In order to prevent all connivance between the Jews and the Converts, Torquemado made a firm resolution never to cease from his efforts till he had succeeded in the design of driving all the former from the realm, a project in which he found but little resistance from Ferdinand. That prince, though mainly relying upon Jewish capital for the prosecution of his wars against the Moors, had never disguised his antipathy to the Hebrew race. On the taking of Malaga in 1487 he had caused twelve New Christians who had fled thither and resumed their old faith to be transfixed with lances, and had sold 450 Jewish captives, mostly women, into slavery, from which they were nobly ransomed by Don Abraham Senior for the sum of 20,000 doblas of gold. The assent of Isabella was less easy to obtain, for she always evinced an under-current of feeling which made her at first recoil from sanctioning acts of cruel and oppressive persecution.

The force of bigotry and fear, and the distorted reasoning of the Inquisitors, proved however too strong for any sentiment of compassion, and on March 31, 1492, went forth the fatal edict enjoining that all non-baptised Jews must quit the whole of the Spanish dominions, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, within the space of four months.

The proclamation was based entirely on the grounds that the Jews were proved guilty by the Inquisitors and others of perverting Christians to their own belief, and spreading among them the knowledge and practice of Jewish rites and ceremonies. It stated that originally it had been contemplated to limit the measure to the expulsion of the Jews from all the cities and places in Andalusia, but that it had been found necessary to extend it to the whole country. Despite the ordinances which had been passed for preventing communication between Jews and Christians throughout the land, the former had continued to use every means in their power to subvert the holy Catholic faith by endeavouring to bring over faithful Christians to the observances of the law of Moses. It was thus deemed absolutely imperative, after mature deliberation, to banish the Jews from the whole kingdom, and accordingly they were all ordered to depart, never to return, before the end of the month of July in the current year, 1492. All such as remained after that date incurred the penalty of death, and of confiscation of their entire property to the royal treasury. All persons, of whatever rank, who harboured any Jew or Jewess after that date, were to forfeit their estates or property. The edict concluded by a promise of royal protection to the

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Jews during the remaining four months, with permission to travel in safety, and to sell, alienate, or otherwise dispose of all their moveable or immoveable property. They were also to be allowed to export their wealth and substance either by sea or land, with the exception of gold, silver, or other articles prohibited by law.

It may be deemed highly creditable to the Jews that the accusations brought against them were strictly limited to their wishing to bring over Christians to Judaism, a charge which could only have been meant to apply to the New Christians, who were in reality Jews themselves. The then prevalent and favourite accusations that the Hebrews were given to practices of usury and false dealing, that they had abducted and crucified Christian children, had desecrated the Host, or had poisoned large numbers of the population in the course of their extensive medical practice, might, not unnaturally, have been expected to find a place in the document; to none of these subjects, however, was the slightest allusion made, although the Inquisitors were industrious in circulating all these charges in justification of the measure.

This remarkable and final edict, although it might have been seen looming in the distance for

many years, fell like a thunder-bolt on the Jews. To be forced to quit the soil which their ancestors had inhabited for so many centuries, which they loved as no other land had been loved by Israelites since the destruction of Jerusalem, to abandon those many relatives, who though they had nominally quitted their faith, still remained Jews in feeling, and who were now to be handed over to a ruthless persecution, to exchange the wealth which they had so long enjoyed for poverty and exile, was too bitter a thought for endurance. Great was the interest used, and vast were the efforts made to avert the fatal decree. The Jews offered to submit to any terms, and to sacrifice any amount of treasure, merely to be permitted to remain on Spanish soil.

At this crisis that grand and remarkable character, Don Isaac Abravanel, who, as we have seen, had long been established at Toledo, stepped boldly forward, and accompanied by some of the more notable of his co-religionists, threw himself at the feet of the King and Queen, offering to raise 300,000 ducats, provided the degree were revoked. It is stated that the arguments he used were so cogent, that the royal pair were on the point of consenting, when Torquemada rushed into the royal presence with a crucifix in his hand, and thrusting it before

the sovereigns, exclaimed: 'Judas Iscariot sold his master for thirty pieces of silver; you wish to sell him for 300,000 ducats; here he is, take him and sell him.' This concluded the argument; the fate of the Spanish Jews was now irrevocably sealed. In proportion as the day of their departure drew near, and the means of realisation became more difficult, their anxiety to dispose of their worldly goods grew greater; valuable plots of land were sold for a few pieces of cloth, fine houses were exchanged for a couple of mules, and in many cases the riches of the Israelites melted away into those few articles, which they could carry with them, and the beasts, which were to transport them. Moreover, the convents and public institutions, the nobles, and persons of every class, were largely indebted to the Jews, and as no provision was made for the collection of the debts becoming due to them after the date of their enforced departure, their losses from this source were almost incalculable, and the gain to the debtors was of course proportionately enormous. Despite the edict, saddles and furniture were stuffed full of gold pieces, while such as could succeed in transmuting their money into bills of exchange, which were not then very general in Spain, did so on any terms, however ruinous.