In a civil war between Peter the Cruel (1350-1369) and Henry II (1369-1379) the Jews sided with the former, and although Henry was victorious he treated them with moderation. In 1391 Ferdinand Martinez began to preach violent sermons against the Jews in Toledo, the largest Jewish community of Spain. His example was followed in many other places, and in consequence of these incendiary speeches, riots broke out all over Christian Spain. A great many Jews were killed or forcibly converted to Christianity. Many of the latter fled as soon as they were able to do so to Mohammedan countries in order to be able to practice the Jewish religion openly. They were called Marannos, probably from the Hebrew מוחרם (excommunicated). The Jews called them אנוסים (compelled to profess the Christian religion).
In 1413-1414 another public disputation between Jews and Christians was arranged by Pope Benedict XIII, one of the three who claimed the Papal throne at that time. It took place in Tortosa, Aragon. The idea had been suggested to the Pope by Solomon Halevi, a converted Jew who called himself Paul and later on became Bishop of Burgos. He was an influential friend of the King of Castile. Another convert, a Jewish scholar like Paul, had written a satire against Paul and his conversion. This was Joshua Alorqui, who as a Christian took the name of Geronimo de Santa Fe, and was derisively called by the Jews מגד״ף, “Blasphemer.”
Among those who took up the cudgels for the Jews at Tortosa was Joseph Albo, author of the philosophic work “Ikkarim.” The many converts whom the Church forced to remain in her fold while they were Jews at heart and secretly practiced Judaism, provoked the ecclesiastic authorities. For their sake a special court of inquiry, called the “Inquisition,” was created in 1480. This may be defined as a court-martial to try cases of heresy. It proceeded with the utmost severity and with absolute disregard of the most elementary forms of court procedure. From time to time it arranged public executions, at which those convicted of heresy were burned at the stake, often after having undergone terrible tortures. Such an execution was called an auto-da-fe.
In 1483 Thomas Torquemada was appointed Grand Inquisitor, and he was assisted by the blind monk, Peter Arbues. During the time of the existence of the Inquisition (1480-1808), 31,712 were burned at the stake and hundreds of thousands were punished with imprisonment, confiscation of property, or were publicly disgraced. One of the latter kinds of punishment was the sentence compelling the victim to wear a hideous penitential gown, the San Benito. Peter Arbues was assassinated by Marannos, and Pope Pius IX declared him a saint in 1868. The victims of the Inquisition were mostly converted Jews, although there were also Moors and native Christians among them. In spite of the terrors of the Inquisition, the Jews assisted the Marannos in the observance of the Jewish religion, and this was the cause of the edict of expulsion promulgated by Ferdinand, King of Castile, and his wife Isabella, Queen of Aragon, on March 30, 1492, soon after the capture of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain.
Most of the exiled fled to Portugal, where they found a temporary home. But when Manuel, King of Portugal, married the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, it was stipulated in the marriage contract that the Jews should be expelled from that country also. This expulsion took place in 1498. Most of the exiles went to Turkey, where they were kindly received. Others went to the Barbary States in Northern Africa, and especially to Morocco. A number went to Italy and settled in the various cities, even in the Papal possessions. Still there were a great many Marannos left in Spain, and while they were compelled to profess and practice the Catholic religion, they remained Jews for many generations. Hence up to the end of the eighteenth century, they were always autos-da-fe held at which Jews were publicly burned. From time to time the wealthy Marannos would escape and seek refuge in countries where they were permitted to publicly practice their religion.
ITALY
Italy was split up into many petty states whose boundary lines were constantly shifting. The treatment of the Jews varied in its details according to time and locality but is the same in general throughout mediæval times. It was characterized by restriction of economic liberty and humiliation in social position. The Jews produced quite a number of eminent scholars, physicians (sometimes attending on the Popes), astronomers and translators of Arabic works into Latin. Their economic activity was largely confined to money-lending and, in the fourteenth century, they became the pioneers of banking by combining the pawn-shops in a certain city into companies which were given the exclusive privilege of money-lending.
In the fifteenth century clerical agitation became very strong, and loan associations were formed under priestly management to suppress money-lending by Jews. One of the most notable agitators in this respect was Bernardin of Feltre, who is known through his participation in the ritual murder trial at Trent (1475). Italy became a force in Jewish culture by the establishment of the first Hebrew printing presses. The first book printed seems to have been published in 1474. One of the earliest printed books was the “Psalms” with the commentary of David Kimhi, 1475. The edict of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain affected also those of Sicily and southern Italy, at that time Spanish dependencies. Since that period there has existed no Jewish community in that part of Italy.
HUNGARY
In Hungary the Jews settled at a very early date. They were tax-farmers and financiers. Our first documentary evidence goes back to 1251, when King Bela IV granted them a charter, essentially a reproduction of that granted by the Duke of Austria in 1244. Under Louis (1342-1382) they were given the alternative of expulsion or conversion to Christianity. During the fifteenth century the Jews suffered from persecution and expulsion.