Marranos literally 'swine' or 'pig' now also means 'secret Jew'   At one time it was a term of abuse applied to Jews who were forcibly baptized in Spain in 1391 and in Portugal in 1497.  Some Portuguese academics attribute its origin to the Aramaic-Hebrew Mar Anus, a 'forced one',  This is similar to Anussim (Hebrew for 'forced ones'), Jews forced to convert as a result of outside pressures.   Crypto Jew or 'secret Jew is also used.  Converso or New Christian is often used by Christianity. Marrano is now commonly used in Portugal because of its association with the forced baptism of 1497, the Inquisition, and as a badge of identity and resistance to the unHoly Office of the Inquisition (which still exists).  (manuel azevedo) while anussim, converso or crypto Jew is more often used in Spain. Today, Jews whose ancestors were Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 - 500 years ago.  call themselves Sefardim - which shows how important this date is in Jewish history. Those who stayed did so because they were forcibly converted to Christianity though many continued to practice Judaism in secret.  Many 'secret Jews' have since returned to Judaism.  Why this happened, we need to know what happened then and since. Martin Gilbert’s Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization, 1998  estimates that 230,000 Jews were expelled from Spain.  Of these 50,000 were baptised to remain in Spain but some would be secret Jews, while180,000 sacrificed nearly everything and go to an unknown destination.  Of these others estimate that 120,000 went to Portugal before settling elsewhere.  A disaster followed by the creation of the Jewish Diaspora In fact, expulsion from Spain was not unique in Western Europe, for example the Jews expelled from England (1290) the Jews expelled from France (1306 and 1394) the Jews expelled from Hungary (1349 and 1360) the Jews expelled from Germany (1348 and 1498) the Jews expelled from Austria (1421) the Jews expelled from Lithuania (1445 and 1495) the Jews expelled from Spain (1492) the Jews expelled from Portugal (1497) So, why did this disaster happen?  Dimont compares Christian feudal life to a vast prison.  Inside were three estates governed by strict rules - the serfs (95% of the population), priests and nobility. Movement between these estates was virtually impossible.  The nobles did not want to work, the priests were excluded from work and the serfs not allowed to do any middle class profession such as moneylending or trading.  The Jews became indispensable as they were the only ones who could do this work and explains why they were granted charters of freedom and invited to stay by the nobles.. During the feudal system the Jews were largely ignored by the Church as it felt itself faced with a dilemma If the Jews were ignored it might be equal to an admission that Jesus was not universally divine On the other hand if the church exterminated the Jews, as it had with the heathens,  then the Church could never claim that the Jews had acknowledged Jesus' divinity Result -  they were excluded from the feudal system to prevent the Jews infecting believers with doubt.  Then, three things occurred which changed everything The first was the First Crusade in 1096 which extended the knightly prerogative of dying for honour to the common man  To join the Crusade serfs were promised freedom, criminals pardon and sinners granted absolution. A largely undisciplined army led to unruly undisciplined mobs sacking towns and villages as they 'marched' towards the promised land.  This pattern continued with the subsequent crusades.  The second was the association of Jews and usury  In 1123, the Jews were given a new function by the bishops of the Church when they undertook a series of meetings -- called Lateran Councils -- to decide Church policy when they decided that Christians were not allowed to lend each other money. (This came from a misunderstanding of a Biblical commandment that forbids one from charging one's brother interest when making a loan.)  The bishops knew interest would be charged if money was borrowed.  Someone had to lend money and that someone they decided would be the Jews.  So the Jews, who were servants to the Christians had the degrading task of lending money -- called usury -- with which the Christians were forbidden to sully their hands. One result was that Jews were not allowed to live in various cities in Europe, unless they supplied a certain number of money-lenders However, lending money very precarious. as it engendered a lot of animosity as no one likes repaying loans? So a noble or bishop who decided not to pay you back would accuse the Jew of doing something terrible -- such as killing a Christian baby so he could renege on loans, confiscate Jewish property and expel or even kill the Jews. The third was the Black Death in the 14th Century.   One hypothesis is that the plague was due to a flea-bearing rodent which is estimated to have resulted in the death of about half the population of Europe - about 25,000,000 people.  Jews were charged with having provoked the Plague through their unbelief and sinfulness. They stood out to the Christian population as they did not use water from public wells, had a religious obligation of cleanliness  and were suspected of poisoning wells.  Living in a group, often in a Jewish ghetto isolated may have emphasised lower Jewish mortality rates The Catholic Church saw its objective as eliminating heresy - that is any Christian religious belief that didn't agree with established Church dogma.  The Pope saw the major threat to his power from sects challenging church doctrine and so their power and introduced a new weapon against heresy - the Inquisition.  Its purpose was not to eliminate Judaism.  Investigations, often by torture, through ecclesiastical tribunals controlled by Dominican monks were to obtain admission of guilt and the names of other possibly supposed heretics. Sentence, carried out by the secular arm on their behalf ranged from church attendance to being burnt at the stake. Spanish Jewish conversion dates back to the sixth century when 90,000 Jews were converted.  How many remained Christian, how many returned to Judaism and how many professed both religions is unknown   During the Spanish reconquest of Spain from the Mohammedans Spanish royalty offered inducements for Jews to remain in Spain.  By the end of the fifteenth century many had risen to positions of power which annoyed the 'old' or 'true'  Christians' who saw them taking plum jobs.  The 'Old Christians' accused the 'New Christians' of being false converts, keeping their former religion in secret.  This was sometimes true, and even people later declared Saints by the Church were suspected. Cleanliness of blood was an issue of ancestry, not of personal religion. This atmosphere was reinforced with the concept of racial purity which after riots in Toledo led to the 1449 First Statute of Purity of Blood being passed so banning New Christians from many official positions and Old Christians becoming more influential. Previous attacks had occurred as In the fourteenth century when the Dominican friar Vincent Ferrer swept through Castile at the head of a huge band of fanatics and looters.  On Sabbath when the Jews were congregated in their synagogue he would rush in with a crucifix in one hand and a torah in the other offering a choice of baptism or death.  Thousands were slaughtered.  He boasted that he had baptised 35,000 Jews.  Following his death he was made a saint. Some, who had been educated in talmudic yeshivot, put their talents to the service of the Church,  One Paulus de Santa Maria (formerly Solomon Halevi, 1352-1435) was almost elected Pope in Avignon and became Primate of the Spanish Church.   He acted as Ferrers evil genius and urged him to greater ferocity to convert or exterminate the Jews. How did the Jews react?  Chaim Potok in 'Wanderings' gives a feeling how the Jews responded to attacks: They would use their weapons to hold off the mobs.  But when it was clear that defeat was near, they would accept it as a sign from God that their deaths had been decreed.  There might be a pause in the battle.  The men would gather for a final decision.  To let themselves and their families be taken alive by such mobs was unthinkable.  Jewish law developed a benediction for the act of martyrdom.  Fathers would say the words, cut the throats of their wives and children, say aloud "Hear O Israel the Lord is God, the Lord is One" and commit suicide. They died without doubting the unfathomable judgement of heaven.  They felt themselves linked to the patriarch Abraham and his act of faith when he nearly sacrificed Isaac......They saw themselves continuing in the tradition of the Pietists who died fighting the Hellenists.  It was a charged, passionate choice made with the certainty that the world to come was a living reality and its rewards awaited them when they fulfilled their ultimate duty as Jews.  Accounts make it clear...that Jews were fully aware of their actions; they were testifying to the truth and continuing reality of the original covenant and to the cruelty and emptiness of the Christianity that had forced them to such a choice.  Martyrdom was an aggressive act of denial, a publicly performed act sanctifying the name of God.  During the heat of battle and before the act of suicide, Jews would shout words of derision about Jesus.  Some let themselves be taken alive, agreed to baptism and then spat on the crucifix, knowing they might be torn to pieces by the infuriated crowd. The Inquisition was Instituted by Pop Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome, it was expanded by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 to combat the heresy of the Abilgenses, a French religious sect. By 1255 it was in Central and Western Europe; although never in England or Scandinavia. Torquemada was a pious Dominican monk. who became confessor to Princess Isabella, the heiress of Castile (her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon which led to the unification of Spain was arranged by a Jew called Abraham Senior). She was crowned in 1473 and he became Spain's Inquisitor General a decade later.  In his fifteen years as head of the Spanish Inquisition it grew from a single tribunal in Seville to a network of two dozen 'Holy Offices'" creating panic and terror Every Christian over twelve (for girls) and fourteen (for boys) was fully accountable to the Inquisition. Heretics and Conversos were the primary targets, but anyone who spoke against the Inquisition fell under suspicion. To help guard against the spread of heresy, Torquemada promoted the burning of non-Catholic literature—especially Jewish Talmuds and, after the final defeat of the Moors at Granada in 1492 Arabic books were also burnedl.  Torquemada travelled with 50 mounted guards and 250 armed men to impress and intimidate. He died in 1498 The guide for informers to help identify a secret Jew included a long list of habits or characteristics such as the following: ·     Put before your neighbour morsels of food such as pork, rabbit and conger eels,. and if he refuses to eat, he is a Jew. ·     Watch with great care everything your neighbour does on Friday.  Does he put on fresh linen?  Does he light candles at least an hour before honest men do?  Does his wife clean the house that day?  If you catch him doing those thing, you have a Jew. As a result people often ate pork and went to church or the cathedral to prove their 'Christian credentials'.. James Michener tells the story of the scholar Tomas de Salamanca.  One day his nine year old son burst into the street shouting "my father whipped me.  He fasts on Yom Kippur."  After investigations lasting seven years sixty three of his close associates were burnt alive.  Among them were seventeen nuns who said Jewish prayers in their convent, thirty monks, seven priests and two bishops. The psychological climate caused by fear of being taken by the Inquisition explains why conversos led secret lives.  This is vividly brought to life in books and films about this period. This secrecy has still not disappeared.  While in Belmonte (2006) we met someone who had just been made redundant as his employer had  discovered he was Jewish.  Following this he was moving to Belmonte to be with other Jews.  He, and others, said a reason for this attitude was the growing influence of the Catholic Opus Dei movement in Portugal. Torquemada decided it was necessary to eliminate Jewish influence and competition to the Church. .An Edict of Expulsion was issued against the Jews on March 31 1492  ordering them to leave by the last day of July (Tisha B'Av), permitting them to remove their property provided it was not in gold, silver, or money. A Jewish delegation went to Portugal to negotiate their admission to Portugal  The Portuguese saw an opportunity to add to the royal treasury.  600 families paid for the right of permanent residence the remainder  pad less for the right to stay eight months after which ships would be provided to take them elsewhere. On their arrival the government faced pressure for their immediate removal as some blamed them for bringing the plague, while others, for defying the teachings of the Church.  The King changed his mind about the Jewish refugees and withstood this pressure when he realized that they might be an asset to his country and so should be kept in Portugal. As a result few ships were provided for the exodus, so few Jews left. Those remaining were accused of having violated the initial agreement and, in accordance its stipulations were declared slaves and handed over to Christian masters, unless they accept baptism.  The Jewish Virtual Library adds In 1496, to punish the Jews of Portugal who would not pay the head tax of the state, King Manuel deported nearly 2,000 Jewish children, from the ages of two to ten, to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe straddling the Equator west of Gabon. The King had wished to colonize the islands, under Portugal’s rule, but did not want to risk the lives of Portuguese men doing so. Nevertheless a year after, the children were disposed on the islands only 600 were found alive. Some of the children attempted to retain some semblance of their Jewish heritage and religion. Even into the early 1600s Jewish practices could still be observed on the islands, but by the 18th century most of the Jewish presence had perished. A new small community was established in the 19th and 20th centuries with the arrival of a few Jewish cocoa and sugar traders. Today there are no known practicing Jews living on the islands, but there remains a clear distinction in fair skin citizens, many of whom can trace their ancestry back to the Portuguese Jews. On July 12, 1995, an International Conference was held on the islands’ twentieth Independence Day, to commemorate the Jewish Portuguese children who were discarded on the islands in the 15th century. Sao Tome and Principe eventually became one of the worlds leading sugar producers   Go to www.saudades.org/jewscapev.html for details of Jews on the West African coast. In 1495 Dom Manuel became King and ordered enslaved Jews be set free. . Unfortunately   he was considering marrying the youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. with the hope that a descendant would inherit the Spanish throne and possibly unify the Iberian Peninsula under the house of Braganza.. As a precondition Isabella stipulated  Portugal should follow Spain by expelling the Jews f On December 5, 1496, Manuel issued a decree ordering all Jews and Moors, to leave Portugal by the end of October 1497. He had second thoughts as he felt that by expelling all Jews from Portugal an important segment of the middle class would be lost with no one to carry on their commercial, industrial and fiscal activities, Instead he tried something new, he would simply compel all Jews to convert to Christianity.  All synagogues and study-houses were to be confiscated and Jews commanded to surrender their books. On March 19, 1497, during the Jewish Passover, orders were given that all the Jewish children between the ages of four and fourteen, were to be forcibly converted and permanently separated from their parents unless they also accepted baptism. That day; horror was witnessed all over the country with some fathers strangling their sons in a last embrace, rather than surrender them to a fate that they considered worse than death.  In a few cases, they converted to stay with them. Instead of three embarkation ports for the final expulsion, they were told that all would all have to depart from Lisbon.  Once there all pretence at carrying out the expulsion was dropped. They were kept without food and drink in the hope that these privations would open their eyes to the true faith. Renegades and friars tried to persuade them that life was worth a Mass. Some gave in. Those who refused were closely guarded until the time limit for their departure had lapsed. They were then informed that their penalty for disobedience was enslavement and that they could recover their freedom only by adopting the Christian faith. Twenty thousand Jews were brought in successive groups to the palace grounds of the Estaos. Those who would not go willingly to the baptismal font, were dragged with brutal force. Those who were still protesting, had Holy Water flung over them from a distance, and declared to be Christians. By September, the forceful conversions had been completed. All the Jews who had not previously left the country had been made Christians against their will.  The new converts became known as Christianos Nuevos, or Novos Cristaos (New Christians). It was not until 1768 that Portugal officially abolished the distinction between "Old" and "New" (i.e. Jewish) Christians.  Having achieved his immediate purpose, Manuel felt he could afford to adopt a lenient policy towards the converts by promising that no inquiries would be made into their religious beliefs for twenty years.  His proclamation proclaimed that converts would eventually 'lose their accustomed habits and be confirmed in our holy faith." Manuel was wrong as conversos retained a strong sense of identity, which In some cases still exists, five hundred years later. They formed a new social class in Portugal and Spain and the Christian countries where they were able to settle and played a major role in the culture and the economy of these nations. The Conversos married among themselves strengthening family ties, and their sense of community. Those going to other countries usually reverted to Judaism, For example, in Holland they formed an important community and later emigrants from there an English community Conversos continued to emigrate, prompting the authorities to withhold the right of emigration from the New Christians, except for those who had received permission from the king. New Christians lived in constant fear of being denounced, not just by informers, but even by friends. Those accused by the Inquisition could only be reconciled if they submitted the names of individuals who might still be attached to some Jewish belief or custom. Thus, a secret religious culture developed in Portugal, as it had in Spain among the majority of the New Christians; a culture described as "crypto-Judaism." While attending church and conducting themselves as Catholics, externally, they maintained an acute sense of their Jewish identity, reciting some Jewish prayers and practicing some Jewish observances, often at great risk of being arrested by the agents of the Holy Office or being denounced inadvertently by a friend under torture. The Inquisition was finally abolished on March 31, 1821. During its existence, It implicated over 40,000, of whom 30,000 were sentenced at autos-da-fe. 750 auto-da-fe were staged 29,000 persons were 'reconciled' to the Church, 600 were burned in effigy and 1200 were burned alive on the stake for the sin of Judaizing. Click here to read what happened to some converso To summarise ·        The Inquisition, created to maintain the power of the Catholic, emphasized the climate of fear based on religion. ·        By 1497 forced conversion saw no Jews remaining in Spain or Portugal.   Of the 230,000 Jews faced with expulsion in 1492 AT LEAST 170,000 had been forcibly converted to Christianity by 1497 ·        Fear of the Inquisition saw many converts having a ‘dual identity’ ·        Expulsion of the Spanish Jews created a new worldwide diaspora as in Amsterdam (which became known as the New Jerusalem) and in Brazil where a Jewish community appeared following the Dutch conquest of 1632. ·        Jews became associated with usury ·        Customs were passed through generations without those carrying them out understanding their significance. ·        Extensive kinship and mercantile ties developed with Jewish families around the world.   References Jews, God and History, Max I Dimont, Mentor 1994 Wanderings, Chaim Potok's History of the Jews, Chaim Potok, Hutchinson 1974 Isidore Loeb, in the "Revue des Etudes Juives" (xiv. 162-183) Pictorial History of the Jewish People, Nathan Ausubel, Robson Books 1984 www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Marranos.html   Definitions and history of Marranos http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Christian&action=edit  Limpieza de sangre (Spanish), Limpeza de sangue (Portuguese),  both meaning "cleanliness of blood" www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Medieval/TheStory6321666/Christendom/InquisitionI.htm  Howard Morley Sachar and the purpose of the Inquisition  (http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman/FAMHX9.htm)