Massacre of 1391
Part of Antisemitism in Europe
Slaughter of Jews in Barcelona in 1391 (José Segrelles, c. 1910)
Location	Crown of Castile, Crown of Aragon
Date	1391
Target	Jews
Attack type	Pogrom
Motive	Antisemitism

The Massacre of 1391, also known as the pogroms of 1391, refers to a murderous wave of mass violence committed against the Jews of Spain by the Catholic populace in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, both in present-day Spain, in the year 1391. It was one of the most lethal outbreaks of violence against Jews in medieval European history. Anti-Jewish violence similar to Russian pogroms continued until the "Reconquista" in 1492 and subsequent expulsion of the Jews from Spain.^[1] The year 1391, however, marked a peak of such violence.^[1]

After the massacres, Jews began to convert en masse to Roman Catholicism^[2] across the Iberian Peninsula, resulting in a substantial population^[3] of conversos known as Marranos. Catholics then began to accuse—with or without substantiation—the conversos of secretly maintaining Jewish practices^[3], and thus undermining the newly united kingdom's national identity, ultimately leading to their expulsion by royal decree of the "Catholic Kings" Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile and León in 1492.^[3]

Jews in medieval Spain were burdened with higher taxes than their Catholic countrymen, and forced to provide payments in kind to the aristocracy and church.^[4] Furthermore, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, they were restricted to "marginal" occupations including banking and finance, particularly as tax collectors and as moneylenders to the aristocratic and church elite, landowners, peasants, merchants, and artisans alike. Resentment against Jews coalesced into the now-common antisemitic tropes of usury, predatory lending, manipulation of financial markets, and other forms of economic antisemitism.^[5] Attitudes were inflamed as much by Church discourse including accusations of Jewish deicide and blood libel as by any possible factors particular to medieval Spain.^[6] In 1311–12, the ecumenical Council of Vienne elected to negate those civil liberties of Muslim al-Andalus still in place which had included certain religious freedoms for Jews and Christians.^[7][8]

Peter of Castile (30 August 1334 – 23 March 1369), also known as 'Don Pedro' and 'Peter the Cruel' in some English-language histories was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for his persecutions and cruelties committed against the clergy.^[9]

While a rebel against the church, Peter gained a reputation as protector of the Jews, particularly in light of the policies of his half-brother, arch rival, and ultimate killer and usurper Henry of Trastámara (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379; known as el Fratricida).^[6] As an avowed rebel and Peter's upstart rival, Henry had his forces murder over 1,200 Jews in 1355 in the province of Asturias alone. Additional massacres followed in 1360 and 1366.^[6] Henry's accession to the throne in 1369 as Henry II of Castile meant that the much larger Jewish population of Castile had not only lost their de facto royal protection, but were also likely to become legally sanctioned targets for future violence.

As king, Henry was as hostile to the Jews as Peter had been friendly.^[10]

In order to pay mercenaries he employed in his long campaigns, Henry imposed a war contribution of twenty thousand gold doubloons on the already heavily oppressed Jewish community of Toledo. Henry then ordered the imprisonment of all the Jews of Toledo, that they be denied food and water, and—if they failed to raise this enormous sum—their property was to be seized and sold at auction to benefit the the Crown. Nonetheless, he was compelled by his dire financial straits to have recourse to Jewish financiers. He named Don Joseph Pichon (who was later to be executed by putative royal decree, on a pretext of his co-religionists' design)^[11]) as his chief tax-collector (contador major), and appointed several Jews as "farmers of the taxes".^[12]

The demands of the Cortes (the provincial parliamentary bodies) in Toro (1369) and in Burgos (1374 and 1377) against the Jews harmonized perfectly with Henry's inclinations. He ordered the Jews to wear a yellow badge, and forbade them to use Christian names. He further ordered that for short-term loans, Christian debtors should repay only two-thirds of the principal. Shortly before his death in 1379 Henry declared that Jews should no longer be permitted to hold public office.^[12]

Henry was potentially the first ruler since the Visigothic King Ergica (r. ca. 690 CE) to implement anti-Jewish policies in the Iberian Peninsula.^{[citation needed]}

Ferrand Martinez (fl. 14th century) was a Spanish cleric and archdeacon of Écija, Andalusia and most noted for being the agitator whom historians cite as the prime mover behind the Massacres of 1391, with violence beginning in the Andalusian capital of Seville.^[6]

Little is known of Martínez's early life. Before taking up the position at Écija, he was the confessor of the queen mother of the Crown of Aragón.^[6] He called for persecution of the Jews in his homilies and speeches,^[13] claiming that he was obeying God's commandment.^[6] Although John commanded him to cease his incitement, Martínez's ignored the royal order as well as commands from his superior, the primate of Spain Father Barroso. ^[14] For more than a decade Martínez continued his verbal attacking, telling Catholics to "expel the Jews...and to demolish their synagogues."^[15] Though put on trial in 1388, his activities were not checked by the king, though the latter stated that the Jews must not be maltreated. ^[16]

The tipping point occurred when both Juan I and Barroso died in 1390, leaving his 11-year-old son Henry III to rule under the regency of his mother.^[17] Martínez continued his campaign against the Jews of Seville, calling on clergy and people to destroy synagogues and seize Jewish holy books and other precious items. These events led to another royal order that removed Martínez from his office and ordered damaged synagogues be repaired at Church expense.^[18] Martínez , declaring that neither the state nor the local church authorities had power over him, ignored the commands.^[18]

The first anti-Jewish riots began in Seville in March 1391; the first of the great massacres occurred on 6 June.

Martinez continued to stir up the people against Jews as he preached that they should be forced to convert to Catholicism.^[6] Violence finally erupted on 6 June in Seville when Catholic mobs murdered some 4,000 Jews and destroyed their houses.^[19] Those who escaped death were forced to accept baptism.^[6] Over the course of the year, the massacres would spread to all of Spain. These events inaugurated the beginning of the mass conversions, as fear gripped the Jewish communities of Spain.^[20]

This pattern of violence continued through over 70 other cities and towns within three months,^[19] as city after city followed the example set in Seville and Jews faced either conversion and baptism or death, their homes were attacked, and the authorities did nothing to stop or prevent the violence and pillaging of the Jewish people.^[6] As this fanaticism and persecution spread throughout the rest of the kingdom of Castile, there was no accountability held for the murders and sacking of the Jewish houses, and estimations claim that there were 50,000 victims (though it is likely this number was exaggerated).^[6]

This religious mob spread even to Aragon, as the authorities could do nothing to prevent the same pattern of plunder, murder, and fanaticism (although it did not go completely unpunished).^[6]

About 100,000 Jews in Aragon converted rather than face death or attempt to flee.^[6]

The violence next spread to Valencia, in the Crown of Aragon.^[19] On 28 June, Queen Violant of Bar ordered city officials to be especially protective of Jews.^[19][21] However, the situation continued to escalate and in July Prince Martin (King John's brother) was placed in charge of protecting Jews against persecution.^[19] Martin had gallows set up outside the Jewish area as a threat to those who would be inclined to attack Jews, extra surveillance for security, and criers proclaimed that Jews were under the crown's protection; on 6 July the Crown ordered the criers to cease.^[19]

Catholic mobs began to act on 9 July,^[19] commencing with crowds throwing stones at royal guards and, against Martin's explicit demands, began attacking Jews with improvised weapons.^[19] The mob then began to commit murder, mass rape, and looting.^[19] Prince Martin recorded that the mob murdered some 2,300 Jews out of a community of 2,500, and forced the approximately 200 Jews who survived the massacre to convert.^[22]

Archdeacon Martin declared the violence was as a judgment from God against the Jews; King John was present at the attack trying to prevent it. ^[19] King John criticized his brother's minimal punishments for such brazen disobedience to the crown, and said that he would have had three to four hundred people killed, but now they must put the law on hold and serve punishment on their own.^[19]

Overall, around 11,000 Jews in Valencia converted rather than face death or expulsion.^[6]

Prior to the pogroms of 1391, only isolated instances of voluntary Jewish conversion to Catholicism had occurred in the Iberian Peninsula. Some Jewish converts gained notoriety as Christian polemicists, however such cases were exceptional. The overall number of conversions remained insignificant and had little effect on Catholic-Jewish relationship.^[23]

After the Massacre of 1391, many more Jews began to convert to Catholicism, giving rise to a substantial converso population. Strong Jewish cultural, familial, and ideological ties persisted among the conversos. Rabbinic authorities, categorizing conversos as anusim or 'forced ones', affirmed their continued Jewish identity despite the conversion.^[23] The prevalence of Crypto-Judaism among conversos further complicated Catholic perceptions, fueling distrust and jealousy towards this group.^[23] Spaniards from traditionally Catholic families called themselves "Old Catholics", further singling out conversos. The ensuing decades witnessed a crescendo of anti-converso measures and violent outbursts,^[23] culminating in the wholesale expulsion of Jews from Spain 100 years after the Massacre, in 1492.

The term "Sephardic Jews" or "Sephardim" is the ethnonym for the Spanish [and Portuguese] Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism or face expulsion from Spain after the Alhambra Decree. The name “Sephardic” comes from the Hebrew word for Spain: Sefarad.^[24] The vast majority of conversos remained in Spain and Portugal, and their descendants, who number in the millions, live in both of these countries.^{[citation needed]} 100,000-300,000 Jews did leave Spain after 1492 (estimates vary) and settled in different parts of Europe and the Maghreb, while some migrated as far as the Indian subcontinent, the majority of whom reverted.^{[citation needed]} Many settled in parts of the Ottoman Empire, including the Maghreb (where the community was known as Megorashim) and the Levant at the behest of Sultan Bayezid II. Factors both internal and external to the Sephardim culture resulted in a continuity of tradition and the presence of a substantial Sephardic population around the globe in the 21st century, including in the United States. Sephardic Jews are one of the major Jewish ethnic divisions, alongside their Ashkenazi and Mizrahi counterparts.

Historian Yoel Marciano has argued that the forced conversations contributed to the resurgence of Kabbalah studies among the Sephardim population of Spain in the early 15th century and in the diaspora following expulsion.^[25]

"Sephardic Bnei Anusim" is a modern term for the contemporary descendants of the original conversos.

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• Freund, Scarlett; Ruiz (1994). "Jews, Conversos, and the Inquisition in Spain, 1391–1492: The Ambiguities of History". In Perry, Marvin; Schweitzer, Frederick M. (eds.). Jewish-Christian Encounters Over the Centuries: Symbiosis, Prejudice, Holocaust, Dialogue. P. Lang. pp. 169–195. ISBN 978-0-8204-2082-0.
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• Nirenberg, David (2014). Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today. University of Chicago Press. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226169095.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-226-16909-5. OCLC 1014217260.
• Poliakov, Leon (2003). The History of Anti-Semitism, Volume 2. Philadelphia: University of University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 156–57.
• Ray, Jonathan Stewart (2013). After expulsion: 1492 and the making of Sephardic Jewry. New York: New York University Press. pp. 18–22. ISBN 978-0-8147-2911-3.
• Storer, Edward (1911). Peter the Cruel, the life of the notorious Don Pedro of Castile, together with an account of his relations with the famous Maria de Padlla. London: John Lane. pp. 64–86.