Description
Book SynopsisThe Expulsion of the Jews from Spain is a detailed study of the events surrounding this infamous chapter in Spanish history. Based on hundreds of documents discovered, deciphered, and analyzed during decades of intensive archival research, this work focuses on the practical consequences of the expulsion both for those expelled and those remaining behind. It responds to basic questions such as: What became of property owned by Jewish individuals and communities? What became of outstanding debts between Jews and Christians? How was the edict of expulsion implemented? Who was in charge? How did they operate? What happened to those who converted to Christianity in order to remain in Spain or return to that country? The material summarized and analyzed in this study also sheds light on Jewish life in Spain preceding the expulsion. For example, Jews are shown to have been present in remote villages where they were not hitherto known to have lived, and documents detailing lawsuits between Christians related to debts left behind by Jews reveal much about business and financial relations between Jews and Christians. By focusing on the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in such detail - for example, by naming the magistrates who presided over the confiscation of Jewish communal property - Professor Beinart takes history out of the realm of abstraction and gives it concrete reality.
Trade Review‘Magisterial . . . provides insights, descriptions, and interpretations built on an impregnable base of scholarship . . This sine qua non for any study and understanding of the vents leading up to 1492 deserves an honoured place in all serious libraries.’
Stephen D. Benin, Choice‘Haim Beinart justifiably has been hailed as the foremost historian of medieval Sepharad . . . the data uncovered [here] will remain a source for many future generations of historians of the Jews of medieval Iberia. For that alone, we are indebted to this monumental contribution.’
Benjamin R. Gampel, AJS Review‘The most comprehensive study of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. It summarizes and synthesizes the author’s decades-long work in Spanish archives . . . indispensable for the study of Spanish Jewry and is a valuable addition to any university library.’
Morris M. Faierstein, Religious Studies Review‘An in-depth analysis of one of the most dramatic events in the history of the Jews . . . an extremely useful repository of detailed information that can be found nowhere else in English.’
Yvonne Petry, Renaissance StudiesReview for the Hebrew Edition of the book:‘The importance of this new book lies in its methodical and detailed portrayal of the expulsion from Spain in 1492 in all its aspects—political, social, economic, legal, and also human. It presents wide-ranging descriptions of the problems and the dilemmas facing families and individuals in both large and small communities . . . and of how events actually unfolded, day by day and hour by hour. The thoroughness of the presentation, documented in every detail, is the product of decades of methodical and comprehensive historiographic research covering all the areas in which Jews lived in the entire period over which the expulsion took place . . . Beinart's historiographic reconstruction gives the contemporary reader a palpable understanding of what actually happened.’
Ben-Ami Feingold, Yediot AharonotTable of ContentsList of tablesList of illustrationsAbbreviations
1 Introduction: Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of SpainThe Situation of Spanish Jewry
Forced Segregation
The Inquisition
Financing the Reconquista
Propaganda against Jews and Conversos
The Fall of Granada
2 The Edict of ExpulsionPromulgation
Analysis of the Structure
Drafting
The Views of the Catholics Monarchs
Text and Translation of the Edict of Expulsion
3 The Fate of Jewish Communal PropertyLand and Buildings
Loans
Synagogues, Houses of Study, and Ritual Baths
Abattoirs and Baking Ovens
Cemeteries
4 Jewish–Christian Credit and its LiquidationThe Kingdom of Castile: Attempts to Settle Accounts before Departure
Public Debts to Jews
Private Debts of Christians to Jews
Collection of Christians’ Debts to Jews after the Expulsion
Debts of Jews to Christians and the Payment of these Debts
The Kingdom of Aragon
5 Implementation of the Edict of ExpulsionThe Road to Implementation
Organizing the Departure: The Role of the Genoese
Implementation of the edict in the Kingdom of Aragon: Departure by Land; Departure by Sea
Implementation of the Edict in the Kingdom of Castile: Conversion instead of Exile or Prison; Tribulations of Departure; Exploitation on the Border: Ciudad Rodrigo; The Passage from Castile into Portugal; Departure by Sea
Implementation of the Edict in Sardinia and Sicily
Navarre: Asylum and Expulsion
The Number of Jews Expelled
6 Smuggling
7 Return and ConversionReturn and Conversion among Jews of Castile
Return and Conversion among Jews of Aragon
8 The Senior DynastyThe Origins of the Family and its First Steps in Government
The Case of Juan de Talavera
Abraham Senior’s Public Service before Conversion
Abraham Senior’s Property
Abraham Senior as Tax-Farmer and Tax-Collector
Abraham Senior as Chairman of the Hermandad
Expulsion and Conversion
Fernán Núñez Coronel's General Financial Activity
Rabbi Meir Melamed and his Sons
Solomon Senior, the Sons of Abraham Senior, and Other Family Members
10 The House of Abravanel, 1483–1492
11 Contemporaries Describe the Expulsion
Appendix: Other Activities of Some Royal OfficialsBibliographyIndex of PeopleIndex of PlacesGeneral Index
