[MUSIC] Spain's future was now in the hands of the christian kingdoms. Under the rule of Castilian kings like King Alfonso X, The Wise, who ruled between 1252 and 1284. Christians would encounter the own world of positive coexistence. Alfonso would shower the intellectual arts and sciences with funds. And create his own center of learning, the School of Translators in Toledo, where Greek knowledge was revived previously by Muslims. And now Jews and Christians worked alongside of each other to revitalize the sciences, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy within the Christian kingdoms. Further, the wise king, who fashioned himself the king of three religions, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Would make his mark in legal affairs with the publication of the Seven Parts Law or La Siete Partidas, a comprehensive legal code. As well as in the religious arts, where he supported the creation of Cantigas de Santa Maria, or the Canticles of Holy Mary, a collection of 420 narratives, devotional, and liturgical poems. The Cantigas are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, an important figure in the Catholic faith, who is honored by the church to this day. The compositions were writ in Medieval Galatian Portuguese under Alfonso's direction. One excerpt we might enjoy is from Cantiga number 10. In this Cantiga, Alfonso speaks of the beauty and power of Mary. Rose of roses and flower of flowers, lady of ladies, Lord of lords. Rose of beauty and fine appearance and flower of happiness and pleasure, lady of most merciful bearing and Lord for relieving all woes and cares. Through these commitments to cultural arts, to conquest, and reclaiming Iber for the Christians. Castile was on the march and would determine the future. Just 70 years after the death of King Alfonso the Wise, unforeseen events transpired in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, and across the broader European continent. The plague, a dead king, and anti-Jewish sentiment would be on the rise. From 1347 to 1350, approximately 25 million people died from the plague in Europe, or about 25% of the population. In fact, the pandemic returned multiple times to Castile, resurging in 1374 and again in 1384. Over the course of the 14th century, the Iberian population withered from an estimated population of about 5.5 million down to about 4.5 million people. Across Europe, Jewish communities were implicated as the cause of the illness. Complicating this natural phenomena, was a persistent division separating Christians and Jews. And as scholar Samuel Cohn Jr. reminds us, Jews were accused of poisoning food, wells, and streams. They were tortured into confessions, rounded up in city squares, or at their synagogues, and at times exterminated en masse. This was particularly the case in Germany, southern France, and Spain, and was known as, the Burning of the Jews. Compounding the problems inside of Spain was the death of King Alfonso the 11th. While laying siege to Gibraltar and and after the battles and conquests by the noble prince Lord Kind Alfonso of Castile and Leon. It was at the village in the noble, notable, and very strong castle of Gibraltar, the plague entered among the Muslims and Christians. By the will of God, this pestilence of the greatest mortality returned and fell upon our most noble King Alfonso. With the death of the king, Castile fell into civil war, pitting Pedro I, known as The Cruel, against his half-brother Enrique II of Trastamara. The war lasted from 1350 until 1369 when Enrique killed his brother. With a new king, Castile seemed to be back on its feet, but it wasn't. Castile was bankrupt and broken. To find new footing for the end of this 14th century, King Enrique II elected to pursue a new policy. A policy of promoting Jewish families inside of his government and his nobility. Specifically, he told them, if you will convert to Christianity, I will bestow upon you many riches and many opportunities. And this is what happened, a new nobility was created inside of Castile. New families, like the Estunigas, and the Mendozas, and the Santa Maria's would rise inside of Castile. The late 1300's and early 1400's and recreate a new Castile crafted from old Christian and new Christian families. And this was accomplished through a system known at the Mayorazgo system, or the Mercedes enriquenas. And in this system, the king would allow his nobles both old and new, to pass wealth and titles to their children. It fundamentally would reshape Castillo as the elite became a mixture of Jewish and Christian heritages. This message and his change was not well received by the general populace. And then during the 1390s massive anti-Jewish riots swept across Castile and Aragon as well, known as the Anti-Jewish Pogroms of the 1390s. And which extended well into the early 1400s. Many Jewish populations were annihilated and effectively ended inside of Castile. It is said, perhaps inaccurately, but to give us a sense of the scale of the problem and the devastation. That as many as 100,000 Jews were killed, 100,000 chose to convert to christianity and another 100,000 chose to leave Iberia altogether. We certainly can't know the exact numbers, but we know that it was a fundamental shift again inside of Castile. Change had come, and change was difficult for this community. What would happen in the future? Would Jews be allowed to enter into the Christian society as Conversos, or recent converts to Christianity? Or would they be separated from other populations, would they always be suspect? These questions were soon resolved and by 1450, with Castile and Leon, the strongest kingdom on the Peninsula on the march. These divisions within Castilian society worsened, specifically in the city of Toledo. New municipal laws were passed that banned Conversos from holding public office. These new laws known as Limpieza de sangre laws, or blood purity laws would exclude those individuals and those families that hailed from Jewish and, in the future, Muslim heritage, from ever holding public office. This discrimination extended, eventually, into many cathedral systems and many churches across Spain. As old Christians became increasingly skeptical about the religious pedigree and beliefs of new Christians. Just a few years later, in 1469, another major event occurred inside of Christian Spain. Castilian princess Isabel would elope with Prince Fernando of Aragon, preparing in a new way, for a Catholic Spain. Their marriage allowed for the unification of Christian Spain in 1479. Queen Isabel claimed her territories of Castile and Leon, and Fernando, Aragon and Catalonia. Collectively, they would rule Spain together and there was just one last element they needed to pursue, the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. In existence since 1231, the Nasrids of Granada had been a compliant and tributary state at the Castilians, it had been allowed to exist. And from time to time, the Nasrids would support the Castilians and their objectives to finish off other Islamic cities inside of Spain during the 13th century. For example, in 1236, the Nasrids assisted Castile in the retaking of the city of Cordoba. And in 1248, they did the same with Sevilla. After these two entities were lost, the Nasrids were the only Islamic kingdom inside of all of Spain. And now, at the end of this period in 1492, the Nasrids would be effectively eliminated as well. This was the twilight of positive coexistence inside of Spain. In this last 20 years of the 15th century we will witness the creation of the inquisition in 1478, which pursued Christian heretics who returned to their former faiths of Judaism or Islam. And in 1492, as we know, the Jews would be expelled from Spain, their homeland of over 2,000 years. Thus the end of the 15th century was quite incredible for a number of reasons. To give you a sense of just how exceptional this year was, 1492, consider this. By that year, the martch of history claimed its Christian victories and Muslims, Jewish and Native Americans losses would be felt. After a 10 year war to reclaim Islamic Granada, the Spanish monarchs took up residence in the luxuriously ornate Alhambra Palace on January 1st. The remaining 250 to 300,000 Jews were exiled from Spain on July 31st. And Christopher Colon and his crew landed on Espanola in the Americas on December 25th. All in the course of a year, this transpired. Medieval Spain had reached it's twilight and it's end. And we would be remiss not to remember that, in 1502, the Muslims were expelled from Spain, as well, completing this effort to purify Spain of its Jewish and Islamic past. An Imperial Spain, an early modern Spain, was now on the horizon and could be easily seen. In 1519, the grandson of Isabelle and Fernando assumed the mantle of power. He was Charles V, and he would become the king of united Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor. [MUSIC]
