Anti-Semitism 1492-1700 (Encyclopaedia Judaica)

<Spain after 1492

[Inquisition in Spain against Crypto-Judaism]

[[The same Inquisition policy was performed in all colonial territories, with burned Jews in Lima and in Mexico City. And the same was going on in racist Catholic Portugal since 1498]].

<Traditional Christian conceptions condemned the Jews because their faith was erroneous and strenuous efforts were made to convert them, but the mass conversion in Spain in the 15th century resulted in transference of the customary hostility to the converts and to their real or suspected descendants, the New Christians In other words, religious anti-Semitism, far from disarmed by the disappearance of Jews of the faith, transformed itself into racial anti-Semitism.

The Inquisition gradually stamped out Crypto-Judaism. However, statutes promulgated in Spain made "purity of blood" (limpieza de sangre) a new criterion to bar entry of the New Christians whose faith was suspect, to certain guilds, and to certain military and religious orders. This discrimination, sanctioned by Emperor Charles V, spread to the military academies and universities and persisted until the Napoleonic Wars. The law involved detailed genealogical research, and contributed to the obsession with the code of honor and hidalgoism characteristic of old-time Spain.

Since New Christians were traditionally concentrated in productive and commercial occupations and in crafts, the contempt with which they were held was connected with these callings. Such an attitude can be considered a major cause of Spanish economic decline in modern times. Vestiges of this attitude toward the New Christians still persist in the Balearic islands, affecting the *Chuetas of Palma de Majorca [[Christians with Jewish origin of Palma de Majorca]]. (col. 108)

Needless to say, the determinant of "purity of blood" was not based on actual religious, cultural, or even biological differences, but on the illusion fostered by the Old Christians that such a difference existed. (col. 111)

The Reformation

[Calvinists with less anti-Semitism - Lutheranism with strong anti-Semitism - Catholic territories with ghettos]

The Reformation had important complex and even contradictory repercussions on the evolution of anti-Semitism. One branch of Protestantism, namely Calvinism and the sects or movements influenced by (col. 107)

it, proved less judeophobic than Catholicism until the 20th century. The other branch, Lutheranism, became increasingly anti-Semitic. How many this divergency be explained? It is as difficult to give a complete answer as it is to establish the exact relationship - a problem posed by Max Weber and his school - between the "Protestant ethic" and "the capitalist spirit" or modern mentality. From the outset Calvinism and its derivatives emphasized individual responsibility, embracing social values and energetic moral action. To Lutheranism, on the other hand, justification by faith implied a renunciation of civic responsibility, and hostility to active faith (to "salvation through works"), which Luther himself described as juedischer Glaube ("Jewish faith"). At the end of his life the German reformer vilified the Jews in violent pamphlets which could not fail to exert their influence.

Conversely, the role played by the Old Testament in Calvinism led the Puritan sects to identify themselves with the Jews of the Bible and reflected favorably on their attitude toward contemporary Jewry. The French Calvinists were a special case: themselves persecuted until the French Revolution, their sympathies were traditionally pro-Jewish, an outlook retained to a considerable extent to the present day.

An immediate consequence of the Reformation was to aggravate the position of the Jews in regions which remained Catholic. The popes of the Counter-Reformation were determined to restore ecclesiastical usages and the strict application of canon law. One result was that from the second half of the 16th century ghettos were introduced, at first in Italy and afterward in the Austrian Empire. This segregation then served as a convenient additional demonstration of the error of Judaism:

"A Jewish ghetto is a better proof of the truth of the religion of Jesus Christ than a whole school of theologians",

declared the 18th-century Catholic publicist G.B. Roberti.

In France, the celebrated Bossuet had expressed analogous views in the 17th century. With the advent of the Counter-Reformation, therefore, the theses of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas regarding the Jews were applied to the letter. However, in the Low Countries [[Holland, Netherlands]], which had been freed of Spanish domination, the Jews could settle freely. They also began to settle in Great Britain and its colonies, and in particular North America [[in the criminal racist protestant "USA"]], from the time of Cromwell.> (col. 108)

An excerpt from Luther's pamphlet "From the Jews and their lies" - look how primitive Luther is for being a "good Christian"

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol.
3, col. 105: Luther's lies, title page of his most
virulent pamphlet "Concerning the Jews and theri
Lies", Wittenburg [[Wittenberg?]], 1543

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 105: Luther's lies, title page of his most virulent
pamphlet "Concerning the Jews and their Lies", Wittenburg [[Wittenberg?]], 1543

[[only for documentation]]

<... Let me give you my honest advice.

First, their synagogues or churches should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and of Christianity in order that God may see that we are Christians, and that we have not wittingly tolerated or approved of such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of His Son and His Christians ...

Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. For they perpetrate the same things there that they do in their synagogues. For this reason they ought to be put under one roof or in a stable, like gypsies, in order that they may realize that they are not masters in our land, as they boast, but miserable captives, as they complain of us incessantly before God with bitter wailing.

Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayerbooks and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught.

Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more ...

Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews. For they have no business in the rural districts since they are not nobles, nor officials, nor merchants, nor the like. Let them stay at home.

Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury. All their cash and valuables of silver and gold ought to be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. For this reason, as said before, everything that they possess they stole and robbed from us through their usury, for they have no other means of support. This money should be used in the case (and in no other) where a Jew has honestly become a Christian, so that he may get for the time being one or two or three hundred florins, as the person may require. This, in order that he may start a business to support his poor wife and children and the old and feeble. Such evilly acquired money is cursed, unless, with God's blessing, it is put to some good and necessary use.

Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the ax, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and spindle,and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses as is enjoined upon Adam's children. For it is not proper that they should want us cursed Goyyim [[pigs]] to work in the sweat of our brow and that they, pious crew, idle away their days at the fireside in laziness, feasting, and display. And in addition to this, they boast impiously that they have become masters of the Christians at our expense. We ought to drive the rascally lazy bones out of our system.

If, however, we are afraid that they might harm us personally, or our wives, children, servants, cattle, etc., when they serve us or work for us - since it is surely to be presumed that such noble lords of the world and poisonous bitter worms are not accustomed to any work and would very unwillingly humble themselves to such a degree among the cursed Goyyim [[pigs]] - then let us apply the same cleverness [expulsion] as the other nations, such as France, Spain, Bohemia, etc., and settle with them for that which they have extorted usuriously from us, and after having divided it up fairly let us drive them out of the country for all time. For, as has been said, God's rage is so great against them that they only become worse and worse through mild mercy, and not much better through severe mercy. Therefore away with them ...

To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that your and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden - the Jews.> (col. 106)

[[only for documentation. With Human Rights no one will pursue no one]].

["Christian" propaganda strategies against the Jews]

[The defamation strategy with love of money]

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 139: woodcut from the title page of the satirical pamphlet, "Der Judenspiess", Strasbourg, 1541. The legend under the picture of the Christian resorting to a Jewish moneylender derides the latter for his lazy way of making a living.

Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 140: a 16th-century poster depicting Jewish deceitfulness shows the German Jewish leader, Joselmann von Rosheim, standing before the golden calf, the Talmud in one hand, a bag of money in the other.

===

Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 105-106	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 107-108	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 111-112	Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Anti-Semitism, vol. 3, col. 139-140

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