Capmany notices the number of synagogues existing in Aragon, in 1428, as amounting to nineteen. In Galicia at the same time there were but three, and in Catalonia but one. See Mem. de Barcelona, tom. iv. Apend. num. 11.
[9] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 10, 113.—Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 131.
[10] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.—Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 133.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, ubi supra.—La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. p. 95.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. p. 602.
[11] Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. p. 133.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 113.
[12] Senarega, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiv. pp. 531, 532.
[13] See a sensible notice of Hebrew literature in Spain, in the Retrospective Review, vol. iii. p. 209.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 26, cap. 1.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.
Not a few of the learned exiles attained to eminence in those countries of Europe where they transferred their residence. One is mentioned by Castro as a leading practitioner of medicine in Genoa; another, as filling the posts of astronomer and chronicler, under King Emanuel of Portugal. Many of them published works in various departments of science, which were translated into the Spanish and other European languages. Biblioteca Española, tom. i. pp. 359-372.
[14] From a curious document in the Archives of Simancas, consisting of a report made to the Spanish sovereigns by their accountant general, Quintanilla, in 1492, it would appear, that the population of the kingdom of Castile, exclusive of Granada, was then estimated at 1,500,000 vecinos, or householders. (See Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., Apend. no. 12.) This, allowing four and a half to a family, would make the whole population 6,750,000. It appears from the statement of Bernaldez, that the kingdom of Castile contained five-sixths of the whole amount of Jews in the Spanish monarchy. This proportion, if 800,000 be received as the total, would amount in round numbers to 670,000, or ten per cent, of the whole population of the kingdom. Now, it is manifestly improbable that so large a portion of the whole nation, conspicuous moreover for wealth and intelligence, could have been held so light in a political aspect, as the Jews certainly were, or have tamely submitted for so many years to the most wanton indignities without resistance; or finally, that the Spanish government would have ventured on so bold a measure as the banishment of so numerous and powerful a class, and that too with as few precautions, apparently, as would be required for driving out of the country a roving gang of gypsies.
[15] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 110.—Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, tom. i. chap. 7, sect. 7.—Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. lib. 26.—Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 9.
[16] Bajazet. See Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, tom. ii. p. 310.—Paramo, De Origine Inquisitionis, p. 168.