Status Updates From The Origins of the Inquisit...

"... Rejoicing in the freedom granted them by the King, “the Jews ran at once, with their wives and children, to the pavilion of the Torah; and when they emerged from it on the other side they were slaughtered one after another and thrown into the sea. Thus was the kingdom purged, and the plague ceased forthwith; nor has any Jew lived in that kingdom ever since..."

“Any such person who was found to have erred ought to be surrendered to the secular authorities for due punishment, that is, by burning, unless immediately after the detection of the error, he expressed his wish to revert to the faith, to abjure his error and undergo penance; then the ‘returners’ should not be executed; they ought to be shut up in a perpetual prison.”

"... Most of the borough of the richer conversos, the fashionable neighborhood of Barrionuevo, was destroyed in an orgy of pillage and bloodshed that lasted no less than two weeks (from July 7 to 20). Twenty-two conversos were killed; many others were maimed and wounded. Most of those killed were dragged through the streets, and then, following the Toledan example, hanged, feet upward, in the central square..."

"...The sight of conversos being dragged to court, subjected to the most ignominious accusations, sentenced to death and then burned in the squares must not only have excited their passion for vengeance but also fired their hopes that soon, at last, they would be rid of the hated group. Then came the confiscation of all the goods of the conversos judged guilty by the religious courts..."

"...Evidently, the archbishop pressed the authorities to adopt that policy for a very long time (probably, from the very foundation of the college), as is suggested in the opening of the undated race statute: “Since it has always been our will and intention that no person of Jewish origin shall be allowed entrance to this college. . .”

"...The same intent dictated the laws that forbade Jews to “visit Christians in their illness, or give them medicines, or talk idly to them, or send them presents of dried herbs, or spices, or any article of food.” And we may add to this category also the laws forbidding Jews to attend Christian weddings and funerals or take part in any ceremony in which Christians were honored..."

"... In 1215, when the Fourth Lateran Council sought to separate the Jews more effectively from the Christians, it ordered the Jews to wear a special sign, and considered this measure sufficient for the purpose. This was also the position of Castile’s civil law, as indicated in the Partidas and later affirmed by Enrique II and Enrique III..."

"Ferrer now faced his greatest opportunity, but also his most difficult task ... The Jews were known to be particularly stubborn and exceptionally hard to draw to the faith, and all attempts to do so by mere persuasion had so far failed, except in few cases. Now he was expected to achieve by eloquence what others had achieved only by violence —namely, the conversion of masses. Could it be done?"