The Edict
of Expulsion of the Jews
(1)
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, by the grace
of God, King and Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo,
Valencia, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, Seville, Sardinia, Cordoba,
Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, of the Algarve, Algeciras, Gibraltar, and of
the Canary Islands, count and countess of Barcelona and lords of Biscay
and Molina, dukes of Athens and Neopatria, counts of Rousillon and Cerdana,
marquises of Oristan and of Gociano, to the prince Lord Juan, our very
dear and muched love son, and to the other royal children, prelates,
dukes, marquees, counts, masters of military orders, priors, grandees,
knight commanders, governors of castles and fortified places of our
kingdoms and lordships, and to councils, magistrates, mayors, constables,
district judges, knights, official squires, and all good men of the
noble and loyal city of Burgos and other cities, towns, and villages
of its bishopric and of other archbishoprics, bishoprics, dioceses of
our kingdom and lordships, and to the residential quarters of the Jews
of the said city of Burgos and of all the aforesaid cities, towns, and
villages of its bishopric and of the other cities, towns, and villages
of our aforementioned kingdoms and lordships, and to all Jews and to
all individual Jews of those places, and to barons and women of whatever
age they may be, and to all other persons of whatever law, estate, dignity,
preeminence, and condition they may be, and to all to whom the matter
contained in this charter pertains or may pertain. Salutations and grace.
(2) You know well
or ought to know, that whereas we have been informed that in these our
kingdoms there were some wicked Christians who Judaized and apostatized
from our holy Catholic faith, the great cause of which was interaction
between the Jews and these Christians, in the cortes which we held in
the city of Toledo in the past year of one thousand, four hundred and
eighty, we ordered the separation of the said Jews in all the cities,
towns and villages of our kingdoms and lordships and [commanded] that
they be given Jewish quarters and separated places where they should
live, hoping that by their separation the situation would remedy itself.
Furthermore, we procured and gave orders that inquisition should be
made in our aforementioned kingships and lordships, which as you know
has for twelve years been made and is being made, and by many guilty
persons have been discovered, as is very well known, and accordingly
we are informed by the inquisitors and by other devout persons, ecclesiastical
and secular, that great injury has resulted and still results, since
the Christians have engaged in and continue to engage in social interaction
and communication they have had means and ways they can to subvert and
to steal faithful Christians from our holy Catholic faith and to separate
them from it, and to draw them to themselves and subvert them to their
own wicked belief and conviction, instructing them in the ceremonies
and observances of their law, holding meetings at which they read and
teach that which people must hold and believe according to their law,
achieving that the Christians and their children be circumcised, and
giving them books from which they may read their prayers and declaring
to them the fasts that they must keep, and joining with them to read
and teach them the history of their law, indicating to them the festivals
before they occur, advising them of what in them they are to hold and
observe, carrying to them and giving to them from their houses unleavened
bread and meats ritually slaughtered, instructing them about the things
from which they must refrain, as much in eating as in other things in
order to observe their law, and persuading them as much as they can
to hold and observe the law of Moses, convincing them that there is
no other law or truth except for that one. This proved by many statements
and confessions, both from these same Jews and from those who have been
perverted and enticed by them, which has redounded to the great injury,
detriment, and opprobrium of our holy Catholic faith.
(3) Notwithstanding
that we were informed of the great part of this before now and we knew
that the true remedy for all these injuries and inconveniences was to
prohibit all interaction between the said Jews and Christians and banish
them from all our kingdoms, we desired to content ourselves by commanding
them to leave all cities, towns, and villages of Andalusia where it
appears that they have done the greatest injury, believing that that
would be sufficient so that those of other cities, towns, and villages
of our kingdoms and lordships would cease to do and commit the aforesaid
acts. And since we are informed that neither that step nor the passing
of sentence [of condemnation] against the said Jews who have been most
guilty of the said crimes and delicts against our holy Catholic faith
have been sufficient as a complete remedy to obviate and correct so
great an opprobrium and offense to the faith and the Christian religion,
because every day it is found and appears that the said Jews increase
in continuing their evil and wicked purpose wherever they live and congregate,
and so that there will not be any place where they further offend our
holy faith, and corrupt those whom God has until now most desired to
preserve, as well as those who had fallen but amended and returned to
Holy Mother Church, the which according to the weakness of our humanity
and by diabolical astuteness and suggestion that continually wages war
against us may easily occur unless the principal cause of it be removed,
which is to banish the said Jews from our kingdoms. Because whenever
any grave and detestable crime is committed by members of any organization
or corporation, it is reasonable that such an organization or corporation
should be dissolved and annihilated and that the lesser members as well
as tile greater and everyone for the others be punished, and that those
who perturb the good and honest life of cities and towns and by contagion
can injure others should be expelled from those places and even if for
lighter causes, that may be injurious to the Republic, how Much more
for those greater and most dangerous and most contagious crimes such
as this.
(4) Therefore,
we, with the counsel and advice of prelates, great noblemen of our kingdoms,
and other persons of learning and wisdom of our Council, having taken
deliberation about this matter, resolve to order the said Jews and Jewesses
of our kingdoms to depart and never to return or come back to them or
to any of them. And concerning this we command this our charter to be
given, by which we order all Jews and Jewesses of whatever age they
may be, who live, reside, and exist in our said kingdoms and lordships,
as much those who are natives as those who are not, who by whatever
manner or whatever cause have come to live and reside therein, that
by the end of the month of July next of the present year, they depart
from all of these our said realms and lordships, along with their sons
and daughters, menservants and maidservants, Jewish familiars, those
who are great as well as the lesser folk, of whatever age they may be,
and they shall not dare to return to those places, nor to reside in
them, nor to live in any part of them, neither temporarily on the way
to somewhere else nor in any other manner, under pain that if they do
not perform and comply with this command and should be found in our
said kingdom and lordships and should in any manner live in them, they
incur the penalty of death and the confiscation of all their possessions
by our Chamber of Finance, incurring these penalties by the act itself,
without further trial, sentence, or declaration. And we command and
forbid that any person or persons of the said kingdoms, of whatever
estate, condition, or dignity that they may be, shall dare to receive,
protect, defend, nor hold publicly or secretly any Jew or Jewess beyond
the date of the end of July and from henceforth forever, in their lands,
houses, or in other parts of any of our said kingdoms and lordships,
under pain of losing all their possessions, vassals, fortified places,
and other inheritances, and beyond this of losing whatever financial
grants they hold from us by our Chamber of Finance.
(5)
And so that the said Jews and Jewesses during the stated period of time
until the end of the said month of July may be better able to dispose
of themselves, and their possession, and their estates, for the present
we take and receive them under our Security, protection, and royal safeguard,
and we secure to them and to their possessions that for the duration
of the said time until the said last day of the said month of July they
may travel and be safe, they may enter, sell, trade, and alienate all
their movable and rooted possessions and dispose of them freely and
at their will, and that during the said time, no one shall harm them,
nor injure them, no wrong shall be done to them against justice, in
their persons or in their possessions, under the penalty which falls
on and is incurred by those who violate the royal safeguard. And we
likewise give license and faculty to those said Jews and Jewesses that
they be able to export their goods and estates out of these our said
kingdoms and lordships by sea or land as long as they do not export
gold or silver or coined money or other things prohibited by the laws
of our kingdoms, excepting merchandise and things that are not prohibited.
(6) And we command
all councils, justices, magistrates, knights, squires, officials, and
all good men of the said city of Burgos and of the other cities, towns,
and villages of our said kingdoms and lordships and all our new vassals,
subjects, and natives that they preserve and comply with and cause to
be preserved and complied with this our charter and all that is contained
in it, and to give and to cause to be given all assistance and favor
in its application under penalty of [being at] our mercy and the confiscation
of all their possessions and offices by our Chamber of Finance. And
because this must be brought to the notice of all, so that no one may
pretend ignorance, we command that this our charter be posted in the
customary plazas and places of the said city and of the principal cities,
towns, and villages of its bishopric as an announcement and as a public
document. And no one shall do any damage to it in any manner under penalty
of being at our mercy and the deprivation of their offices and the confiscation
of their possessions, which will happen to each one who might do this.
Moreover, we command the [man] who shows them this our charter that
he summon [those who act against the charter] to appear before us at
our court wherever we may be, on the day that they are summoned during
the fifteen days following the crime under the said penalty, under which
we command whichever public scribe who would be called for the purpose
of reading this our charter that the signed charter with its seal should
be shown to you all so that we may know that our command is carried
out.
(7)
Given in our city of Granada, the XXXI day of the month of March, the
year of the birth of our lord Jesus Christ one thousand four hundred
and ninety-two years.
I,
the King, I the Queen,
I,
Juan de Coloma, secretary of the king and queen our lords, have caused
this to be written at their command.
Registered
by Cabrera, Almacan chancellor.
