The Massacres of 1391 and the Beginning of the End of Spanish Jewry

In 1391, a wave of anti-Jewish riots swept through Christian Spain, leaving thousands dead and leading many thousands more to accept Christianity (sometimes by force) or to flee the country. As a result, the Church became increasingly suspicious of the sincerity of these former Jews’ conversions, which were then duly investigated by the Inquisition. Ecclesiastical authorities were particularly exercised about the possible influence of Spain’s large Jewish population on their former coreligionists, a concern that eventually led to the expulsion of the remaining Jews in 1492.