View source for Alhambra Decree

{{Short description|1492 decree expelling Jews from Spain}}
[[File:Spanishhaggadah.jpg|thumb|A service in a Spanish [[synagogue]], from the ''Sister Haggadah'' (c. 1350). The Alhambra Decree would bring Spanish Jewish life to a sudden end.]]

The '''Alhambra Decree''' (also known as the '''Edict of Expulsion'''; [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''Decreto de la Alhambra'', ''Edicto de Granada'') was an [[edict]] issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain]], [[Isabella I of Castile]] and [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], ordering the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expulsion of practising Jews]] from the Crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.<ref name="Decree-translation">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html|title=The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews – 1492 Spain|website=www.sephardicstudies.org|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref> Its primary purpose was to eliminate the influence of practising Jews on Spain's large formerly-Jewish ''[[converso]]'' [[New Christian]] population, to ensure the latter and their descendants did not revert to Judaism.<ref name="Szlajfer 2023">{{cite book |author-last=Szlajfer |author-first=Henryk |year=2023 |chapter=Chapter 1: Terminology as Differentiation |title=Jews and New Christians in the Making of the Atlantic World in the 16th–17th Centuries: A Survey |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Studies in Critical Social Sciences |volume=269 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1163/9789004686441_002 |isbn=978-90-04-68644-1 |issn=1573-4234 |lccn=2023043705 |s2cid=259313511}}</ref> Over half of Spain's Jews had converted as a result of the [[Massacre of 1391|religious persecution and pogroms]] which occurred in 1391.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Pérez| first1 = Joseph | title =Breve Historia de la Inquisición en España | year =2012 |orig-year= 2009 | publisher = Crítica | location = Barcelona | isbn = 978-84-08-00695-4 |language=es|page=17}}</ref> Due to continuing attacks, around 50,000 more had converted by 1415.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience|last=Gerber|first=Jane|publisher=The Free Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0029115749|location=New York|pages=1–144}}</ref> A further number of those remaining chose to convert to avoid expulsion. As a result of the Alhambra Decree and persecution in the years leading up to the expulsion of Spain's estimated 300,000 Jewish origin population, a total of over 200,000 had converted to [[Roman Catholicism]] in order to remain in Spain, and between 40,000 and 100,000 remained Jewish and suffered expulsion. An unknown number of the expelled eventually succumbed to the pressures of life in exile away from formerly-Jewish relatives and networks back in Spain, and so converted to Roman Catholicism to be allowed to return in the years following expulsion.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKYlN1ySFOYC|title=History of a Tragedy: The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain|last=Pérez|first=Joseph|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2007|isbn=9780252031410|language=en|translator-last=Hochroth|translator-first=Lysa|author-link=Joseph Pérez}}</ref><sup>:17</sup>

In 1924, the regime of [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera]] granted Spanish citizenship to a part of the [[Sephardic Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] [[Jewish diaspora|diaspora]], though few people benefited from it in practice.<ref name=PdR>[https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4049868.pdf Celia Prados García: La expulsión de los judíos y el retorno de los sefardíes como nacionales españoles. Un análisis histórico-jurídico] (in Spanish)</ref> The decree was then formally and symbolically revoked on 16 December 1968 by the regime of [[Francoist Spain|Francisco Franco]],<ref name=":2">[https://www.nytimes.com/1968/12/17/archives/1492-ban-on-jews-is-voided-by-spain-1492-ban-on-jews-is-voided-in.html "1492 Ban on Jews Is Voided by Spain"], ''The New York Times'', 17 December 1968</ref> following the [[Second Vatican Council]]. This was a full century after Jews had been openly practising their religion in Spain and synagogues were once more legal places of worship under Spain's Laws of Religious Freedom.

In 2015, the [[government of Spain]] passed a law allowing [[dual citizenship]] to Jewish descendants who apply, to "compensate for shameful events in the country's past".<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/sephardic-jews-eager-to-apply-for-spanish-citizenship/2014/02/17/e56978dc-9810-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html "Sephardic Jews eager to apply for Spanish citizenship"], ''Washington Post'', 17 February 2014</ref> Thus, [[Sephardic Jews]] who could prove that they are the descendants of those Jews expelled from Spain because of the Alhambra Decree would "become Spaniards without leaving home or giving up their present nationality".<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21596963-offer-right-past-wrong-may-not-lead-huge-influx-people-1492-and-all "1492 and all that"], ''The Economist'', 22 February 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/repatriating-spains-jews.html|title=Repatriating Spain's Jews|last=Stavans|first=Ilan|date=1 April 2014|work=The New York Times|access-date=27 June 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Spanish law<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2015/06/24/12|title=BOE-A-2015-7045 Ley 12/2015, de 24 de junio, en materia de concesión de la nacionalidad española a los sefardíes originarios de España.|pages=52557–52564}}</ref> expired in 2019 and new applications for [[Spanish citizenship]] on the basis of Sephardic Jewish family heritage are no longer allowed. However, the descendants of the Jews exiled from the Iberian Peninsula may still apply for [[Portuguese citizenship]].

==Background==
{{main|History of the Jews in Spain}}
{{Antisemitism sidebar}}

By the end of the 8th century, [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Arab Muslim forces]] had conquered and settled most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref name=":1" /> Under [[Sharia|Islamic law]], the [[Jews]], who had lived in the region since at least [[Hispania|Roman times]], were considered "[[People of the Book]]" and treated as ''[[dhimmi]]'', which was a protected status.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ornament of the world: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain|last=Menocal|first=María Rosa|publisher=Back Bay Books|year=2012|isbn=9780316168717|edition=Reprint|oclc=183353253|author-link=María Rosa Menocal|orig-year=2002|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ornamentofworldh00meno}}</ref> Compared to the repressive policies of the [[Visigothic Kingdom]], who, starting in the sixth century had enacted a series of anti-Jewish statutes which culminated in their forced conversion and enslavement, the tolerance of the Muslim Moorish rulers of ''[[al-Andalus]]'' allowed Jewish communities to thrive.<ref name=":1" /> Jewish merchants were able to trade freely across the [[Islamic world]], which allowed them to flourish, and made Jewish enclaves in Muslim Iberian cities great centers of learning and commerce.<ref name=":1" /> This led to a [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|flowering of Jewish culture in Spain during the Middle Ages]], as Jewish scholars were able to gain favor in Muslim courts as skilled physicians, diplomats, translators, and poets. Although Jews never enjoyed equal status to Muslims, in some [[Taifa]]s, such as [[Taifa of Granada|Granada]], Jewish men were appointed to very high offices, including that of [[Grand vizier]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/ha-nagid.asp|title = Internet History Sourcebooks Project}}</ref>

The ''[[Reconquista]]'', or the gradual reconquest of [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Iberia]] by the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|Christian kingdoms]] in the North, was driven by a powerful religious motivation: to reclaim Iberia for [[Christendom]] following the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania]] centuries before. By the 14th century, most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] (present-day Spain and [[Portugal]]) had been reconquered by the Christian kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Castile|Castile]], [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Kingdom of León|León]], [[Kingdom of Galicia|Galicia]], [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]], and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]].

During the [[Reconquista|Christian re-conquest of Iberia]], the Muslim kingdoms in Spain became less welcoming to the ''[[dhimmi]]''. In the late 12th century, the Muslims in ''[[al-Andalus]]'' invited the fanatical [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad dynasty]] from [[North Africa]] to push the Christians back to the North.<ref name=":1" /> After they gained control of the Iberian Peninsula, the Almohads offered the Jews a choice between expulsion, conversion, and death.<ref name=":1" /> Many Jewish people fled to other parts of the Muslim world, and also to the Christian kingdoms, which initially welcomed them. In Christian Spain, Jews functioned as courtiers, government officials, merchants, and moneylenders.<ref name=":1" /> Therefore, the Jewish community was both useful to the ruling classes and to an extent protected by them.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Faith of the Fallen Jews: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi and the Writing of Jewish History (The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry)|publisher=Brandeis University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1611684872|editor-last=Kaye|editor-first=Alexander|location=Massachusetts|pages=252–253|editor2-last=Meyers|editor2-first=David}}</ref>

As the ''[[Reconquista]]'' drew to a close, overt hostility against Jews in Christian Spain became more pronounced, finding expression in brutal episodes of violence and oppression. In the early fourteenth century, the Christian kings vied to prove their piety by allowing the clergy to subject the Jewish population to forced sermons and disputations.<ref name=":1" /> More deadly attacks came later in the century from mobs of angry Catholics, led by popular preachers, who would storm into the Jewish quarter, destroy synagogues, and break into houses, forcing the inhabitants to choose between conversion and death.<ref name=":1" /> Thousands of Jews sought to escape these attacks by converting to Christianity. These Jewish converts were commonly called ''[[converso]]s'', ''[[New Christians|Cristianos nuevos]]'', or ''[[marrano]]s''; the latter term was used as an insult.<ref name="Szlajfer 2023"/> At first, these conversions seemed an effective solution to the cultural conflict: many ''converso'' families met with social and commercial success.<ref name=":1" /> But eventually their success made these new Catholics unpopular with their neighbors, including some of the [[Hierarchy of the Catholic Church|clergy of the Catholic Church]] and [[Spanish nobility|Spanish aristocrats]] competing with them for influence over the royal families. By the mid-15th century, the demands of the Old Christians that the Catholic Church and the monarchy differentiate them from the conversos led to the first ''[[limpieza de sangre]]'' laws, which restricted opportunities for converts.<ref name=":1" />

These suspicions on the part of Christians were only heightened by the fact that some of the conversions were insincere. Some ''conversos'', also known as [[Crypto-Judaism|crypto-Jews]], embraced Christianity and underwent [[baptism]] while privately adhering to Jewish practices and faith. Recently converted families who continued to intermarry were especially viewed with suspicion.<ref name=":1" /> For their part, the Jewish community viewed ''conversos'' with compassion, because Jewish law held that conversion under threat of violence was not necessarily legitimate.<ref name=":1" /> Although the [[Catholic Church]] was also officially opposed to forced conversion, under [[ecclesiastical law]] all baptisms were lawful, and once baptized, converts were not allowed to rejoin their former religion.<ref name=":1" />

===European context===
{{Main|History of the Jews in Europe}}
[[File:Expulsion judios-en.svg|thumb|right|250px|Expulsions of Jews in Europe from 1100 to 1600]]

From the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, European countries expelled the Jews from their territories on at least fifteen occasions. Before the Spanish expulsion, the Jews had been expelled from England in 1290, several times from France between 1182 and 1354, and from some German states. The French case is typical of most expulsions: whether the expulsion was local or national, the Jews usually were allowed to return after a few years.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Alienated Minority: The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe|last=Stow|first=Kenneth|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0674015937|location=Massachusetts|pages=181–308}}</ref> The Spanish expulsion was succeeded by at least five expulsions from other European countries,<ref name="isbn0-7065-1327-4">{{cite book|title=Anti-Semitism: Israel Pocket Library|publisher=Keter Books|year=1974|isbn=9780706513271|volume=12|location=Jerusalem, IS}}</ref><ref name="Teacher's">{{cite web |title=Map of Jewish expulsions and resettlement areas in Europe |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/gallery/expuls.htm |work=A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust  |publisher=Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida |access-date=9 September 2016}}</ref> but the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was both the largest of its kind and, officially, the longest lasting in western European history.

Over the four-hundred-year period during which most of these decrees were implemented, the causes of expulsion gradually changed. At first, expulsions of Jews (or absence of expulsions) were exercises of royal prerogatives. Jewish communities in medieval Europe often were protected by and associated with monarchs because, under the feudal system, Jews often were a monarch's only reliable source of taxes.<ref name=":3" /> Jews further had reputations as moneylenders because they were the only social group allowed to loan money at a profit under the prevailing interpretation of the [[Vulgate]] (the Latin translation of the Bible used in Roman Catholic western Europe as the official text), which forbade Christians to charge interest on loans.<ref name=":3" /> Jews, therefore, became the lenders to and creditors of merchants, aristocrats, and even monarchs. Most expulsions before the Alhambra Decree were related to this financial situation: to raise additional monies, a monarch would tax the Jewish community heavily, forcing Jews to call in loans; the monarch then would expel the Jews; at the time of expulsion, the monarch would seize their remaining valuable assets, including debts owed them by other subjects of the monarch and, in some instances, by the monarch himself.<ref name=":3" /> Expulsion of the Jews from Spain was thus an innovation not only in scale but also in its motivations.

===Ferdinand and Isabella===
{{Main|Catholic Monarchs}}
[[File:Expulsión_de_los_judíos.jpg|thumb|250px|Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by [[Emilio Sala (painter)|Emilio Sala Francés]]]]
Hostility towards the Jews in Spain was brought to a climax during the reign of the "Catholic Monarchs," [[Ferdinand II of Aragon|Ferdinand]] and [[Isabella I of Castile|Isabella]]. Their marriage in 1469, which formed a [[personal union]] of the crowns of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], with coordinated policies between their distinct kingdoms, eventually led to the final unification of Spain.

Although their initial policies towards the Jews were protective, Ferdinand and Isabella were disturbed by reports claiming that most Jewish converts to Christianity were insincere in their conversion.<ref name=":1" /> As mentioned above, some claims that [[Converso|''conversos'']] continued to practice Judaism in secret (see [[Crypto-Judaism]]) were true, but the "Old" Christians exaggerated the scale of the phenomenon. It was also claimed that Jews were trying to draw conversos back into the Jewish fold. In 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella made a formal application to [[Holy See|Rome]] to set up an Inquisition in Castile to investigate these and other suspicions. In 1487, King Ferdinand promoted the establishment of the [[Spanish Inquisition]] Tribunals in Castile.<ref name=":1" /> In the Crown of Aragon, it had been first instituted in the 13th century to combat the [[Albigensian heresy]]. However, the focus of this new Inquisition was to find and punish ''conversos'' who were practicing Judaism in secret.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DoY6VKNSC0C|title=Imperial Spain 1469–1716|last=Huxtable|first=Elliott John|publisher=Penguin|year=2002|isbn=9780141925578|location=London, UK|oclc=759581255|orig-year=1964}}</ref> {{Page needed|date=April 2020}}

These issues came to a head during Ferdinand and Isabella's final conquest of Granada. The independent Islamic [[Emirate of Granada]] had been a [[tributary state]] to Castile since 1238. Jews and conversos played an important role during this campaign because they had the ability to raise money and acquire weapons through their extensive trade networks.<ref name=":1" /> This perceived increase in Jewish influence further infuriated the Old Christians and the hostile elements of the clergy.<ref name=":1" /> Finally, in 1491 in preparation for an imminent transition to Castilian territory, the [[Treaty of Granada (1491)|Treaty of Granada]] was signed by Emir [[Muhammad XII of Granada|Muhammad XII]] and the Queen of Castile, protecting the religious freedom of the Muslims there. By 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella had won the [[Battle of Granada]] and completed the Catholic [[Reconquista]] of the Iberian Peninsula from Islamic [[Al-Andalus|forces]]. However, the Jewish population emerged from the campaign more hated by the populace and less useful to the monarchs.

==Decree==
[[File:Alhambra Decree.jpg|right|thumb|275px|A signed copy of the Edict of Expulsion]]
The king and queen issued the Alhambra Decree less than three months after the surrender of Granada. Although Isabella was the force behind the decision, her husband Ferdinand did not oppose it.  That her [[confessor]] had just changed from the tolerant [[Hernando de Talavera]] to the very intolerant [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]] suggests an increase in royal hostility towards the Jews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/deisenbe/Other_Hispanic_Topics/Cisneros_y_la_quema_de_los_manuscritos_granadinos.htm&prev=search|title=Cisneros y la quema de los manuscritos granadinos|last=Eisenberg|first=Daniel|year=1993|publisher=Journal of Hispanic Philology|pages=107–124|trans-title=Cisneros and the Burning of the Granada Manuscripts|orig-year=1992|access-date=27 June 2017|volume=16}} {{dead link|date=October 2020}}</ref> 

The text of the decree stated, that despite previous attempts to segregate Jews into separate quarters and the ongoing Inquisition, interaction between Jews and Christians persisted. It accused Jews of trying "to subvert the holy Catholic faith" by attempting to "draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs", by teaching them Jewish laws, rituals, and beliefs, providing religious materials and ritually prepared food, performing circumcisions, and ultimately convincing them that Judaism is the only true faith, causing great harm to Catholicism.<ref name="Decree-translation" /> 

The document argued that the only effective remedy was the complete removal of Jews, since by their "diabolical astuteness" they "continually wage war against us... Because whenever any grave and detestable crime is committed by members of any organization..., it is reasonable that such an organization... should be dissolved and annihilated" Therefore, the monarchs decreed that all Jews of any age, residing in their kingdom, must depart and were forbidden to ever return, under penalty of death and confiscation of all property. Anyone assisting or sheltering Jews also faced severe penalties, including loss of possessions and titles.<ref name="Decree-translation" /> 

After the decree was passed, Spain's entire Jewish population was given only four months to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. The edict promised the Jews royal protection and security for the effective three-month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them, excluding "gold or silver or minted money or other things prohibited by the laws of our kingdoms."<ref name="Decree-translation"/> In practice, however, the Jews had to sell anything they could not carry: their land, their houses, and their libraries, and converting their wealth to a more portable form proved difficult. The market in Spain was saturated with these goods, which meant the prices were artificially lowered for the months before the deadline. As a result, much of the wealth of the Jewish community remained in Spain. The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or leave by the deadline was [[summary execution]].<ref name="Decree-translation" />

===Dispersal===
{{ref improve|section|date=March 2019}}
The [[Sephardi Jews]] migrated to four major areas: North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Italy.<ref name=":1" /> Some Spanish Jews who emigrated to avoid conversion [[Jewish diaspora|dispersed]] throughout the region of North Africa known as the [[Maghreb]]. The Jewish scholars and physicians among previous Sephardic immigrants to this area had reinvigorated the Jewish communities in North Africa.<ref name=":1" /> However, in the 1490s, parts of the Mediterranean world, including Morocco were experiencing severe famine. As a result, a number of cities in Morocco refused to let the Spanish Jews in. This led to mass starvation among the refugees, and made the [[Jewish refugees]] vulnerable to the predation of slavers, although the regional ruler invalidated many of these sales within a few years.<ref name=":1" /> A good number of the Jews who had fled to North Africa returned to Spain and converted. The Jews who stayed in North Africa often intermingled with the already existing [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Arabic or Berber speaking communities, becoming the ancestors of the Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan Jewish communities.

Many Spanish Jews also fled to the [[Ottoman Empire]], where they were given refuge. Sultan [[Bayezid II]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], learning about the expulsion of Jews from Spain, dispatched the [[Ottoman Navy]] to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of [[Thessaloniki]] (currently in [[Greece]]) and [[İzmir]] (currently in [[Turkey]]).<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.html "Turkey"], ''Jewish Virtual Library''</ref> Many of these Jews also settled in other parts of the Balkans ruled by the Ottomans such as the areas that are now Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. Concerning this incident, Bayezid II is alleged to have commented, "those who say that Ferdinand and Isabella are wise are indeed fools; for he gives me, his enemy, his national treasure, the Jews."

A majority of Sephardim migrated to [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], where they gained [[Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal|only a few years of respite from persecution]]. About 600 Jewish families were allowed to stay in Portugal following an exorbitant bribe until the Portuguese king entered negotiations to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Caught between his desire for an alliance with Spain and his economic reliance on the Jews, [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] declared the Jewish community in Portugal (perhaps then some 10% of that country's population)<ref>Kayserling, Meyer. "História dos Judeus em Portugal". Editora Pioneira, São Paulo, 1971</ref> Christians by royal decree unless they left the country. In return, he promised the Inquisition would not come to Portugal for 40 years.<ref name=":1" /> He then seized the Jews who tried to leave and had them forcibly baptized, after separating them from their children.<ref name=":1" /> It was years before the Jews who fled to Portugal were allowed to emigrate. When the ban was lifted, many of them fled to the [[Low Countries]], or the Netherlands.

Throughout history, scholars have given widely differing numbers of Jews expelled from Spain. However, the figure is likely to be below the 100,000 Jews who had not yet converted to Christianity by 1492, possibly as low as 40,000. Such figures exclude the significant number of Jews who returned to Spain due to the hostile reception they received in their countries of refuge, notably [[Fes]] (Morocco). The situation of returnees was legalized with the Ordinance of 10 November 1492 which established that civil and church authorities should be witnesses to baptism and, in the case that they were baptized before arrival, proof and witnesses of baptism were required. Furthermore, all property could be recovered by returnees at the same price at which it was sold. Similarly the Provision of the Royal Council of 24 October 1493 set harsh sanctions for those who slandered these New Christians with insulting terms such as ''tornadizos''.<ref name=":0" /><sup>:115</sup> After all, the Catholic monarchs were concerned with the souls of their subjects, and Catholic doctrine held that the persecution of converts would remove an important incentive for conversion. Returnees are documented as late as 1499.

===Conversions===
A majority of Spain's Jewish population had converted to Christianity during the waves of religious persecutions prior to the Decree—a total of 200,000 converts according to Joseph Pérez.<ref name=":0" /> The main objective of the expulsion of practicing Jews was ensuring the sincerity of the conversions of such a large convert population. Of the 100,000 Jews that remained true to their faith by 1492, an additional number chose to convert and join the converso community rather than face expulsion. Recent conversos were subject to additional suspicion by the Inquisition, which had been established to persecute religious heretics, but in Spain and Portugal was focused on finding crypto-Jews. Although Judaism was not considered a heresy, professing Christianity while engaging in Jewish practices was heretical. Additionally, ''[[Limpieza de sangre]]'' statutes instituted legal discrimination against converso descendants, barring them from certain positions and forbidding them from emigrating to the Americas. For years, families with urban origins who had extensive trade connections, and people who were learned and multilingual were suspected of having Jewish ancestry.<ref name=":1" /> According to the prejudice of the time, a person with Jewish blood was untrustworthy and inferior.<ref name=":1" /> Such measures slowly faded away as converso identity was forgotten and this community merged into Spain's dominant [[Catholic culture]]. This process lasted until the eighteenth century, with a few exceptions, most notably the [[Chuetas]] of the island of [[Majorca]], where discrimination lasted into early 20th Century.

A [[Y chromosome]] [[DNA testing|DNA test]] conducted by the [[University of Leicester]] and the [[Pompeu Fabra University]] has indicated an average of nearly 20% for Spaniards having some direct patrilineal descent from populations from the Near East which colonized the region either in historical times, such as [[Jews]] and [[Phoenicians]], or during earlier prehistoric [[Neolithic]] migrations. Between the 90,000 Jews who converted under the Visigoth persecutions, and the 100,000+ Jews who converted in the years leading up to expulsion, it is likely that many of these people have Jewish ancestry. Genetic studies have explored local beliefs in the American South West that Spanish Americans are the descendants of conversos.<ref name="FloresMaca-Meyer2004">{{cite journal |last1=Flores |first1=Carlos |last2=Maca-Meyer |first2=Nicole |last3=González |first3=Ana M |last4=Oefner |first4=Peter J |last5=Shen |first5=Peidong |last6=Pérez |first6=Jose A |last7=Rojas |first7=Antonio |last8=Larruga |first8=Jose M |last9=Underhill |first9=Peter A |title=Reduced genetic structure of the Iberian peninsula revealed by Y-chromosome analysis: implications for population demography |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=12 |issue=10 |year=2004 |pages=855–863 |issn=1018-4813 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201225 |pmid=15280900|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmid=12627534 | doi=10.1002/ajpa.10168 | volume=120 | issue=4 | title=Mitochondrial DNA affinities at the Atlantic fringe of Europe |date=April 2003 | journal=Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. | pages=391–404 | last1 = González | first1 = AM | last2 = Brehm | first2 = A | last3 = Pérez | first3 = JA | last4 = Maca-Meyer | first4 = N | last5 = Flores | first5 = C | last6 = Cabrera | first6 = VM}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Di Giacomo|first1=F.|last2=Luca|first2=F.|last3=Popa|first3=L. O.|last4=Akar|first4=N.|last5=Anagnou|first5=N.|last6=Banyko|first6=J.|last7=Brdicka|first7=R.|last8=Barbujani|first8=G.|last9=Papola|first9=F.|date=October 2004|title=Y chromosomal haplogroup J as a signature of the post-neolithic colonization of Europe|journal=Human Genetics|volume=115|issue=5|pages=357–371|doi=10.1007/s00439-004-1168-9|issn=0340-6717|pmid=15322918|s2cid=18482536}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last2=Knight|first2=Alec|last3=Underhill|first3=Peter A.|last4=Neulander|first4=Judith S.|last5=Disotell|first5=Todd R.|last6=Mountain|first6=Joanna L.|year=2006|title=Toward resolution of the debate regarding purported crypto-Jews in a Spanish-American population: Evidence from the Y chromosome|journal=Annals of Human Biology|publisher=Taylor and Francis|volume=33|issue=1|pages=100–111|doi=10.1080/03014460500475870|pmid=16500815|last1=Sutton|first1=Wesley K.|s2cid=26716816}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Identifying Genetic Traces of Historical Expansions: Phoenician Footprints in the Mediterranean <!--|publisher=Cell.com--> |date=17 November 2008 |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |publisher=Elsevier Inc. |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.10.012 |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=633–642 |pmid=18976729 |pmc=2668035 | last1 = Zalloua | first1 = PA | last2 = Platt | first2 = DE | last3 = El Sibai | first3 = M |display-authors=et al}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url= |title=The Genetic Legacy of Religious Diversity and Intolerance: Paternal Lineages of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula |quote=Despite alternative possible sources for lineages ascribed a Sephardic Jewish origin |date=12 December 2006 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2008.11.007 |volume=83 |issue=6 |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |pages=725–736 |pmid=19061982 |pmc=2668061 | last1 = Adams | first1 = SM | last2 = Bosch | first2 = E | last3 = Balaresque | first3 = PL |display-authors=et al}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publico.es/ciencias/180536/tres/culturas/adn |title=Tres culturas en el ADN |last=Yanes |first=Javier |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721214231/http://www.publico.es/ciencias/180536/tres-culturas-en-el-adn |archive-date=21 July 2012 |access-date=9 September 2016 |language=es |trans-title=Three cultures in DNA |quote=[English translation] The Sephardi result may be overestimated, since there is much diversity in those genes and maybe absorbed other genes from the Middle East. Puts Calafell in doubt the validity of ancestry tests? They can be good for the Americans, we already know from where we come from. |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/39056/title/Spanish_Inquisition_couldn%E2%80%99t_quash_Moorish,_Jewish_genes |title=Spanish Inquisition couldn't quash Moorish, Jewish genes |last=Hesman Saey |first=Tina |date=4 December 2008 |access-date=9 September 2016 |quote=We think it might be an over estimate. The genetic makeup of Sephardic Jews is probably common to other Middle Eastern populations, such as the Phoenicians, that also settled the Iberian Peninsula," Calafell says: "In our study, that would have all fallen under the Jewish label. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629172709/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/39056/title/Spanish_Inquisition_couldn%E2%80%99t_quash_Moorish,_Jewish_genes |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/12/04/ciencia/1228409780.html |title=Uno de cada tres españoles tiene marcadores genéticos de Oriente Medio o el Magreb |last=Cáceres |first=Pedro |date=10 December 2008 |access-date=9 September 2016 |language=es |trans-title=One in three Spaniards have genetic markers for Middle East and the Maghreb |quote=[English translation] Dr. Calafell clarifies that ... the genetic markers used to distinguish the population with Sephardi ancestry may produce distortions. The 25% of Spaniards that are identified as having Sephardi ancestry in the study could have inherited that same marker from older movements like the Phoenicians, or even the first Neolithic settlers thousands of years ago.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16200-spanish-inquisition-left-genetic-legacy-in-iberia.html |title=Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia |last=Callaway |first=Ewen |publisher=New Scientist |date=4 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-secret-jews-of-san-luis-valley-11765512/|title=The 'Secret Jews' of San Luis Valley|last=Wheelwright|first=Jeff|work=Smithsonian|access-date=27 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>{{overcite|date=October 2023}}

==Modern Spanish policy==
The Spanish government has actively pursued a policy of reconciliation with the descendants of its expelled Jews. In 1924, the regime of Primo de Rivera granted the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship to a part of the Sephardic Jewish diaspora.<ref name=PdR /> As stated above, the Alhambra decree was officially revoked in 1968, after the Second Vatican Council rejected the charge of deicide traditionally attributed to the Jews. In 1992, in a ceremony marking the 500th anniversary of the Edict of Expulsion, [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|King Juan Carlos]] (wearing a [[Kippah|yarmulke]]) prayed alongside Israeli president [[Chaim Herzog]] and members of the Jewish community in the [[Beth Yaacov Synagogue (Madrid, Spain)|Beth Yaacov Synagogue]]. The King said, "[[Sepharad|Sefarad]] (the Hebrew name for Spain) isn't a nostalgic memory anymore; it is a place where it must not be said that Jews should simply 'feel' at home there, for indeed Hispano-Jews are at home in Spain...What matters is not accountability for what we may have done wrong or right, but the willingness to look to the future, and analyze the past in light of our future."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elpais.com/diario/1992/04/01/espana/702079221_850215.html |title=El Rey celebra en la sinagoga de Madrid "el encuentro con los judíos españoles" |last=Cembrero |first=Ignacio |newspaper=El País |date=1 April 1992 |access-date=9 September 2016 |language=es |trans-title=The King celebrates the "meeting with Spanish Jews" in the Madrid synagogue}}</ref>

From November 2012 Sephardi Jews have had the right to automatic Spanish nationality without the requirement of residence in Spain. Prior to November 2012, Sephardi Jews already had the right to obtain Spanish citizenship after a reduced residency period of two years (versus ten years for foreigners but similar to nationals from Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil and about 20 other American republics that also require 2 years.) While their citizenship is being processed, Sephardi Jews are entitled to the consular protection of the Kingdom of Spain.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/world/europe/spain-citizenship-process-eased-for-sephardic-jews.html |title=Spain: Citizenship Process Eased for Sephardic Jews |last=Minder |first=Raphael |work=The New York Times |date=22 November 2012}}</ref> This makes Spain unique among European nations as the only nation that currently grants automatic citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled during the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|European medieval evictions]]. Although these measures are popular in the Jewish community, they have also sparked some controversy. A minority of thinkers hold that these policies represent less the abnegation of prejudice as a shift to [[Philo-Semitism]].<ref name=":2" /> As of November 2015, 4300 Sephardi Jews have benefited from this law and acquired Spanish citizenship, swearing allegiance to the Spanish Constitution.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2015/11/30/actualidad/1448887588_869275.html |title=El Rey, a los sefardíes: "¡Cuánto os hemos echado de menos!" |newspaper=El País |date=30 November 2015 |language=es |trans-title=The King, to the Sephardim, "How I've missed you!"|last1=Alberola |first1=Miquel }}</ref> In 2013, the number of Jews in Spain was estimated to range between 40,000 and 50,000 people. Goldschläger and Orjuela have explored  motivations to request citizenship and the ways in which legal provisions, religious associations, and the migration industry become gatekeepers of and (re)shape what it means to be Sephardic.<ref>Goldschläger, Arielle, and Camilla Orjuela (2021). "Return after 500 Years? Spanish and Portuguese Repatriation Laws and the Reconstruction of Sephardic Identity."&nbsp;''Diaspora Studies&nbsp;''14, no. 1 (2021): 97–115.  
</ref>

==See also==
{{wikisource}}
* [[Edict of Expulsion]]
* [[Edict of Fontainebleau]]
* [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain]]
* [[French expulsion|Expulsions of the Jews from France]]
* [[Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain]], a series of similar decrees affecting Muslims
* [[Expulsion of the Jews from Sicily]]
* [[Expulsion of the Moriscos]]
* [[Salzburg Protestants|Expulsions of Protestants from Salzburg]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews] – English translation of the decree (from Castilian) by Edward Peters (b. 1936)
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
* [http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/03/alhambra-decree-521-years-later/?ll_f0432 Alhambra Decree: 521 Years Later], a blog post on the Law Library of Congress's ''In Custodia Legis''.

{{Sephardi Jews topics}}
{{The Three Weeks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1492 documents]]
[[Category:1490s in Spain]]
[[Category:1492 in Europe]]
[[Category:History of the conversos]]
[[Category:Expulsions of Jews]]
[[Category:Christianity and law in the 15th century]]
[[Category:Christian anti-Judaism in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Spanish Inquisition]]
[[Category:History of Granada]]
[[Category:History of Catholicism in Spain]]
[[Category:Jewish Spanish history]]
[[Category:Ferdinand II of Aragon]]
[[Category:Isabella I of Castile]]
[[Category:Tisha B'Av]]
[[Category:Sephardi Jews topics]]
[[Category:Alhambra (Spain)|Decree]]
[[Category:Decrees]]
[[Category:15th century in Aragon]]
[[Category:15th century in Castile]]
[[Category:15th-century Judaism]]
[[Category:Religious expulsion orders]]