History of the Spanish Marranos<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/span>In the late 14th<\/sup> century the Spanish Jewry faced a danger of extinction by an eager Spanish mob, composed of tens of thousands of rioters. They were incited by the Archdeacon Ferdinand Martinez in Seville, who preached over the years against the alleged Jewish heresy, disloyalty, greediness, pride in wealth and interest-taking. The angry mob entered the Juderia, the Jewish Quarter, attacked the residents and robbed their property. Despite intervention by the Mayor of Sevilla and his orders that the rioters are prosecuted and punished, Archdeacon Ferdinand Martinez continued with the hateful incitement.<\/p>\nThree months later the rioters entered the Jewish Quarter, blocked both its exists, and set it on fine. About 4,000 Jews were murdered that day. Most of the survivors converted to Christianity or left Seville. These riots were the beginning of a cruel wave of riots, spreading in the course of three months to Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Mallorca.\u00a0The riots implied more than the price of life and property. This was a turning point in the Sephardi Jewish realm. Thousands of Jews started converting their religion. It is estimated that over 100,000 Jews truly converted (conversos) and seemingly-converted (marranos).<\/p>\n
The Life of the Marranos and What Became of the Expelled Jews <\/strong><\/h4>\nThe marranos continued to live together in crowded communities. They were wealthy and had great influence on matters of the State, the Church and the King\u2019s Court. However, they continued to be hated as their true Christian identity was scrutinized. The Jewish communities around the world considered the marranos to be martyrs. The other communities retained contacts with the marranos and strengthened their belief in the God of Israel over the years of riots.<\/p>\n
The Inquisition, on the other hand, was convinced that only final expulsion of all Jews from Spain may terminate the Jewish influence on civil life. The purity of faith became the national policy of the Catholic regime. On March 31, 1492 this resulted in the horrible verdict, the order for expulsion of all Spanish Jews. In 1497 Portugal announced on expulsion of all Jews. A minority of the Jews were saved from expulsion through baptism and conversion, increasing the number of marranos. However, most Jews refused to convert and were forced to exile. The expelled Jews chose not to convert and immigrated to countries where they were not forced to hide their religion. These were mostly countries under Muslim regime.<\/p>\n