Jews in the Kingdom of Castile from Re-Conquest to the Toledo Riots
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A Society in Transition: Jews in the Kingdom of Castile from Re-conquest to the Toledo Riots (1248-1449) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of London Cecil Reid School of History Queen Mary University of London 1 I, Cecil David Leo Reid, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 2 Abstract This dissertation traces the course of Jewish history in the kingdom of Castile from the late-thirteenth century to the Toledo riots of 1449. It shows that the security afforded to Jews through their protection by the Crown, and the high-office gained by Jewish royal administrators and tax-farmers, permitted a crossing of cultural boundaries by Jews, rarely seen elsewhere in Europe. Economic reliance underpinned royal protection; a fresh examination of taxation registers shows the extent of the Crown’s dependence upon the substantial revenues provided by the communities. These revenues, however, were considerably diminished in the course of the fourteenth century as a consequence of the war of Trastámaran succession. The Castilian and Hebrew records indicate that the integration of the Jewish court elite conferred privilege but was also dangerous for the individuals involved. Rabbinical correspondence reflects fears of secular learning and apostasy, fears confirmed by the conversion of influential Jewish scholars. These converts soon became supporters of the friars’ mission to the Jews in the fourteenth century. Though their efforts had little initial success, some voluntary conversions did occur even before the mass riots of 1391. A few such individuals showed how thoroughly they integrated into Christian society, acquiring wealth and property through marital alliances following their conversion. The many forced baptisms that occurred in the riots of 1391, were followed by a further wave of conversion in the early fifteenth century owing much to the preaching of Vincent Ferrer, and his insistence on the segregation of Jews. This study portrays the social pressures, even within a permissive cultural environment in late medieval Castile, pressures which led to the emergence of New Christians. Their contested identity was central to the Toledo rebellion of 1449 which marked a new and ominous chapter in faith relations in the Peninsula. 3 Acknowledgements I wish to thank both Professor Miri Rubin and Dr Rosa Vidal Doval for their guidance and supervision of this thesis. Without their patience, constructive criticism and constant encouragement, I would not have been able to bring this work to completion. Dr Eyal Poleg, as mentor and third supervisor, has also been an invaluable support to me over the last four years. I would also like to thank Professor Jim Bolton for his expert advice about the money supply in Iberia, a difficult issue that is dealt with in Chapters 1 and 3 of this work. My thanks also to Caridad López Ibañez, of the Archivo General de la Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia, for allowing access to the original thirteenth-century manuscript of privileges granted to the tax-farmer Zag de la Maleha. 4 Abbreviations, transliteration, transcription and translation ACA Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó ACM Actas Capitulares Murcia ACS Archivo de la Catedral de Sevilla ADMS Archivo de los Duques de Medina Sidonia, Sanlúcar AHN Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid AJS Association for Jewish Studies AMHB Archivo del Monasterio de las Huelgas de Burgos Arch. Colegial de Cov. Archivo Colegial de Covarrubias Arch. Vat. Suppl. Archivos del Vaticano Supplicationes BAE Biblioteca de Autores Españoles BNP Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris BRAH Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia MHE Memorial Historico Español All translations from Hebrew, Latin, Castilian or Catalan appearing in text and footnotes are my own unless otherwise stated. Transcriptions and spellings of Old Castilian or Judeo-Castilian are as they appear in the published documents. The transliteration of Hebrew words uses the convention of Other conventions are used .ע or א and the ‘ for the letters ח the ḥ to represent the letter where citations have been taken from other sources. The spelling of individual names corresponds to how they appear in the documents cited; thus, for example, Abenxuxen may appear as Aben Xuxen or ibn Susan in order to remain faithful to the original transcribed record. 5 Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables Introduction …………………………………………………………………….. 10 Chapters: 1. The Price of Reconquest: Collecting the Taxes for Alfonso X ….. 22 An economy in crisis …….………………………………………….. 22 Taxation and the coinage …….……………………………............... 25 The king’s political and economic imperatives ….…………………...27 Farming the King’s taxes ……………………………………………..29 Conclusion ….……………………………………………………….. 37 2. Serving the Heirs of El Sabio ………………………………………….. 40 Royal revenue and kingship in France, England and Castile …………………………………………..………………. 40 Jewish education in the Iberian Peninsula ………………………….. 45 The social and political crises of the early fourteenth century ……………………………...……………… 47 A dangerous patronage: el Barchilón and the Conde de Haro ………………………………… 48 Land, revenue and the alienation of royal estates …………………… 53 Regency – a power vacuum …………………………………………. 56 The rebuff of ecclesiastical censure …………………………………..59 Two Jewish privados of Alfonso XI in parallel narratives ………………………………………………….63 A poetic witness …………………………………………………….. 71 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………73 3. The Jewish pechero in Fourteenth-century Castile …………………75 The maravedí as a currency of account ………………………………77 Population and revenue …………………………………………… 79 The financial administration of the aljamas ………………………….83 6 Tax records and the economic status of Christians, Muslims and Jews in Castile ………………………………………..94 Royal revenue from Jewish debt: ‘Las Entregas de los Judíos’ ……………………………………….107 Conclusion …………………………………………………………109 4. Social Pressures and the Portrayal of Jews in the Fourteenth Century …………………………………………………………………... 111 Together or apart: Jews dwelling among Christians ……………… 112 Desolation, plague and revolt ……………………………………...117 A changing rhetoric: Jews in the Marian literature ………………..124 The representation of the Jew as agent in the conflict between Pedro and Enrique Trastámara …………………………..133 Pedro, the ‘Jewish’ king ……………………………………. 134 The French and the English in Castile ………………………..139 The desertion of Blanca, a Jewish ‘privado’ and accusations of magic and fraud …………………………………………. 140 The assault on the aljamas: the evidence from Jewish and Christian narratives …………………………………………….....................147 Victory and beyond: 1369-1391 …………………………………..152 Moral literature and cultural boundaries ………………………….158 Blurred identities and literary camouflage ………………………..167 Conclusion ………………………………………………………..171 5. The Momentum of Conversion and an Emerging Social Reality …………………………………………………………. 174 Confidence and doubt in Jewish scholarship ……………………. 176 The mission of the friars ………………………………………… 179 Apostasy and the transformation of the conversionary dialogue …………………………………… 182 Abner of Burgos/Alfonso de Valladolid …………………….. 183 The resolution of converso doubt: Profiat Duran and Joshua Halorki/ Hieronymus de Sancta Fide ………. ………….191 Shlomo ha-Levi/Pablo de Santa María (1350-1445) …………. 195 7 Death, martyrdom and a widening circle of conversion ……………199 Elite converts of convenience: Juan Sánchez de Sevilla and Los Marmolejos ………………………………………………….. 205 Artisan conversos in Toledo ………………………………………211 Vincent Ferrer and the undoing of convivencia ……………………..217 Conclusion …………………………………………………………..231 6. Contested Identity: The Toledo Rebellion of 1449 ………………...232 Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 247 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………...249 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………254 8 List of figures and tables Figures: 1. Privilege granted by Alfonso X to Aguilar de Campóo ……………………..31 2. Map of the Bishoprics of the Castilian Extremadura ……………………...100 3. Town plan of Ávila: boundaries of the juderías in the 14th-15th centuries …………………………………………………. 114 4. Cantiga §3 showing Teófilo being counselled by the Jew ……………….. 128 5. Cantiga §108. The boy with his head backwards ………………………… 130 6. Lineage of Juan Sánchez de Sevilla (Samuel Abravaniel) ……………….. 209 7. Toledo juderías 1380-1422 ………………………………………………. 216 Tables: 1. Revenues of the aljamas and martiniegas of the Christian communities in the Bishopric of Osma, 1292 …………………………………… 101 2. Revenues from Christians and Jews in the Cuaderno of Enrique II (1378) …………………………………………………… 102 3. Comparison of annual accounts of aljamas 1290-1292 versus 1378 ……………... 104 4. Stability of the martiniegas in the 14th century …………………………………… 106 5. Entregas de los Judíos compared with other revenues ‘en cabeza’ (1292) ………………………………………………………………… 109 9 Introduction Jews lived in the Iberian Peninsula for two centuries