Editing Alhambra Decree (section)

==Decree==
[[File:Alhambra Decree.jpg|right|thumb|275px|A signed copy of the Edict of Expulsion]]
The king and queen issued the Alhambra Decree less than three months after the surrender of Granada. Although Isabella was the force behind the decision, her husband Ferdinand did not oppose it.  That her [[confessor]] had just changed from the tolerant [[Hernando de Talavera]] to the very intolerant [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]] suggests an increase in royal hostility towards the Jews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/deisenbe/Other_Hispanic_Topics/Cisneros_y_la_quema_de_los_manuscritos_granadinos.htm&prev=search|title=Cisneros y la quema de los manuscritos granadinos|last=Eisenberg|first=Daniel|year=1993|publisher=Journal of Hispanic Philology|pages=107–124|trans-title=Cisneros and the Burning of the Granada Manuscripts|orig-year=1992|access-date=27 June 2017|volume=16}} {{dead link|date=October 2020}}</ref> 

The text of the decree stated, that despite previous attempts to segregate Jews into separate quarters and the ongoing Inquisition, interaction between Jews and Christians persisted. It accused Jews of trying "to subvert the holy Catholic faith" by attempting to "draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs", by teaching them Jewish laws, rituals, and beliefs, providing religious materials and ritually prepared food, performing circumcisions, and ultimately convincing them that Judaism is the only true faith, causing great harm to Catholicism.<ref name="Decree-translation" /> 

The document argued that the only effective remedy was the complete removal of Jews, since by their "diabolical astuteness" they "continually wage war against us... Because whenever any grave and detestable crime is committed by members of any organization..., it is reasonable that such an organization... should be dissolved and annihilated" Therefore, the monarchs decreed that all Jews of any age, residing in their kingdom, must depart and were forbidden to ever return, under penalty of death and confiscation of all property. Anyone assisting or sheltering Jews also faced severe penalties, including loss of possessions and titles.<ref name="Decree-translation" /> 

After the decree was passed, Spain's entire Jewish population was given only four months to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. The edict promised the Jews royal protection and security for the effective three-month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them, excluding "gold or silver or minted money or other things prohibited by the laws of our kingdoms."<ref name="Decree-translation"/> In practice, however, the Jews had to sell anything they could not carry: their land, their houses, and their libraries, and converting their wealth to a more portable form proved difficult. The market in Spain was saturated with these goods, which meant the prices were artificially lowered for the months before the deadline. As a result, much of the wealth of the Jewish community remained in Spain. The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or leave by the deadline was [[summary execution]].<ref name="Decree-translation" />

===Dispersal===
{{ref improve|section|date=March 2019}}
The [[Sephardi Jews]] migrated to four major areas: North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Italy.<ref name=":1" /> Some Spanish Jews who emigrated to avoid conversion [[Jewish diaspora|dispersed]] throughout the region of North Africa known as the [[Maghreb]]. The Jewish scholars and physicians among previous Sephardic immigrants to this area had reinvigorated the Jewish communities in North Africa.<ref name=":1" /> However, in the 1490s, parts of the Mediterranean world, including Morocco were experiencing severe famine. As a result, a number of cities in Morocco refused to let the Spanish Jews in. This led to mass starvation among the refugees, and made the [[Jewish refugees]] vulnerable to the predation of slavers, although the regional ruler invalidated many of these sales within a few years.<ref name=":1" /> A good number of the Jews who had fled to North Africa returned to Spain and converted. The Jews who stayed in North Africa often intermingled with the already existing [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Arabic or Berber speaking communities, becoming the ancestors of the Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan Jewish communities.

Many Spanish Jews also fled to the [[Ottoman Empire]], where they were given refuge. Sultan [[Bayezid II]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], learning about the expulsion of Jews from Spain, dispatched the [[Ottoman Navy]] to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of [[Thessaloniki]] (currently in [[Greece]]) and [[İzmir]] (currently in [[Turkey]]).<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.html "Turkey"], ''Jewish Virtual Library''</ref> Many of these Jews also settled in other parts of the Balkans ruled by the Ottomans such as the areas that are now Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. Concerning this incident, Bayezid II is alleged to have commented, "those who say that Ferdinand and Isabella are wise are indeed fools; for he gives me, his enemy, his national treasure, the Jews."

A majority of Sephardim migrated to [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], where they gained [[Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal|only a few years of respite from persecution]]. About 600 Jewish families were allowed to stay in Portugal following an exorbitant bribe until the Portuguese king entered negotiations to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Caught between his desire for an alliance with Spain and his economic reliance on the Jews, [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] declared the Jewish community in Portugal (perhaps then some 10% of that country's population)<ref>Kayserling, Meyer. "História dos Judeus em Portugal". Editora Pioneira, São Paulo, 1971</ref> Christians by royal decree unless they left the country. In return, he promised the Inquisition would not come to Portugal for 40 years.<ref name=":1" /> He then seized the Jews who tried to leave and had them forcibly baptized, after separating them from their children.<ref name=":1" /> It was years before the Jews who fled to Portugal were allowed to emigrate. When the ban was lifted, many of them fled to the [[Low Countries]], or the Netherlands.

Throughout history, scholars have given widely differing numbers of Jews expelled from Spain. However, the figure is likely to be below the 100,000 Jews who had not yet converted to Christianity by 1492, possibly as low as 40,000. Such figures exclude the significant number of Jews who returned to Spain due to the hostile reception they received in their countries of refuge, notably [[Fes]] (Morocco). The situation of returnees was legalized with the Ordinance of 10 November 1492 which established that civil and church authorities should be witnesses to baptism and, in the case that they were baptized before arrival, proof and witnesses of baptism were required. Furthermore, all property could be recovered by returnees at the same price at which it was sold. Similarly the Provision of the Royal Council of 24 October 1493 set harsh sanctions for those who slandered these New Christians with insulting terms such as ''tornadizos''.<ref name=":0" /><sup>:115</sup> After all, the Catholic monarchs were concerned with the souls of their subjects, and Catholic doctrine held that the persecution of converts would remove an important incentive for conversion. Returnees are documented as late as 1499.

===Conversions===
A majority of Spain's Jewish population had converted to Christianity during the waves of religious persecutions prior to the Decree—a total of 200,000 converts according to Joseph Pérez.<ref name=":0" /> The main objective of the expulsion of practicing Jews was ensuring the sincerity of the conversions of such a large convert population. Of the 100,000 Jews that remained true to their faith by 1492, an additional number chose to convert and join the converso community rather than face expulsion. Recent conversos were subject to additional suspicion by the Inquisition, which had been established to persecute religious heretics, but in Spain and Portugal was focused on finding crypto-Jews. Although Judaism was not considered a heresy, professing Christianity while engaging in Jewish practices was heretical. Additionally, ''[[Limpieza de sangre]]'' statutes instituted legal discrimination against converso descendants, barring them from certain positions and forbidding them from emigrating to the Americas. For years, families with urban origins who had extensive trade connections, and people who were learned and multilingual were suspected of having Jewish ancestry.<ref name=":1" /> According to the prejudice of the time, a person with Jewish blood was untrustworthy and inferior.<ref name=":1" /> Such measures slowly faded away as converso identity was forgotten and this community merged into Spain's dominant [[Catholic culture]]. This process lasted until the eighteenth century, with a few exceptions, most notably the [[Chuetas]] of the island of [[Majorca]], where discrimination lasted into early 20th Century.

A [[Y chromosome]] [[DNA testing|DNA test]] conducted by the [[University of Leicester]] and the [[Pompeu Fabra University]] has indicated an average of nearly 20% for Spaniards having some direct patrilineal descent from populations from the Near East which colonized the region either in historical times, such as [[Jews]] and [[Phoenicians]], or during earlier prehistoric [[Neolithic]] migrations. Between the 90,000 Jews who converted under the Visigoth persecutions, and the 100,000+ Jews who converted in the years leading up to expulsion, it is likely that many of these people have Jewish ancestry. Genetic studies have explored local beliefs in the American South West that Spanish Americans are the descendants of conversos.<ref name="FloresMaca-Meyer2004">{{cite journal |last1=Flores |first1=Carlos |last2=Maca-Meyer |first2=Nicole |last3=González |first3=Ana M |last4=Oefner |first4=Peter J |last5=Shen |first5=Peidong |last6=Pérez |first6=Jose A |last7=Rojas |first7=Antonio |last8=Larruga |first8=Jose M |last9=Underhill |first9=Peter A |title=Reduced genetic structure of the Iberian peninsula revealed by Y-chromosome analysis: implications for population demography |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=12 |issue=10 |year=2004 |pages=855–863 |issn=1018-4813 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201225 |pmid=15280900|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=12627534 | doi=10.1002/ajpa.10168 | volume=120 | issue=4 | title=Mitochondrial DNA affinities at the Atlantic fringe of Europe |date=April 2003 | journal=Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. | pages=391–404 | last1 = González | first1 = AM | last2 = Brehm | first2 = A | last3 = Pérez | first3 = JA | last4 = Maca-Meyer | first4 = N | last5 = Flores | first5 = C | last6 = Cabrera | first6 = VM}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Di Giacomo|first1=F.|last2=Luca|first2=F.|last3=Popa|first3=L. O.|last4=Akar|first4=N.|last5=Anagnou|first5=N.|last6=Banyko|first6=J.|last7=Brdicka|first7=R.|last8=Barbujani|first8=G.|last9=Papola|first9=F.|date=October 2004|title=Y chromosomal haplogroup J as a signature of the post-neolithic colonization of Europe|journal=Human Genetics|volume=115|issue=5|pages=357–371|doi=10.1007/s00439-004-1168-9|issn=0340-6717|pmid=15322918|s2cid=18482536}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last2=Knight|first2=Alec|last3=Underhill|first3=Peter A.|last4=Neulander|first4=Judith S.|last5=Disotell|first5=Todd R.|last6=Mountain|first6=Joanna L.|year=2006|title=Toward resolution of the debate regarding purported crypto-Jews in a Spanish-American population: Evidence from the Y chromosome|journal=Annals of Human Biology|publisher=Taylor and Francis|volume=33|issue=1|pages=100–111|doi=10.1080/03014460500475870|pmid=16500815|last1=Sutton|first1=Wesley K.|s2cid=26716816}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions: Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean <!--|publisher=Cell.com--> |date=17 November 2008 |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |publisher=Elsevier Inc. |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.10.012 |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=633–642 |pmid=18976729 |pmc=2668035 | last1 = Zalloua | first1 = PA | last2 = Platt | first2 = DE | last3 = El Sibai | first3 = M |display-authors=et al}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url= |title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula |quote=Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin |date=12 December 2006 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |volume=83 |issue=6 |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |pages=725–736 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061 | last1 = Adams | first1 = SM | last2 = Bosch | first2 = E | last3 = Balaresque | first3 = PL |display-authors=et al}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publico.es/ciencias/180536/tres/culturas/adn |title=Tres culturas en el ADN |last=Yanes |first=Javier |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721214231/http://www.publico.es/ciencias/180536/tres-culturas-en-el-adn |archive-date=21 July 2012 |access-date=9 September 2016 |language=es |trans-title=Three cultures in DNA |quote=[English translation] The Sephardi result may be overestimated, since there is much diversity in those genes and maybe absorbed other genes from the Middle East. Puts Calafell in doubt the validity of ancestry tests? They can be good for the Americans, we already know from where we come from. |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/39056/title/Spanish_Inquisition_couldn%E2%80%99t_quash_Moorish,_Jewish_genes |title=Spanish Inquisition couldn't quash Moorish, Jewish genes |last=Hesman Saey |first=Tina |date=4 December 2008 |access-date=9 September 2016 |quote=We think it might be an over estimate. The genetic makeup of Sephardic Jews is probably common to other Middle Eastern populations, such as the Phoenicians, that also settled the Iberian Peninsula," Calafell says: "In our study, that would have all fallen under the Jewish label. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629172709/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/39056/title/Spanish_Inquisition_couldn%E2%80%99t_quash_Moorish,_Jewish_genes |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/12/04/ciencia/1228409780.html |title=Uno de cada tres españoles tiene marcadores genéticos de Oriente Medio o el Magreb |last=Cáceres |first=Pedro |date=10 December 2008 |access-date=9 September 2016 |language=es |trans-title=One in three Spaniards have genetic markers for Middle East and the Maghreb |quote=[English translation] Dr. Calafell clarifies that ... the genetic markers used to distinguish the population with Sephardi ancestry may produce distortions. The 25% of Spaniards that are identified as having Sephardi ancestry in the study could have inherited that same marker from older movements like the Phoenicians, or even the first Neolithic settlers thousands of years ago.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16200-spanish-inquisition-left-genetic-legacy-in-iberia.html |title=Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia |last=Callaway |first=Ewen |publisher=New Scientist |date=4 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-secret-jews-of-san-luis-valley-11765512/|title=The 'Secret Jews' of San Luis Valley|last=Wheelwright|first=Jeff|work=Smithsonian|access-date=27 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>{{overcite|date=October 2023}}