still holding to the Jewish faith, were influenced by the Christian environment; wishing to live as nobles, they competed for royal favor. Veritable dynasties of courtiers emerged: the powerful families wielded considerable importance in their communities. Don Solomon Ibn Ẓadok of Toledo, known as Don Çulema, was ambassador and almoxarife major. His son and successor, Don Isaac ibn Ẓadok, known as Don Çag de la Maleha, played an important role in reestablishing the finances of Alfonso X, who granted him and his associates authority to farm taxes owing on the previous 20 years in return for payment of the enormous sum of 80,000 gold maravedis for the years 1276 and 1277. This kind of contract could be very remunerative although the king frequently went back on his word. It sometimes happened that, as in the case of Don Çag, a Jewish courtier fell from royal favor and, as a result, lost his life. The very financial success of the courtiers tempted the kings to impose enormous taxes on the Jewish communities, which were impoverished by their efforts to pay them. The Church, the Cortes, and the nobility frequently cast a jaundiced eye on the rise of the Jewish courtiers, who competed with them for royal favor and gave too powerful a hand to the strengthening of the monarchy. Thus they frequently put pressure on the king to dislodge his Jewish courtiers. In spite of all efforts, however, the institution of the Jewish courtier increased in influence in Castile, rather than the contrary. In Aragon Jewish courtiers were to be found at the court of James I, who used them as interpreters in his survey of the Arab lands he had reconquered. The king also invited the Jews to settle in his newly acquired lands; they were to receive their share of the conquered territory on the sole condition that they settled on it. There too they were preferred to Muslims, for the problem of resettling the former Arab lands was ever present. Thus Jews from the north of Aragon spread gradually southward, establishing new communities. By the edict of Valencia, March 6, 1239, the king confirmed the authority of the bet din in suits between Jews, except in cases of murder. He also recognized the need for witnesses of each religion in cases involving Christians and Jews. The validity of the oath more judaico was reaffirmed. Any Jew who was arrested had to be freed between midday on Friday and Monday morning. The king took the Jews and their property under his protection and forbade anyone to harass them except for a debt or crime which could be firmly established. This charter often served as the model for similar charters in towns throughout Aragon. James I also undertook to protect the Jews of newly conquered Majorca. As these measures proved insufficient to populate the new communities, on June 11, 1247, James promised safe conduct and citizenship to any Jew coming by land or sea to settle in Majorca, Catalonia, or Valencia. As far as the internal life of the communities was concerned, he confirmed and extended their autonomy. By the privilege granted to the community of calatayud on April 22, 1229, he authorized the community to appoint a rabbi and four directors (adenanti) to control their affairs, and to dismiss these officials if they deemed it necessary. They were also authorized to arrest and even sentence to death any malefactors in their midst. The community did not have to account for any death sentences it passed but had to pay the king 1,000 solidos for every one of these. The four adenanti directing the community could, with the agreement of the aljama, pronounce excommunication. Thus the elected heads of the community exercised considerable power, especially the authority to impose the death sentence, which in fact was only pronounced against informers. The king rarely attempted to interfere with this autonomy, leaving the communities to direct their own affairs. -Beginning of the Christian Reaction However, early in the 13th century, a Christian reaction made itself felt, under the influence of Raymond de Peñaforte , Dominican confessor to the king. From Barcelona he attempted to limit the influence of the Jews by fixing the interest rate on moneylending at 20%, by limiting the effectiveness of the Jewish oath, and restating the prohibition on Jews holding public office or employing Christian servants (Dec. 22, 1228). The Council of Tarragona (1235) restated these clauses and forbade Muslims to convert to Judaism or vice versa. The Cortes increased their attempts to suppress Jewish moneylending. Thus the climate had changed. Following the example of France, the kingdom of Aragon initiated a large-scale campaign to convert the Jews through exposing the "Jewish error." From 1250 the first blood libel was launched in Saragossa. Soon the example of Louis IX found Spanish imitators: James I found himself obliged to cancel debts to Jews (1259). Soon after, an apostate Jew carried over to Spain the work of nicholas donin of France, provoking a disputation between pablo christiani and the most famous rabbi of the day, Naḥmanides . Held before the king, the bishops, and Raymond de Peñaforte, the disputation took place in Barcelona on July 20, 27, 30, and 31, 1263 (see Barcelona, Disputation of ). Central to the disputation were the problem of the advent of the Messiah and the truth of Christianity; probably for the last time in the Middle Ages, the Jewish representative secured permission to speak with complete freedom. After a somewhat brusque disputation, each side claimed the victory. This   constituted no check to Christian missionary efforts; forced conversion remained prohibited but the Jews were compelled to attend conversionist sermons and to censor all references to Jesus or Mary in their literature. Naḥmanides, brought to trial because of his frankness, was acquitted (1265), but he had to leave Spain and in 1267 settled in Jerusalem. By his bull Turbato corde, proclaimed at this time, Pope Clement IV gave the Inquisition virtual freedom to interfere in Jewish affairs by allowing the inquisitors to pursue converted Jews who had reverted to their old religion, Christians who converted to Judaism, and Jews accused of exercising undue influence over Christians and their converted brethren. It was becoming apparent that the Jews had outlived their usefulness as colonizers, except in southern Aragon. The old hostility toward Judaism reappeared, but for the time being was content with efforts to convince the Jews of the truth of Christianity. At this period raymond martini , one of the opponents of Naḥmanides, published his Pugio Fidei, a work which served as the basis for anti-Jewish campaigns for many years. But the economic usefulness of the Jews was still considerable: in 1294 revenue from the Jews amounted to 22% of the total revenue in Castile. In spite of mounting hostility on the part of the burghers, the state was very reluctant to part with such a valuable source of income. The very existence of the Jewish communities posed problems for the burgher class. The aljama was a neighbor of the Christian municipality but was free from its authority because of its special relationship with the king. The judería thus often seemed to be a town within a town. The aljama it-self in this period reinforced its authority and closed its ranks, limiting the influence of the courtiers, who were increasingly becoming a dominant class with no real share in the spiritual life of the people. The different communities in Aragon had developed on parallel lines without any centralized organization. At times their leaders met to discuss the apportionment of taxes, but this had never led to the development of a national organization. Within the communities the struggle continued between the strong families who wielded power and the masses. In general the oligarchy succeeded in dominating the communal council with the assistance of the dayyanim who, since they were not always scholars, had to consult the rabbinical authorities before passing judgment according to Jewish law. Around the end of the 13th century the dayyanim began to be elected annually, the first step toward greater control by the masses. Soon after, these masses managed to secure a rotation of the members of the council, but nevertheless these were nearly always chosen from among the powerful families. Such a climate of social tension, aggravated by the anxiety caused by the insecure state of the Jews, proved fruitful for the reception of kabbalistic teachings, transplanted at the beginning of the 13th century from Provence to Gerona. Mainly due to the works of Naḥmanides, the kabbalistic movement developed widely (see kabbalah ). Between 1280 and 1290 the Zohar appeared and was enthusiastically received. Philosophy appeared to be in retreat before this new trend. At this very moment the Maimonidean controversy broke out once more, beginning in Provence where the study of philosophy had received a new impetus through the translations of works from Arabic by the ibn tibbon and Kimḥi families. The quarrel reached such dimensions that the most celebrated rabbi of the day, solomon b. abraham adret , rabbi of Barcelona, was obliged to intervene. A double ḥerem was proclaimed on those who studied Greek philosophy before the age of 25 and on those who were too prone to explain the biblical stories allegorically. Exceptions were made on works of medicine, astronomy, and the works of Maimonides. This ban was probably another sign of the decline of the Jewish community of Aragon and its increasing tendency to withdraw into itself. During the same period Jewish courtiers lost their influence and left the political arena. In Castile, on the other hand, Jewish courtiers continued to play an important role in spite of the efforts of other courtiers to be rid of them and of the Church to condemn them as usurers. Apostates were at the fore in this struggle, especially abner of burgos who, becoming a Christian in 1321 and, taking the name Alfonso of Valladolid, tried to remain in close contact with the Jewish community, the better to influence it. Around the same period, Gonzalo Martínez de Oviedo , majordomo to the king, obtained the temporary dismissal of Jewish courtiers and planned the eventual expulsion of all the Jews of the kingdom. Soon himself accused of treason, he was put to death (1340) and his plan fell into abeyance. At the beginning of the 14th century asher b. jehiel became rabbi of Toledo, the principal community in the kingdom, holding this office from 1305 to 1327. After the imprisonment of his master, meir b. baruch of rothenburg , he had been the leading rabbinic authority in Germany, a country he fled from in 1303. Practically as soon as he arrived in Spain he was involved in the philosophic controversy and signed the ban proclaimed by Solomon b. Abraham Adret. On the latter's death he became the leading rabbinic scholar in Spain, where he disseminated the methods of the tosafists and the ideals of the Ḥasidei Ashkenaz . The attitude of the Catholic monarchy toward the Jews continued to vacillate. Alfonso XI resolved to root out Jewish usury but to permit the Jews to remain (1348). The black death , which reached Spain at this period, did not give rise to persecutions like those which swept central Europe. Alfonso's successor, Pedro the Cruel (1350–69) brought Jewish courtiers back into his employment and allowed Don samuel b. meir ha-levi abulafia , his chief treasurer, to build a magnificent synagogue in Toledo in 1357 (it was later turned into a church and subsequently into a museum). Despite the fall of Don Samuel, who died in prison, other Jewish courtiers retained their positions and influence. During the civil war between Pedro and his bastard half-brother, Henry of Trastamara, the Jews sided with the king, who, therefore, was even called the king of the Jews. When Burgos was taken by the pretender (1366), the Jewish community was reduced to selling the synagogue appurtenances to pay its ransom. Some of its members were even sold into slavery. Henry's victory,   augmented by the capture of Toledo (in which many Jews fell victim), reduced the local community to destitution: the king had seized at least 1,000,000 gold maravedis. However, this did not prevent the king from appointing Don joseph picho as tax farmer and other Jews from filling important positions. Incited by the Cortes, he imposed the Jewish badge and forbade Jews to take Christian names, but he did not dismiss his Jewish courtiers. Meanwhile the condition of the Jews in the kingdom deteriorated. In 1380 the Cortes, as a result of the secret execution of Don Joseph Picho as an informer on the orders of the rabbinical tribunal, forbade the Jewish communities to exercise criminal jurisdiction and to impose the death penalty or banishment. In Castile the first part of the 14th century was dominated by the personality of jacob b. asher , third son of Asher b. Jehiel, who was dayyan in Toledo. Around 1340 he published his Arba'ah Turim, a codification of the law combining the Spanish and the Ashkenazi traditions, which was widely distributed. His brother judah b. asher succeeded his father in Toledo and became in effect the chief rabbi of Castile. The situation in Aragon was generally both less brilliant and less disquieting. There the influence of the Jews at court had practically disappeared with the dismissal of the Jewish courtiers. The Jews were tolerated and had the right to royal protection within the limits of Church doctrine on the matter. The taxes raised from the Jews were an important source of revenue and so they were allowed to pursue their commercial ventures and direct their own internal affairs. Under the reign of James II (1291–1327) the Inquisition had begun to show an interest in the Jews but the king declared that their presence was an affair of state and not a religious concern, an attitude characteristic of the monarchy for many years. James gave no assistance to the efforts to convert the Jews. When the pastoureaux arrived in Aragon, the king resisted them vigorously in his efforts to spare the Jews from this menace. During his rule (1306) Jews expelled from France were permitted to settle in Spain. Unlike in Castile, in Aragon the Black Death gave rise to anti-Jewish excesses. In Saragossa only 50 Jews survived and in Barcelona and other Catalonian cities the Jews were massacred. So shattered were the communities by these riots that their leaders convened in Barcelona in 1354 to decide on common measures to reestablish themselves. They resolved to establish a central body to appeal to the papal curia to defend them against allegations of spreading the plague and to secure for them some alleviation in their situation. A delegation sent to Pope Clement VI in Avignon succeeded in having a bull promulgated which condemned such accusations. It would seem that the attempt to create a central organization did not succeed, but the Aragon communities had nevertheless to reorganize. From 1327 the Barcelona community succeeded in abolishing all communal offices which were acquired by royal favor. Authority and power within the community were henceforth vested in the Council of 30, elected by the community notables. The 30 were trustworthy men, judges or administrators of charities, who were empowered to issue takkanot and apportion taxes. They were elected for three-year terms and could serve more than one term; however, close relatives could not sit on the same council. Although in effect the aristocracy remained in power, they were no longer all-powerful. The presence in Barcelona of eminent masters of the law counterbalanced the ambition of the powerful families. nissim b. reuben gerondi (d. c. 1375), av bet din in Barcelona, exercised great influence over all Spanish Jewry, as attested by his many responsa (the majority of which are unfortunately no longer extant). Ḥasdai Crescas , born in Barcelona around 1340, who seems to have been close to court circles, became the most venerated authority in Spanish Jewry. isaac b. sheshet Perfet, also born in Barcelona (1326), rapidly became known as a leading rabbinic authority. A merchant by trade, he later served as rabbi in various communities. On April 2, 1386, Pedro IV approved a new constitution for the Barcelona community which constituted slight progress toward democratization. The community was divided into three classes, almost certainly according to their tax contribution. Each class was empowered to nominate a secretary and elect ten members of the council. With the secretaries, the 30 elected members made up the grand council of the community. Five representatives of each class and the secretaries constituted the smaller council. The secretaries served for one year only and could only be renominated after two years had expired. One-third of the 30 members had to be renewed each year. The council had limited powers only, being unable to establish tax allocations without the approval of the 30. Tax assessors had to be chosen from among the three classes. The influence of the powerful families was thus curbed, extending only over the class of the community of which they were members. The smaller communities, of course, established a less complex system of administration. Councils were not appointed there until the second half of the 14th century. In many places the local oligarchy seems to have maintained its power. In Majorca, essentially a mercantile community, this oligarchy was composed of merchants who prevented any democratization of the administration. The royal administration recognized the existence of judíos francos, descendants of courtly Jewish families who paid no taxes to the community and took no part in communal life. They married among themselves and generally remained true to their faith. The communities were also concerned with the moral life of their members. An institution almost unique to Spain in the Middle Ages was the berurei averah , notables who watched over the religious life of their communities. The latter also exercised authority over informers , punishing them with loss of a limb or death, with the approval of the king. The death sentence was generally carried out immediately, which to some seemed dangerous or arbitrary. To avoid the possibility of abuse, in 1388 Ḥasdai Crecas was appointed judge over all informers in the kingdom. -The Persecutions of 1391 Soon the face of Spanish Jewry was brutally altered. In 1378 the archdeacon of Ecija, ferrant martinez , launched a campaign   of violent sermons against the Jews, demanding the destruction of 23 local synagogues. On the death of the archbishop in 1390, he became virtual ruler of the diocese, using this situation to intensify his anti-Jewish campaign and declaring that even the monarchy would not oppose attacks on the Jews. After unsuccessful interventions by the communities, the death of King John I of Castile (1390) left the crown in the hands of a minor who did not attempt to check the redoubtable preacher. On the first of Tammuz 5151 (June 4, 1391) riots broke out in Seville. The gates of the judería were set on fire and many died. Apostasy was common and Jewish women and children were even sold into slavery with the Muslims. Synagogues were converted into churches and the Jewish quarters filled with Christian settlers. Disorder spread to Andalusia, where Old and New Castile Jewish communities were decimated by murder and apostasy. In Toledo, on June 20, Judah, grandson of Asher b. Jehiel, refused to submit and was martyred. Attacks were made in madrid , cuenca , Burgos, and Córdoba, the monarchy making no efforts to protect the Jews. So many people had been involved in the riot that it proved impossible to arrest the leaders. In July violence broke out in Aragon; the Valencia community was destroyed on July 9 and more than 250 Jews were massacred. Others, including Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet, managed to escape. The tardy measures taken by the royal authorities were useless. Many small communities were converted en masse. In the Balearic Islands the protection of the governor was to no avail: on July 10 more than 300 Jews were massacred. Others took refuge in the fortress, where pressure was put on them to compel them to convert. A few finally escaped to North Africa. In Barcelona more than 400 Jews were killed on August 5. During the attack on the Jewish quarter of Gerona on August 10 the victims were numerous. The Jews of tortosa were forcibly converted. Practically all the Aragon communities were destroyed in bloody outbreaks when the poorer classes, trying to relieve their misery by burning their debts to the Jews, seized Jewish goods. Yet the motive behind the attacks was primarily religious, for, once conversion was affected, they were brought to an end. Although he did not encourage the outbreaks, John I of Aragon did nothing to prevent or stop them, contenting himself with intervening once the worst was over. Above all he was concerned to conserve royal resources and on Sept. 22, 1391 ordered an enquiry into the whereabouts of the assets of the ruined communities and dead Jews, especially those who had left no heirs. All that could be found he impounded. At this point Ḥasdai Crescas became in effect the savior of the remnants of Aragonese Jewry, gathering together the funds necessary to persuade the king to come to their defense, appealing to the pope, and offering assistance to his brethren. The assassins were barely punished, but when a fresh outbreak seemed imminent early in 1392 the king swiftly suppressed it. Subsequently he took various measures to assist Ḥasdai Crescas in his efforts to reorganize the communities and reunite the dispersed members. Meanwhile, in Barcelona and Valencia, the burghers, freed from their rivals, seemed opposed to the reconstitution of the shattered Jewish communities. A small community was reestablished in Majorca. In the countryside the communities could reorganize more easily; there the Jews were indispensable and less a target of the jealousy of the Christian burghers. -The Conversos In this period the problem of Jews who had converted by force became acute. Illegal though forced conversion was, in the eyes of the Church a Converso was a true Christian and thus forbidden to return to Judaism. There were indeed a number of Jews who took their conversion to heart and, filled with the zeal of neophytes, reproached their former coreligionists for their "errors" and launched a campaign to bring them to the font. Chief among these was Solomon ha-Levi of Burgos who became pablo de santa maria in 1391 and later bishop of Burgos. In their desperate state, the Jews could hardly respond energetically. The Christian missionary spirit did not rest content with the successes achieved. The notorious friar vicente ferrer preached in the towns of Castile in 1411–12. Although opposed to forced conversion, he was ready to compel Jews to listen to him and was unconcerned by the anti-Jewish violence which was consequent on his sermons. Following on his activity the government of Castile proclaimed on Jan. 2, 1412, new regulations concerning Jews. Henceforth, in towns and in villages, they were to inhabit separate quarters and, to distinguish them from Christians, had to grow their hair and beards, and could no longer be addressed by the honorific, "Don." They were forbidden to take employment as tax farmers or fill any other public office, nor could their physicians treat Christians; lending on interest was also prohibited. All professions were closed to them and all commerce by which they might ameliorate their miserable existence forbidden. For a time even their internal autonomy and freedom of movement were in question. In Aragon the situation was more favorable. The community of Saragossa, spared because of the presence of the king in the town, was able to play an important role in the reconstitution of the Aragonese communities. The action of the king gave a semblance of stability to the new Jewish groups. In 1399 the aljama of Saragossa, where Ḥasdai Crescas was rabbi, obtained a new statute from Queen Violante defining its power and organization. In June 1412 Ferdinand I became new king of Aragon, thanks to the assistance and support of Vicente Ferrer, who seized the opportunity to extend his activities against the Jews of Aragon. At that moment Joshua lorki , who had previously disputed with Pablo de Santa Maria, decided to accept baptism under the name of Geronimo de Santa Fé. In August of the same year he sent a pamphlet to the antipope Benedict XIII which served as the basis for the public disputation soon to be held in Tortosa. The pope invited the Aragonese communities to send representatives to a public disputation to be held in Tortosa on Jan. 15, 1413; it actually took place the following February (see Tortosa, Disputation of ). Probably the antipope wished to achieve a   Map 2. Major Jewish and Converso communities in Christian Spain, 1474. From map by H. Beinart in Y.Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, Philadelphia, 1961. Map 2. Major Jewish and Converso communities in Christian Spain, 1474. From map by H. Beinart in Y.Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, Philadelphia, 1961.   great religious success at the moment the split Church was attempting to reunite at the Council of Constance. The Jewish delegates presented themselves without great enthusiasm for the issue of the disputation was in no doubt and freedom of expression had been virtually refused. The leading Jewish delegates were zerahiah b. isaac ha-levi from Saragossa and the philosopher Joseph Albo; as was to be expected Christianity triumphed and the defeat of the Jews resulted in a wave of conversion. The rabbis were given no real opportunity to defend themselves. The major topics of the disputation were the messianic problem and the veracity of the Talmud, and the Jewish delegates, despairing of being truly heard, wished to end the disputation. Only Zerahiah b. Isaac ha-Levi and Joseph Albo defended Judaism against all attack but they failed to convince their colleagues that there was any point in replying. The disputation finally ended in December 1414 and the Jewish delegates returned home. Acting on a bull promulgated by Benedict XIII on May 11, Ferdinand I ordered on July 23, 1415 the Jews to submit their copies of the Talmud so that all passages deemed anti-Christian might be censored. The Jews were also forbidden to read the toledot yeshu . Any attack on the Church was prohibited. Jewish judges lost their authority over criminal cases, even those involving informers. They were also forbidden to extend their synagogues. Christians could no longer employ Jewish agents and the Jews were confined to a special quarter. Apostates could inherit from their Jewish parents. With this even heavier burden to bear, many Aragonese communities were destroyed and conversions were numerous, especially among the higher classes. Aragon Judaism was close to the abyss when Benedict XIII was dismissed from the papacy (1416). On the death of Ferdinand in the same year they acquired a temporary respite. John II, the new king of Castile (1406–54), and his contemporary, Alfonso V of Aragon (1416–58), had little taste for the religious fervor of their predecessors. The new pope was similarly disinclined to reopen this particular battle. Almost all anti-Jewish measures were therefore abrogated (1419–22). Copies of the Talmud and synagogue buildings were restored to the Jews. In the meantime the Aragonese communities were greatly reduced; those of Valencia and Barcelona had disappeared altogether. In Majorca, the Jews who remained were   dispersed by a blood libel in 1432. Only the rural settlements in the province of Aragon had escaped persecution. At the moment of the expulsion there was an estimated 6,000 Jewish families in Aragon, a meager percentage indeed of the country's total population. In Castile there were around 30,000 Jewish families, aside from innumerable Conversos, many of whom were in fact Jews. The large communities, Seville, Toledo, and Burgos, had lost their former influence as a result of the apostasy of many members of the ruling class. Henceforward the decisive weight in the Jewish life of the kingdom was maintained by the small rural communities whose numbers rarely exceeded 50 families. The Jews were merchants, shopkeepers, or artisans, with a number of physicians. Some Jewish courtiers managed to retrieve their positions at court; abraham benveniste de Soria was the treasurer of John II, who also appointed him rab de la corte, chief rabbi of the kingdom. Abraham Benveniste used his position to undertake the reorganization of Castilian Jewry, convoking in 1432 a convention of representatives of Spanish communities in Valladolid to formulate and adopt new regulations. Their primary concern was to reorganize systems of instruction, to be effected through a tax imposed on slaughter, on wine, on marriages, and on circumcisions. Any community of 15 families or more was to support one primary school teacher, and a community of 40 families must employ a rabbi. It was also laid down that a community consisting of ten families must maintain a place of prayer. Various measures were formulated to regulate the election of judges, who had to act in accord with the rabbi and notables. It was also possible to appeal to the rab de la corte. The former laws covering informers and slanderers were abrogated; in future the rab de la corte could, under certain conditions, sentence informers to death. Forced betrothals and marriages were strictly forbidden. The rab de la corte also had to approve the appointment of any Jew to royal commissions. No Jew was allowed to obtain from the king exemption from payment of the communal taxes. Other decisions of the convention concerned sumptuary laws. Through this strict centralization the Castilian communities found a solution to their problems. It is difficult to ascertain if the regulations of valladolid were strictly applied, but they were an answer to the plight of communities greatly reduced in numbers and wealth. Yet the most pressing problem of Spanish Jewry no longer concerned the communities, for the question of the Conversos became progressively more acute. Showing their awareness and suspicion of the true nature of the mass conversions, Spanish Christians were in the habit of referring to "New" and "Old" Christians and effecting a veritable racial distinction between them. It is undoubtedly true that many Conversos were Christians in name only, acquiring their new status through force alone, and many others had accepted baptism as a means of breaking down social, economic, and political barriers. In pursuit of these aims they had begun to marry into the great Toledan families. Yet they too became concerned when in 1449 the rebels of Toledo issued a statute proclaiming that all New Christians – regardless of the fervor of their faith – were infamous and unfit for all offices and benefices, public and private, in Toledo and all its dependencies. They could be neither witnesses nor public notaries. The king and pope condemned this proclamation, more through the desire to hasten the conversion of the Jews, which it rendered henceforth impossible, than through any sense of justice. Great harm was done by this proclamation, giving rise to a widespread policy of eradication of real or suspected Jewish influence. Subsequently all religious and political agitation tended to this end. -Steps Toward the Expulsion The marriage of Isabella, heiress to the throne of Castile, and Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon, in 1469 had disastrous consequences for Spanish Jewry. The two kingdoms were united in 1479. At first they took no heed of the Jewish communities as such, but they considered the Conversos a danger to national unity. The Catholic monarchs continued to employ Jewish functionaries – such as Don abraham seneor , chief rabbi of Castile and tax controller for the whole kingdom, and isaac abrabanel , tax farmer for part of Castile – and a number of Conversos as well. However, in 1476 the right of criminal jurisdiction was taken from the Jewish communities. Soon the Catholic monarchs launched a direct attack on the Conversos, inviting the inquisition to extend its activities to the kingdom, which their predecessors had always refused to countenance, fearing the great power of this institution. On Sept. 27, 1480, two Dominicans were named inquisitors of the kingdom of Castile, and they began their activities in Seville in January 1481. Soon after, the first Conversos condemned as Judaizers were sent to their deaths. According to the chronicler Andres Bernaldez, more than 700 Conversos were burned at the stake between 1481 and 1488 and more than 5,000 reconciled to the Church after enduring various punishments. Inquisitors were appointed in 1481 for Aragon, where the papal Inquisition, which had been in existence for some time, was considered insufficiently effective. From 1483 the Jews were expelled from Andalusia, no doubt because it appeared to the inquisitors to be impossible to root out Jewish heresies from among the Conversos while practicing Jews still lived in their midst. Tomás de Torquemada , confessor to the queen, was appointed inquisitor-general in the autumn of 1483, providing the Inquisition with a new impetus and stricter organization. His activities stretched from town to town throughout the whole kingdom, bringing terror to Jewish communities everywhere since they were inevitably linked with the Conversos. In less than 12 years the Inquisition condemned no less than 13,000 Conversos, men and women, who had continued to practice Judaism in secret. Yet these were no more than a fraction of the mass of Conversos. When the last bastion of Muslim power in Spain fell with the triumphant entry of the Catholic monarchs into Granada on Jan. 2, 1492, the urge toward complete religious unity of the kingdom was reinforced. The scandal of the Conversos who had remained true to Judaism   had shown that segregation of the Jews and limitation of their rights did not suffice to suppress their influence. They must be totally removed from the face of Spain. Thus on March 31, 1492 the edict of expulsion was signed in Granada, although it was not promulgated until between April 29 and May 1. All Jews who were willing to accept Christianity were, of course, to be permitted to stay. In May the exodus began, the majority of the exiles – around 100,000 people – finding temporary refuge in Portugal (from where the Jews were expelled in 1496–97), the rest making for North Africa and Turkey, the only major country which opened its doors to them. A few found provisional homes in the little kingdom of Navarre, where there was still an ancient Jewish community in existence, but there too their stay was brief, for the Jews were expelled in 1498. Considerable numbers of Spanish Jews, including the chief rabbi Abraham Seneor and most of the members of the influential families, preferred baptism to exile, adding their number to the thousands of Conversos who had chosen this road at an earlier date. On July 31 (the 7th of Av), 1492, the last Jew left Spain. Yet Spanish (or Sephardi) Jewry had by no means disappeared, for almost everywhere the refugees reconstituted their communities, clinging to their former language and culture. In most areas, especially in North Africa, they met with descendants of refugees from the 1391 persecutions. In Ereẓ Israel they had been preceded by several groups of Spanish Jews who had gone there as a result of the various messianic movements which had shaken Spanish Jewry. Officially, no Jews were left in Spain. All that were left were the Conversos, a great number of whom remained true to their original faith. Some later fell victim to the Inquisition; others managed to flee from Spain and return openly to Judaism in the Sephardi communities of the Orient and Europe. See also anusim ; conversos ; marranos ; new christians ; portugal ; sephardim . -Cultural Life From the beginning, the cultural life of Spanish Jewry under the Christian reconquest followed on the style set under Muslim rule. Eastern influence lost none of its force even though a frontier henceforward separated the communities of the north from those of the south. In fact, the contrary was the case, since the Jews of Christian Spain often appeared to be indispensable agents in the diffusion of the Eastern cultural tradition. Consequently, many of them were translators of Arabic; some, like the Kimḥis and the ibn tibbons , even carried their work as translators to the north, to Provence. In Christian Spain the Jews continued to study the sciences, medicine in particular, and the Christian kings employed numbers of Jewish physicians. They were also well versed in astronomy and shortly before the expulsion abraham zacuto prepared the astronomical tables that Christopher Columbus used on his voyage. The Jewish "nobility" had frequently received the same education as their Christian counterparts, reaching a cultural integration rarely equaled in Jewish history. Of course this process only affected the families of Jewish courtiers, but this type of assimilation goes a long way toward explaining both the phenomena of Marranism – entailing the need to lead a double life – and the ability to abandon the Jewish heritage without regret and join the Christian fold. Yet the majority of people still looked to their traditional Jewish cultural heritage, which remained central to their lives. The relation of the journey of benjamin of tudela to the communities of Europe and Asia, and the work of the historian abraham ibn daud in his account of the continuity of Jewish tradition are well worthy of mention. The main stress, however, lay on the study of the Hebrew language and of the Bible and Talmud, and on the development of a style of Hebrew poetry which took the profane as well as the sacred for its subject matter. In all fields there was no real break with the Judeo-Arab milieu. For many years the Babylonian academies continued to be a major influence, but rabbinical scholarship in Spanish Jewry came to maturity in the 11th century with the work of isaac b. jacob ha-kohen alfasi . The latter, assisted by his pupils, especially joseph b. meir ha-levi ibn migash , created a Spanish Jewish talmudic academy which proceeded to develop its own methods. The theories of the grammarians in Muslim Spain were already known in the north and were accepted there. Poets flourished in the retinue of Jews who were wealthy or well placed at court. Poetry often remained a profession. Along with many of his contemporaries, judah ha-levi left Muslim Spain for the Christian part of the country without finding success there. His poems were torn between the two worlds and Judah Halevi finally left for the Holy Land. Along with Judah Halevi and moses ibn ezra , solomon ibn gabirol brought Hebrew poetry to a peak of perfection. Their religious poems, the main body of their work, permanently enriched the liturgy. At the same time they gave a new dimension to Hebrew poetry by extending it beyond its liturgical framework to cover every variety of a benevolent patron. The interest in poetry also gave rise to liturgical and biblical studies; biblical Hebrew once more predominated over rabbinical Hebrew. Following in the path of Menahem b. Saruk and dunash b. labrat were such grammarians as Judah b. David Ḥayyuj , Jonah Ibn Janaḥ , moses ha-kohen ibn gikatilla , and above all abraham ibn ezra , who produced their grammatical treatises in Hebrew and so enabled the Jewish grammarians of France and Germany to become aware of and adopt the theories of their Spanish counterparts. The same writers often produced biblical commentaries: joseph b. isaac ibn abitur on Psalms, Moses ha-Kohen ibn Gikatilla on Isaiah, the Latter Prophets, Psalms, and Job, and Abraham ibn Ezra on the entire Bible (although some portions of his commentary are no longer extant). In this period the maqāma – an Arabic verse form – made its debut in Jewish literature with the Taḥkemoni of Judah Al-Ḥarizi . Yet the golden age of Hebrew poetry in Spain was already drawing to a close. During the 11th century talmudic studies took root in Spain with the arrival of isaac b. jacob alfasi and continued to be greatly influenced by his work. With the aim of summing   up the discussions of the sages and pointing out the correct halakhah, he prepared a resumé of the Talmud. In this work, he stressed practical observance, an attitude which was characteristic of the great Spanish talmudists. His main pupil, Joseph b. Meir ha-Levi ibn Migash, followed in his footsteps and, like his teacher, wrote a number of responsa clarifying points of the law. The greatest stimulus to talmudic studies was the work of Maimonides, who spent his formative years in Spain and can be considered a Spanish scholar. He, too, produced works of codification of the law , the Mishneh Torah and Sefer ha-Mitzvot, and wrote numerous responsa. Like other Spanish rabbis, he did not hesitate to bring out his works in Arabic so that they could be understood by all. This bilinguality in Hebrew and Arabic was a mark of the first era of Spanish Jewry. Another equally important characteristic was its enthusiasm for philosophical debates. Spanish Jewry's integration into the contemporary Arab culture obliged it to face the same problems, though generally with an avowedly polemic intent. Writers were largely concerned with demonstrating that revelation and philosophy were not necessarily contradictory and that in any case Judaism represented the superior truth. Although Ibn Gabirol's philosophical work Fons Vitae has no specifically Jewish character, Judah Halevi devoted himself to a vigorous apology for Judaism. Baḥya ibn Paquda , a moralist, attempted to show the superiority of ethical conduct over the ceremonial law, which becomes falsified if the "duties of the heart" are neglected. However, the greatest representative of the philosophic trend was Maimonides, who followed it to formulate his classic definition of the dogmas of Judaism. Nevertheless, from the beginning of the 13th century the supremacy of philosophy was challenged in the controversy over Maimonides' works (see maimonidean controversy ), especially in the north of Spain, which had then reverted to Christian rule. The change in attitude was influenced by disillusionment arising from the changed conditions of Jewish life, by the renewed interest in talmudic studies due to the work of the Franco-German tosafists, and by the new trends in Jewish mysticism which first appeared in Provence before reaching Spain. At the beginning of the 14th century the Franco-German talmudic tradition came face to face with the Spanish through the arrival of asher b. jehiel , resulting in the preservation of unity in the field of Jewish law. Warmly received by the greatest Spanish scholar of the day, solomon b. abraham adret , Asher b. Jehiel cooperated with him in restoring peace: the study of philosophy was permitted, but under clearly defined conditions. Time, too, had done its work and the controversy was soon stilled. In the meantime the Kabbalah became increasingly important, especially in the group at Gerona. The celebrated talmudist Naḥmanides became one of its leading advocates. The appearance of the zohar , the largest part of which was produced by Moses b. Shem Tov de León between 1280 and 1286, gave a powerful impulse to the development of the kabbalistic trend which became predominant in Spain. Talmudic studies too gained a new impetus through the commentaries, novellae, and responsa of Naḥmanides, Solomon b. Abraham Adret, Asher b. Jehiel, and nissim b. reuben gerondi . jacob b. asher , son of Asher b. Jehiel, produced his codification of the law, the Arba'ah Turim, which remains to this day the archetype of the rabbinic code and was one of the bases of the Shulḥan Arukh. Another code, Sefer Abudarham, was compiled by david b. joseph abudarham of Seville. Following in the same path, menahem b. aaron ibn zerah of Navarre composed his Ẓeidah la-Derekh. yom tov b. abraham ishbili was especially noted for his many novellae; Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet, who had to leave Spain in 1391, wrote many responsa. Biblical commentaries (frequently showing kabbalistic influences) also came to the fore once more with the works of Naḥmanides, Baḥya b. Asher, and Jacob b. Asher, although the latter resolutely avoided kabbalistic speculation. Nevertheless the persecutions had grave consequences for scholarship too. The Judeo-Arab heritage began to disappear. Those conditions which had drawn Spanish Jews toward the study of science, medicine, and astrology in particular ceased to exist. This decay became more marked in the 15th century. Apart from the philosophic works of Ḥasdai Crescas and Joseph Albo, whose Sefer ha-Ikkarim was a new attempt to define the dogmas of Judaism, the creative period had passed. The messianic upheaval, exacerbated by persecution, only prolonged it slightly; the spirit of this period is best expressed in the works of Isaac b. Judah Abrabanel, who in 1492 preferred exile to apostasy. Probably stimulated by fear for the future, interest in kabbalistic speculation continued unabated. The expulsion itself did not mark a final end of the development of this specific type of culture. Abraham Zacuto finished his rabbinical history on the way to exile. The intellectual activity of Spanish Jewry was transferred to Eastern and European centers. Even the use of the Spanish language continued unchanged (see ladino ; sephardim ). Such was the vitality of this outlook that it remained seminal in Jewish life for many centuries (Simon R. Schwarzfuchs) -Modern Period Though the edict of expulsion of 1492 was not formally repealed until December 1968 and was consequently, on the Spanish statute book until that date, Jews had been allowed to live in Spain as individuals, though not as an organized community, from the late 19th century. The Republican Constitution of 1868 introduced for the first time in modern Spain the principle of religious tolerance. This was maintained in subsequent legislation and transformed into the more enlightened formula of religious freedom by the amendment to the Fuero de los Españoles, adopted by the referendum of December 1966. The new statute guaranteed the right of non-Catholics to maintain their organized institutions, public worship, and religious education. Jews, as such, were not specifically mentioned in any legal enactment but, as non-Catholics, they enjoyed equal rights with their Catholic fellow citizens. The only instance of "Jewish legislation" is a decree of December 1924 which granted to Sephardi Jews living abroad the right to claim Spanish nationality and settle in Spain, if they wished. This decree, although initially referring only to the Sephardi groups of salonika and alexandria , afforded the legal basis for extending the protection of the Spanish authorities to many Jews in Nazi-occupied countries during World War II. (Jeonathan Prato) -Holocaust Period From 1933 until the Civil War, Spain became a haven for about 3,000 Jewish refugees. The Civil War caused most of them to leave, and after the nationalist victory, when all non-Catholic communities had to close their institutions, Jewish public and religious life was destroyed. After the fall of France, Spain served for tens of thousands of refugees as a landbridge to the high seas, which were dominated by the Allies. By the summer of 1942, over 20,000 Jewish refugees had passed through Spain, 10,500 of whom were assisted by the HICEM office in Lisbon. Less than 1,000 were unable to continue the journey, however, and were imprisoned with other refugees in jails or in the miranda de ebro concentration camp. Some refugees who crossed the border illegally were sent back to France. In the summer of 1942, when the "Final Solution" was initiated by Germany, a new wave of Jewish refugees reached Spain, and their numbers grew after the occupation of southern France. Initially there was no change in Spain's policy: refugees were accepted and arrested, and some were deported. In December 1942, however, when the Allies wanted French deserters to cross the Spanish border, Spain had to agree to stop deporting refugees and allow them to leave for North Africa and Portugal. In April 1943, Spain permitted the establishment in Madrid of the Representation of American Relief Organizations, most of whose budget came from the american jewish joint distribution committee (AJDC). About 5,600 Jews survived by fleeing to Spain during the second half of the war. In 1943, Spain was faced with an additional rescue problem. Four thousand Jews – of whom 3,000 were in France and the rest in the Balkans as well as a number of Jews from Spanish Morocco who were living in French Morocco, possessed partial or full Spanish citizenship. Most of the Spanish consuls protected these Jews, even when they were instructed to act only when Spanish sovereignty was affected. On Jan. 28, 1943, eichmann and his associates presented Spain with the alternative of either recalling these Jewish subjects within a specified time or abandoning them to slaughter. On March 18, 1943 Spain decided that only those who could prove their Spanish citizenship would be permitted to enter the country. They would have to live in specified towns and would remain in Spain until they could be removed elsewhere. As long as there was one group of these "repatriates" in Spain, the next group could not enter the country. This policy was strictly adhered to. Since the Allies delayed for a year and a quarter the establishment of a refugee center in North Africa, which they had agreed upon at the bermuda conference , the AJDC could not remove the "expatriation" by Spanish consuls without having recourse to repatriation; the rest died or saved themselves. In the last stages of the Holocaust, Spain joined the rescue operation in Hungary by giving protection certificates to 2,750 Jews who were not Spanish citizens. (Haim Avni) -After World War II The improving economic, social, and general conditions prevailing in Spain after World War II attracted an increasing number of Jews. According to an unofficial estimate some 8,000 Jews lived in Spain in 1968, distributed as follows: 3,000 in Barcelona, 2,500 in Madrid, 1,400 in Melilla, 600 in Ceuta, 300 in Malaga, and 50 in Seville. Individual Jews were scattered in many other cities. Until 1945 the bulk of the community was constituted of families originating from East Mediterranean, Balkan, and East and Central European countries. Since then a considerable number of Jews from former Spanish and French Morocco settled in the Peninsula: about 85% were of Sephardi origin. Until 1967 a Jewish community could not obtain legal recognition as a religious body (the community of Madrid was registered as a corporation under the law of private associations). Nevertheless they maintained an almost complete range of religious activities and services. In Barcelona a community center housed the synagogue, a rabbinical office, and a cultural center. In Madrid a new synagogue was officially inaugurated in December 1968 in the presence of government and ecclesiastical authorities. To mark the importance of the event, the Spanish government issued a formal repeal of the edict of expulsion. An increasing effort was made to provide Jewish education to the new generation. In Madrid a primary school had some 80 children in 1968. Hebrew lessons were given to pupils attending private schools. Two summer camps in Madrid and Barcelona were attended by 200 youngsters. A Maccabi movement, functioning in Madrid and Barcelona, afforded a framework for an increasing number of young people. The Council of Jewish Communities of Spain, established in 1963 for the coordination and study of common activities and problems, issued a monthly bulletin in Spanish, Ha-Kesher (1963– ), dealing with local and general Jewish affairs. In the 1960s, Spain saw a revival of studies of general and Hispanic Jewish culture. The universities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Granada had chairs of Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Jewish literature. In 1940 the Arias Montano Institute of Jewish and Near Eastern Studies was established in Madrid under the guidance of distinguished Hebrew scholars; its quarterly publication Sefarad acquired a reputation in the field of Sephardi culture. The Spanish Council of Scientific Research, in conjunction with the World Sephardi Federation, organized an Institute of Sephardi Studies in Madrid for the study of all aspects of Sephardi culture since the expulsion, throughout the world. In 1964 a Sephardi Center was created in Toledo by a decree of the head of state: its board included the president of the Jewish Community of Madrid and a professor of Jewish history of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, both ex officio, a representative of the World Sephardi Federation, and three outstanding personalities of the Sephardi world. The new climate created in the Catholic world as a result of Vatican   Council II made possible the organization of the Amistad Judeo-Christiana with the approval of the Church hierarchy in Madrid and Barcelona. This organization revised school textbooks, eliminating from them passages offensive to the Jewish people and religion. In the post-Franco era (from 1975) the position of the Jews in Spain improved to a considerable extent, mostly as a result of the radical social changes which took place in the country. During the 1970s the number of Jews in Spain grew to about 12,000, the majority (90%) of Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian origin, and the remainder from Eastern Europe, France, Turkey and the Balkan countries. At the end of 1978 a major change in the constitution of Spain took place when, following a national referendum, the Catholic Church was disestablished as the state religion, as a result of which Jews were given equality with all the other religious denominations, such as the Protestant Church. Organized communities existed in Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga. Madrid's impressive new synagogue, built in 1968, served as a center for social activities. Both Madrid and Barcelona had rabbis. Educational and social activities in Barcelona took place in the spacious communal hall attached to the synagogue and courses for youth were conducted by emissaries from Israel. There was no rabbi in Malaga, with communal affairs in the hands of a lay committee. Kosher meat was imported from Morocco. In 1992, in a symbolic gesture, King Juan Carlos repealed the 1492 expulsion order. The two major Jewish centers remained Madrid (with about 3,000 Jews in the early 21st century) and Barcelona (also with about 3,000), followed by Malaga and with smaller communities in Alicante, Benidorm, Cadiz, Granada, Marbella, Majorca, Torremolinos, and Valencia. The total Jewish population in the early 21st century was around 12,000. The majority of Jews were Sephardi. In Spanish North Africa there were communities in Ceuta and Melila. The 1970s and 1980s saw immigration from Latin America. The Latin Americans took the initiative in forming groups that brought Jews together for cultural and intellectual events. The communities were united in the Federacion de Comunidades Israelitas de Espana. Jewish day schools operated in Barcelona, Madrid, and Malaga. In the absence of laws restricting hate propagation or Holocaust denial, Spain served as a publishing and distribution center for neo-Nazis and other extreme rightists. RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL Though no diplomatic relations existed between Spain and Israel until 1986, Spain nevertheless maintained a Consulate General in Jerusalem, which had existed prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. There was no parallel Israel representation, however, in Spain. In the Israel-Arab conflict, Spain adopted a markedly pro-Arab line, seeing itself as a bridge between Western Europe and the Arab world. However, sympathy for Israel was not negligible. Trade, tourist, and shipping relations between Israel and Spain developed substantially. Exports from Israel to Spain increased from $500,000 in 1960 to $616 million in 2004, imports from $100,000 to $652 million. In 2004, 21,400 Spanish tourists arrived in Israel, up from 7,800 in 1980. (Jeonathan Prato) -BIBLIOGRAPHY: GENERAL: ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Sáncez-Albornoz, Spain, a Historical Enigma, 2 vols. (1975), 2:757–873; L. Suárez Fernández, Judíos españoles en la edad media (1980) (French trans. Les Juifs espagnols au Moyen Âge (1983); idem, Los Reyes Católicos: la expansión de la fe (1990), 75–120; J. Stampfer (ed.), The Sephardim: A Cultural Journey from Spain to the Pacific Coast (1987); Y. Assis, in: Encuentros and Desencuentros, Spanish Jewish Cultural Interaction (2000), 29–37; idem, in: A. Rapoport-Albert and S.J. Zipperstein (eds.), Jewish History, Essays in Honour of Chimen Abramsky (1988), 25–59; A. Mirsky, A. Grossman, and Y. Kaplan (eds.), Exile and Diaspora; Studies in the History of the Jewish People Presented to Professor Haim Beinart (1991) (2 vols. one in Hebrew, the second in other languages); J.L. Lacave, Sefarad: La España judía (1987); idem, Juderías y sinagogas españolas (1992); D. Romano, in: Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of Jewish Studies (1900), Division B, vol. 2, 135–42; H. Beinart, ed., The Sephardi Legacy (1992), 2 vols.; idem, The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (2002) (trans. from Hebrew); E. Kedourie (ed.), Spain and the Jews; The Sephardi Experience, 1492 and After (1992); V.B. Mann, J.D. Dodds, and T.F. Glick (ed.), Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain (1992); H. Méchoulan (ed.), Les Juifs d'Espagne; histoire d'une diaspora (1992). MUSLIM PERIOD: Ashtor, Korot; E. Ashtor, in: Zion, 28 (1963), 34–56; Ibn Daud, Tradition; R. Dozy, Spanish Islam (1913); E. Lévi-Provençal, Histoire de l'Espagne Musulmane, 2 vols. (1950); H.J. Schirmann, in: YMḤSI, 2 (1936), 117–212; 4 (1938), 247–96; 6 (1945), 249–347; idem, in: Zion, 1 (1936), 261–83, 357–76; idem, in: JSOS, 13 (1951), 99–126; Schirmann, Sefarad, 1–2 (1960–612), passim; L. Torrés-Balbas, in: Al-Andalus, 19 (1954), 189–97; A.S. Halkin, in: L. Finkelstein (ed.), The Jews, 2 (19603), 1116–49; M. Margaliot, Hilkhot ha-Nagid (1962), 1–11; S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society (1967), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.D. Gotein, in: Orientalia Hispanica, 1:1 (1974), 331–50; N. Allony, in: Sefunot, n.s., 1 (1980), 63–82; A. Pinero Saenz, in: J. Peláez del Rosal (ed.), The Jews in Cordoba (X – XII) Centuries (1987), 9–27. CHRISTIAN PERIOD: Baer, Spain; Baer, Urkunden; Neuman, Spain; H. Beinart, Anusim be-Din ha-Inkviziẓyah (1965); J. Juster, in: Etudes d'histoire juridique offertes à Paul Frédéric Girard (1912), 275–335; F. Cantera Burgos, in: C. Roth (ed.), World History of the Jewish People, 2 (1966), 357–81; J. Regné, Catalogue des actes de Jaime Ier, Pedro III et Alfonso III, rois d'Aragon, concernant les Juifs (1911–14); I. Epstein, Responsa of R. Solomon ben Adreth of Barcelona (1235 – 1310) as a Source of History of Spain (1925); I.S. Revah, in: REJ, 118 (1959), 29–77; Sefarad, 1 (1941–71); R. Cansinos-Asséns, España y los judíos españoles. El retorno del éxodo (1917); idem, Los judíos en Sefarad: episodios y símbolos (1950). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y.H. Yerushalmi, in: Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (1974), 1023–58; M. Kriegel, Les Juifs à la fin du Moyen Âge dans l'Europe méditerranéene (1979); D. Romano, in: Sefarad, 39 (1979), 347–54; idem, in: ibid., 51 (1991), 353–67; idem, in: Hispania sacra, 40 (1988), 955–78; H. Beinart, in: Zion, 51 (1986), 61–85; Y. Assis, in: Zion, 46 (1981), 251–77 (Heb.); idem, ibid., 50 (1985), 221–40 (Heb.); idem, in: REJ, 142 (1983), 209–27; idem, in: Sefunot, 3:18 (1985), 11–34; idem, in: J. Dan (ed.), Tarbut ve-Historiyah (Culture and History) (Heb., 1987), 121–45; idem, in: Jewish Art, 18 (1992), 7–29; idem, in: D. Frank (ed.), The Jews of Medieval Islam (1995) 111–24; idem, in: S. Kottek (ed.), Medical Ethics in Medieval Spain (13th – 14th Centuries) (1996), 33–49; idem, The Golden Age of Aragonese Jewry (1997); idem, Jewish Economy in the Medieval Crown of Aragon (1997); E. Gutwirth,   in: Misceláneo de Estudios Áreabes y Hebraicos, 30:2 (1981), 83–98; idem, in: ibid., 34:2 (1985), 85–91; idem, in: Sefarad, 49 (1989), 237–62; M. de Menaca, in: Les pays de la Méditerranée occidentale au Moyen Âge; études et recherches (1983), 235–53; J. Hacker, in: R.I. Cohen, Vision and Conflict in the Holy Land (1985), 111–39; idem, in: Sefunot, n.s. 2 (1983), 21–95; B. Leroy, L'aventure séfarade (1986); J.R. Magdalena Nom de Déu, in: Calls, 2 (1987), 7–16; J. Riera i Sans, in: Calls, 3 (1988–89), 9–28; P. León Tello, in: Anuario de estudios medievales, 19 (1989), 451–67; D. Schwatz, in: Pe'amim, 46–47 (1991), 92–114 (Heb.); HOLOCAUST PERIOD: N. Robinson, Spain of Franco and its Policies Towards the Jews (1953). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Avni, Spain, the Jews and Franco (1982). CONTEMPORARY PERIOD: J. Goodman, in: AJYB, 68 (1967), 332–41; H. Beinart, Ha-Yishuv ha-Yehudi he-Ḥadash bi-Sefarad, Reka, Meẓi'ut ve-Ha'arakhah (1969).