Up until the late 13th and 14th centuries and the eventual expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Jewish culture clearly thrived throughout Spain and left a lasting impression on politics, cuisine, culture, and the city as a whole. When Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon tried to strengthen their church, they purified Spain by purging it of anyone who was not Christian. Leading up to their eventual expulsion, many Jews were forced to convert, and many were burned at the stake. Eventually, in order to keep the purity of Spain and guarantee that that Jews would not taint or influence Spanish Christians, the expulsion of the Jews was ordered. According to many, during the Spanish Inquisition Spain did not only lose over 100,000 Jews, but they
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The Jewish population consisted of doctors, scientists, scholars, merchants, and money lenders for the Catalonian aristocracy. Therefore, “the Expulsion of the Jews was a disaster for Spain, psychologically, intellectually and economically. It boosted the legitimacy of the Spanish Inquisition, whose stifling effect would be felt by the society until the 19th century. It also stripped 2% of Spain’s most urbane, educated and affluent inhabitants. At a time when Europe’s economy was shifting from agrarian to industrial, Spain could not afford this loss. …Many Sephardic Jews and their families rose to great prominence where they settled” (Nadeau Barlow). Here, it is made evident that the expulsion of the unconverted Jews from Spain had a disastrous and devastating effect on the Spanish economy and affected their growth as a nation as well. If the Jewish population was not an integral part of Spain as a whole and an integrated part of the Spanish society, then their expulsion would not have affected their country as dramatically as it did. When the Jews left, they left a hole in the communities that they were once a part of and in the Spanish economy in its entirety, a hole that Spain could not afford in a time of growth and progression. Immediately after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Spain began to suffer. Through the devastating effects that the expulsion of the Jews had on the Spanish economy, we can also see how the community of Jews was both prominent and important in Spanish
The Jewish population consisted of doctors, scientists, scholars, merchants, and money lenders for the Catalonian aristocracy. Therefore, “the Expulsion of the Jews was a disaster for Spain, psychologically, intellectually and economically. It boosted the legitimacy of the Spanish Inquisition, whose stifling effect would be felt by the society until the 19th century. It also stripped 2% of Spain’s most urbane, educated and affluent inhabitants. At a time when Europe’s economy was shifting from agrarian to industrial, Spain could not afford this loss. …Many Sephardic Jews and their families rose to great prominence where they settled” (Nadeau Barlow). Here, it is made evident that the expulsion of the unconverted Jews from Spain had a disastrous and devastating effect on the Spanish economy and affected their growth as a nation as well. If the Jewish population was not an integral part of Spain as a whole and an integrated part of the Spanish society, then their expulsion would not have affected their country as dramatically as it did. When the Jews left, they left a hole in the communities that they were once a part of and in the Spanish economy in its entirety, a hole that Spain could not afford in a time of growth and progression. Immediately after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Spain began to suffer. Through the devastating effects that the expulsion of the Jews had on the Spanish economy, we can also see how the community of Jews was both prominent and important in Spanish