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MARRANOS of SPAIN B. Netanyahu THE MARRANOS of SPAIN From the Late 14TH to the Early i6th Century, According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources Third Edition, Updated and Expanded ) * > THE MARRANOS OF SPAIN From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources by B. NETANYAHU Third Edition, Updated and Expanded Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Third edition, updated and expanded, copyright© 1999 by Cornell University Copyright © 1966, 1972 by The American Academy for Jewish Research First Edition: January, 1966 Second Edition: September, 1972 Third edition, updated and expanded, first published 1999 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1999 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Netanyahu, B. (Benzion), b. 1910 The Marranos of Spain, from the late 14th to the early 16th century, according to contemporary Hebrew sources I by B. Netanyahu. —3rd cd. u p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8014-3586-2 (cloth : alk. paper). - ISBN 0-8014-8568-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Marranos—Spain — Historiography. 2. Rabbinic and polemical literature —History and criticism. I. Title. DS135.S7N39 1999 946'.004924—dc21 98-55165 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 To CELA for toil, and faith, and dedication FOREWORD This study is part of an inquiry designed to establish what we can learn about the Marranos, as well as about the genesis of the Spanish Inquisition, from non-Inquisitional sources. In pursuit of this aim, I have undertaken a dual approach — an analysis of all the evidence on the Marranos contained in the Hebrew sources, and a scrutiny of all related testimony con­ tained in the non-Hebrew documents. As I had expected, these investigations, though schematically disparate, proved to be interrelated — and, in fact, to an extent larger than I had thought. This made it all the more apparent that the full objective of my inquiry will have been attained only when the parallel study, now in an advanced stage of preparation, is completed and made public. The conclusions I have arrived at in these researches differ so widely with commonly held views, that I do not delude myself with the hope that they will be easily accepted. No doubt they will encounter, apart from fair criticism, that opposition which seems to be the fate of every new idea. I dare to believe, how­ ever, that they will withstand these objections and, in the course of time, will serve to develop a better grasp of a subject whose importance is admittedly great. For, indeed, owing to its bearing upon the Inquisition and the latter’s international repercussions, the Marrano problem is of paramount significance not only to the histories of the Jewish and Spanish peoples, but also to the history of the world. At this point I would like to express my gratitude to the American Academy for Jewish Research for undertaking the publication of this work after having published the first two chapters in its Proceedings of 1963. I am also grateful to the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, so noted for its meritorious aid to scholarship, for having shared with the Academy the financial burden involved. B. N. September 30, 1965 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION This edition is only slightly revised, but considerably en­ larged— that is, by twenty-five pages. It includes a new chapter on the number of the Marranos in Seville in the 1480s, and another on the Marranos’ countries of refuge in the decade preceding the establishment of the Inquisition. Both relate to topics discussed elsewhere in this study, and both offer, as I see it, considerable support for the conclusions reached in those discussions. Similarly, the section dealing with the dates of composition of Profeit Duran's polemical works was amplified and expanded to include new evi­ dence. In this instance, however, the broadened inquiry led to a somewhat revised conclusion. Apart from this revision, and some minor corrections, the text as a whole has remained intact. Several notes, however, were modified or restructured to permit the inclusion of new material. Such, for instance, is the note on page 59 dealing with the origin of the term Marrano. While all these additions may be considered marginal to the main theme of inquiry pursued in this book, they bear directly upon some major questions related to the history of the Marranos generally. It is my hope, indeed, that the added discussions will help throw some light on these questions, and also elucidate other developments which are outside the strictly Marrano sphere. Per­ haps, in justification of this hope, I may mention my identifica­ tion of a leading church figure who aided the Jewish people in times of trouble and is referred to anonymously in Duran’s Epistle. His identity has hitherto eluded the scholars who dealt with that particular document, and his name has to this day not been mentioned in Jewish historical literature. The reaction to the book thus far has been such as to offer me no little encouragement. When its opening chapters appeared for the first time (December, 1963), the thesis propounded in I its pages was little known, and even to a lesser extent, accepted. viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ix Since then matters have considerably changed. The author's views on the subject, at least in broad outline, are now common knowledge to students in the field, and the current of scholarly opinion has been shifting—gradually, to be sure, but not imper­ ceptibly—from the old, conventional view of the. Marranos toward a new understanding of the Marrano sources and a new grasp of the Marrano problem. Independent research has led other authors, too, to reach conclusions similar to my own, and the views they expressed in recent years have no doubt contri­ buted to the same trend. Nevertheless, I believe that the present book has played an appreciable role in this development. It dis­ pelled, in part, the mist of myth and legend that had shrouded the historical evolution of Marranism, and allowed for a more realistic view of the whole succession of related events. Other vantage-points for such observation will doubtlessly be offered in the course of time; and the process of re-evaluation, once started, is not likely to cease. I had hoped that my parallel study of the Marranos according to the non-Hebrew sources would have been published by this time. But the vicissitudes of life and the needs of research, which turned out to be more intricate than I had expected, have set much of the pace for my progress in the work. I mentioned that study in the Foreword to this book, and now I feel I owe the reader the information that its completion is already in sight. B. N. October 20, 1971 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION When I prepared this book for the present edition, I carefully reread all of its parts and the comments made on it by various scholars. My survey confirmed the impression I had gained from some of the relevant researches I pursued in the period follow­ ing the book’s publication. Only isolated statements touching mar­ ginal points appeared to be in need of correction, while several new works on Castile’s urban population led me to reexamine solu­ tions I offered to unsettled problems concerning the number of the Marranos, which I discussed in the appendices. I found, however, nothing that called for any change either in my view concerning the Marranos’ number or in the content of the main body of the book, which unfolds the religious history of the Spanish Marranos across the entire fifteenth century and a short time thereafter. Not a single testimony I included in this account has ever been proven to be misinterpreted; none of the arguments I advanced has been overthrown; and none of the conclusions I reached has been refuted. I have, of course, corrected the few errors I referred to, included some new data in the notes, and added some remarks that fortify, in my judgment, my view concerning the size of the Marrano popula­ tion. I have also added an Afterword in which I reviewed some of the scholarly reactions to this book since its first appearance in 1966. This review enabled me to take into consideration the new opinions expressed about the thesis of this work in the light of my studies about the Marranos according to the wow-Hebrew sources. Consist­ ing of detailed and large-scale inquiries, these studies are included in my Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain (1995). As I said in the Foreword, the inquiries referred to form an in­ tegral part of my overall investigation into the Marrano problem. For what we gather about the Marranos from the Hebrew sources can be checked and examined in the light of the lessons derivable from the won-Hebrew documents. Convinced as I am that these les- X PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xi sons agree with the conclusions arrived at in this book, I feel I can now state without hesitation that the Hebrew sources dealing with the Marrano question reveal the transformation of the Marra- nos’ religious attitudes as they evolved in the ninety years preced­ ing the Inquisition, as well as in the first decades of its operation. Thus they throw much needed light on one of the great chapters of Hispano-Jewish history, which had hitherto been half-befogged and misconceived. B. N. July 12, 1998 CONTENTS PAGE Foreword vii Preface to the Second Edition viii Preface to the Third Edition .
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