The year 1492 is one of the most important in Spanish history. While Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic, Jews were forced to flee east, ending over a thousand years of Jewish presence on the Iberian Peninsula. That same year, the Catholic Monarchs completed the reconquest by defeating the Muslim-controlled Kingdom of Granada. These seemingly separate events were driven by a single unified goal: transforming Spain into a fully Christian nation.

In this episode, we examine the fourteen-year period from 1478 to 1492, which had a profound impact on Spanish society. How did a country with Europe's largest and most integrated Jewish population shift from centuries of coexistence to systematic persecution and complete expulsion in just two decades?

The answer lies at the intersection of three powerful forces: royal authority, religious orthodoxy, and manufactured crisis. When Isabel and Fernando established the Spanish Inquisition in 1478, they created an unprecedented institution—ecclesiastical in origin but controlled by the crown, rather than by Rome.

We delve into the "converso problem"—New Christians whose conversions from Judaism were doubted, fostering suspicion that poisoned Spanish society. We examine how the Inquisition relied on denunciations, often from Jews, implicating entire communities. We trace how blood purity laws shifted religious discrimination from belief to ancestry.

When the Inquisition couldn't solve the converso issue through prosecution alone, expulsion became the next logical step. The edict of March 31, 1492, gave Jews four months to convert or leave. What followed was devastating—families torn apart, communities scattered, and the destruction of Sephardic culture that had thrived in Spain for over a thousand years.

This episode examines the consequences of religious conformity driven by political necessity, when diversity is perceived as a threat rather than a reality, and when the machinery of persecution is intentionally designed to enforce uniformity.

Further Reading:

The Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474-1520 by John Edwards

The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision by Henry Kamen

The Spanish Inquisition: A History by Joseph Perez

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Intro Music: Hayden Symphony #39
Outro Music: Vivaldi Concerto for Mandolin and Strings in D