Sue's Audio Books
  • Home
  • Arts
    • Painting
    • Poetry
    • Nature & Science
  • Memoirs
    • African Americans
    • Artists & Intellectuals
    • Explorers
    • Native Americans
    • Pioneers
    • Travelers
    • War & Military
    • Women
  • American History
    • American Revolution
    • American West
    • Civil War
    • Gold Rushes
    • Immigration
    • Slavery & Abolition
  • Miscellany
    • Odd Bits & Tangents
    • Nonfiction Collection
  • Me
    • About
    • Bookish (the Blog)
    • Sidney’s Brooklyn (1941-1960)
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
Lighted menorah

The Inquisition of Spain

Odd Bits & Tangents anti-semitism, audiobooks, judaism, librivox, Spain

Above: “Universal Light,” December 2016

Henry Charles Lea  (1825- 1909)

Henry Charles Lea’s monumental four volume History of the Spanish Inquisition, published in 1906-1907 was considered groundbreaking at the time. It is opinionated and densely written, not exactly what you would pick to read on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but Lea researched his history from original sources, making his work still valuable as a scholarly resource. LibriVox undertook as a collaborative project to read all four volumes of the history. Three have been completed, the fourth is still underway. My contribution to the project was Chapter 3 of Volume I, “The Jews and the Conversos,”  (pp. 81-144), which details the expulsion of the Jews from Spain by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella.

“The edict of expulsion was signed on March 30, 1492.  It gave the entire Jewish population of Spain until July 31 in which to change their religion or to leave the country under penalty of death.  During the interval… they were permitted to sell their effects and carry the proceeds with them, except that… the export of gold and silver  (i.e. coined money ) was prohibited (!)”

“Men might admit that it was unwise from the point of view of statesmanship and damaging to the prosperity of the land, but this only enhanced the credit due to the sovereigns whose piety was equal to the sacrifice. Such were the convictions of the period in the fifteenth century after Christ had died for man, that this crime agasinst humanity met with nothing but applause among contemporaries.”

“The sacrifices entailed on the exiles were enormous. . . An eye-witness tells us that the Christians bought their property for a trifle… they were compelled to give a house for an ass and a vineyard for a little cloth or linen: in some places the miserable wretches, unable to get any price, burnt their homes …  Penniless, friendless and despised they were cast forth into a world which had been taught that to oppress them was a service to the Redeemer. The whole world was pitiless to these wretched outcasts, against whom every man’s hand was raised. From Aragon and Cadiz they put to sea for Italy or the Moorish lands or whersoever fortune might drive them. Most of them had evil fate, robbery and murder by sea and in the lands of their refuge.”

“The sum of human misery was incomputable.”    Henry Charles Lea

 


You might enjoy Our Journey to Sinai

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Magic in a Clump of Cattails

Related Posts

Photo of shadow resembling a dog speaking

Odd Bits & Tangents

Novel Hand Shadows: Dog & Rabbit

Gears from Water Wheel

Odd Bits & Tangents

Geneva Belle Flour Mill (1913)

Cars with license plate #13

Odd Bits & Tangents

Ye Knights of Ye 13th Car

Houdidni

Odd Bits & Tangents

Houdini–The Miracle Mongers, An Exposé

Nine-banded Armadillo

Odd Bits & Tangents

Nine-banded Armadillo

painting, Continuity

Odd Bits & Tangents

When 11 Days Disappeared by an Act of Parliament, and the 11th Anniversary of LibriVox

text from old spelling book

Odd Bits & Tangents

Words of Two Syllables, A Selection from the English Spelling Book

LibriVox CD cover

Odd Bits & Tangents

Cuentos, Adivinanzas y Refranes Populares

Recent Posts

  • Peruvian Earthquakes of 1868
  • Abstracts in Ink from the Right Hand Desk Drawer, 2020-2021
  • Chicago Race Riots of 1919, Coroner’s Official Report
  • Chickens, Cats, & Self-Perception: On Drawing
  • Rendering Clouds and Water

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016

Categories

Tags

Alfred East American History American West anti-semitism Arthur L. Guptill audiobooks August Jaccaci birds Brooklyn California Chicago Christopher Whall Civil War cochineal Constantine Panunzio constantinople Edward Carpenter Frontier Nursing Society Gold Rushes Illinois immigrants Immigration John Muir judaism letters librivox memoirs Mexico Mt. Rainier nature nonfiction collection Ohio painting pioneers poetry race riot Sidney Gross sketching Slavery & Abolition Spain Spanish Borderlands Thomas Dallam war and military women World War I
  • Home
  • Arts
    • Painting
    • Poetry
    • Nature & Science
  • Memoirs
    • African Americans
    • Artists & Intellectuals
    • Explorers
    • Native Americans
    • Pioneers
    • Travelers
    • War & Military
    • Women
  • American History
    • American Revolution
    • American West
    • Civil War
    • Gold Rushes
    • Immigration
    • Slavery & Abolition
  • Miscellany
    • Odd Bits & Tangents
    • Nonfiction Collection
  • Me
    • About
    • Bookish (the Blog)
    • Sidney’s Brooklyn (1941-1960)
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
© Sue's Audio Books 2021
Copyright: Sue Anderson. All rights reserved.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy