CHAPTER XIX.
A.D. 1200-1300—continued.
THE JEWS IN SPAIN.
Turning now to Spain, we find that the Jews, during this century, still continued to enjoy, if not the full measure of justice to which they were entitled, yet nevertheless an amount of it which contrasts favourably with the treatment they underwent in other lands. The wisdom, justice, and clemency also shown by the Spanish kings on many occasions are so unlike the spirit manifested in after generations, that we can hardly believe that we are writing of the same Spain which approved the barbarities of Torquemada, or the horrors of the Jewish exodus.
James (or Jayme) I. of Aragon, who began his long reign early in this century, is said to have granted especial favour to the Jews, notwithstanding that he showed a very persecuting spirit in the instance of the Albigenses. He often sought instruction of Jewish Rabbins, and used their books of prayer in his private devotions, and even, it is said, would not permit a Spanish translation of the Old Testament to be introduced into his dominions, because of the value he set on that made by David Kimchi. His confessor Raimond is believed to have been in a great measure the cause of his kindly feeling towards the Jews, being wise enough to know that if the Jews were to be converted, the best chance of accomplishing it was by the exercise of mildness and charity.[116] Regulations were passed in the earlier years of the century,[117] with a view of preventing the excessive usury exacted of Christians by Jews; but they are not of a kind to be greatly complained of. The Jews are not to lend at a higher rate of interest than 20 per cent., they are not to charge compound interest, and the interest is never to exceed the sum lent. The Jew, before advancing the loan, is to swear in a public court, on the law of Moses and the Decalogue, that he will adhere to the law. A Jew who lends on illegal terms is to lose the amount of the loan. A decree made by the Cortes at Barcelona, in 1228, however, deals a more serious blow to the Jews. It enacts that if there is no documentary evidence of a debt, the oath of a Jew is not to be held sufficient to establish it. We may not approve of these regulations, but they cannot be regarded as grievously oppressive.
It was perhaps through James’s influence with Ferdinand of Castile that the attempt to rouse popular feeling against the Jews in Saragossa, A.D. 1248, proved a failure. A report was circulated, that a chorister, named Dominic, belonging to the cathedral, had been stolen by the Jews and crucified. The crime was discovered through the appearance of a miraculous light over the chorister’s grave. The body was disinterred and carried into the cathedral, where it was treated as that of a martyr and saint. The usual amount of obloquy and insult to the Jews resulted; but no steps were taken by the authorities, and no excesses permitted.
In 1263, James, who in his later years is said to have been greatly under the influence of the Dominicans, ordered a public disputation upon the relative merits of Judaism and Christianity to be held at Barcelona. The advocate on the side of the Christians was one Pablo, a Jewish convert; on that of the Jews, the renowned Rabbi Nachmanides. The inevitable result followed—both parties claimed the victory. It was at all events so far favourable to the Jews, that it excited the alarm of Pope Clement IV., who urged James to drive the Jews out of his realm, as being dangerous to the faith of the Christians. But the king took no further step than that of levying a tax on them, to defray the expenses of the Christian advocate, Pablo, who was sent on a kind of tour through the great Spanish cities, with authority to hold conferences with the Jews wherever he pleased. Nachmanides, the Jewish champion, possibly dreading Clement’s hostility, soon afterwards migrated from Spain to the Holy Land.
The Jews had two other protectors in Ferdinand III. of Castile (already mentioned), commonly known as Saint Ferdinand, and his son Alphonso, called in history ‘the Wise.’ Ferdinand, who reigned from 1217 to 1252, uniformly treated the Jews with justice and leniency. When his son captured Seville from the Moors in 1248, he set apart, doubtless by his father’s direction, three parishes (those of Santa Maria, Saint Bartholomew, and Santa Cruz) for the residence of the Jews, as well as three Mahometan mosques, which they might convert into synagogues. Under these princes the celebrated college at Cordova was transferred to Toledo; which henceforth became the principal school of Jewish learning in Spain.
Alphonso was the author of the code of laws known as Las Siete Partidas, which, though it contains much that an after age must needs condemn as unjust,[118] has also many wise and equitable enactments, such as we could hardly have looked for in the legislation of that age. Thus it orders ‘that no force shall be used to make Jews turn Christians, but rather good example, kindness, and the maxims of the Holy Scriptures.’ Again, ‘that synagogues are buildings where God’s name is praised, therefore Christians shall not presume to destroy or plunder them.’ ‘No Christians are to cause molestations to Jews while engaged at their prayers.’ Again, ‘Saturday is a day whereon Jews observe their Sabbath. As they are bound by their religion to observe that day, no person is to summon them, or bring them to judgment thereon. If any sentence should be passed upon them on that day, it shall be null and void.’ No doubt there are, as has been already remarked, many oppressive and indefensible laws in the same code, such as those which forbid the Jews to hold any public post, or eat and drink, or join in merry-makings with Christians, or use the same baths with them, or administer to them any medicine, for fear it should be poisoned, and the like. But these are all in the prevalent temper and spirit of the day; and our only surprise is, that the same fountain should in this manner send forth sweet as well as bitter water.
A few years afterwards (A.D. 1255) an equally malignant attempt was made to destroy the Jews. Three persons belonging to Osuna, in Andalusia, threw a corpse into the house of a Jew; then, pretending to find it there by chance, they brought the usual charge of murder against the owner of the house. The story was speedily circulated through the city, and roused the populace to fury. Many Jews were killed in the streets; many more took refuge in the houses of Christian friends. It was the season of the Passover, during which the Jews refuse to eat any but unleavened bread; and not finding this in the houses of their Christian friends, many were in danger of starvation. At Palma also the same story was circulated, and caused a similar outbreak. The Jews held a consultation, and resolved that the only hope of preventing the mischief from spreading further lay in sending to King Alphonso a deputation, requesting him to make inquiry into the matter. But the news of this intention got abroad; the deputies were pursued by their enemies, and had a narrow escape of being murdered on their journey. They evaded their pursuers, but to do so were forced to quit the high road and take shelter in a wood. The consequence was, that when they reached the capital they found that their enemies had already arrived, and had preferred their accusation against them. They had, however, in King Alphonso not only a just but an extremely sagacious judge; and their case was so strong that it hardly needed the able advocacy of their delegate, Rabbi Joseph, to ensure success. It was brought to light that one Juan de Vera had owed money to the owner of the house in which the corpse had been found, and that he was extremely anxious to be quit of his debt without the disagreeable necessity of paying the money. His accomplices confessed that, at his instigation, they had broken open a tomb, from which they had abstracted the corpse which had been found in the Jew’s house. The grave was again opened by the king’s order, and found to be empty. The acquittal of the Jew followed; and the king sent away the deputies in friendly sort, yet not without a recommendation to them to reduce their rate of usury and abate the costliness and ostentation of their mode of living; for that these things provoked the enmity of the Christians towards them.
This is a remarkable tale, from the contrast it presents to the numberless similar occurrences which the history of this and succeeding centuries records. The calm judicial inquiry, in which the evidence given on both sides was attentively listened to and dispassionately sifted, stands out in strong relief against the incoherent and contradictory charges, the refusal to listen to explanation or argument, and the invincible prejudice displayed on other occasions. But it may be doubted whether the most remarkable fact is not the character of King Alphonso himself. It is wonderful that a man so enlightened as he showed himself on many points[119] could have adopted the monstrous bigotry he proclaimed on others. We must, I suppose, conclude that, like the philosopher in Coleridge’s ‘Friend,’ he thought it better to roll in the mire of the common prejudice of his fellow men, than remain isolated from them in solitary cleanliness.
Interesting evidences of the numbers and wealth of the Jews are to be found at this period. An assessment was made in 1286 of the Jews in the three kingdoms of Sancho, the son of Alphonso X., two years after his accession. It appeared that there were in Leon, Castile, and Murcia, 700,000 male Jews above the age of sixteen. The total number, therefore, including women and children, must have exceeded two millions. The annual dues paid by them amounted to 2,310,021 maravedis, nearly one hundred thousand pounds of our money. Considering the enormous difference in value of the precious metals in those times and our own, this proves that the wealth of the Jews must have been extraordinarily great. It is proper, however, to add that both the numbers of the Jews and the amount paid are given somewhat differently by other writers.