The Jewish Problem in Spain.
Prior to 711 AD Spain was ruled by the Christian Visigothic Kingdom. In the 7th century, Visigothic kings and church councils enacted increasingly severe anti-Jewish legislation, prohibiting Jews from holding public office, owning land, marrying Christians, or practicing Jewish customs and rituals. Tensions reached a climax at the 17th Council of Toledo in 694 CE. King Egica accused the Jewish population of plotting a treasonous conspiracy with foreign forces in North Africa. As punishment, he declared all Jewish residents enslaved, and ordered their property confiscated.
In 711 AD, when the Muslim commander Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in 711 AD and defeated the Visigothic King Roderic, the invading forces consisted of a relatively small military corps. As the Umayyad armies advanced rapidly across the Iberian Peninsula, they lacked the manpower to leave large garrisons to hold conquered territories. Primary medieval accounts (both Christian and Muslim) document the following:
Local Jewish populations in cities such as Seville, Córdoba, and the capital Toledo welcomed the Muslim troops and assisted them in securing these urban centers.
Muslim commanders frequently entrusted the defense and administration of newly captured cities to local Jewish inhabitants while the main army continued its push northward.
While early Islamic rule granted Jews protected (dhimmi) status, the muslim rulers began to have increasing problems with their Jewish population.
The Sacking of Córdoba (1013 CE)
During a devastating civil war that fragmented the Caliphate of Córdoba, rival Muslim factions fought for control, with the Berber forces accusing the Jews of those cities with subversive activity and instigation. When Berber troops captured the city, they targeted the Jewish quarter, looting property, killing many residents, and forcing prominent families to flee.
The Granada Massacre (1066 CE)
In 1066 AD, Joseph ibn Naghrela, a Jewish vizier (top government official) serving the Muslim Berber king of Granada, was accused of subversion and conspiracy. A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace, executed Joseph, and attacked the Jewish quarter. An estimated 1,000 to 4,000 Jewish residents were killed in a single day, destroying much of the community.
Persecution under the Almoravids (Late 11th–12th Century)
As Christian armies pushed south, local Muslim rulers invited the Almoravids—a fundamentalist Berber dynasty from North Africa—to help defend Islamic Spain. The Almoravids placed severe limits on Jewish civil life after increasing problems with them.
Forced Conversions and Expulsions under the Almohads (1147–1212 CE)
The Almohads replaced the Almoravids and over time recognized Jews as a fifth-column. They gave Jewish residents a choice: convert to Islam, leave, or face death. This wiped out organized Jewish life across Muslim-controlled Spain for decades, forcing thousands of Jews to flee north to Christian kingdoms or east to the Middle East.
In 1492 AD, Muslim rule in Spain ended on January 2, 1492, when the Emirate of Granada—the final Islamic kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula—surrendered to the forces of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. This victory concluded the nearly 800-year historical process known as the Reconquista (Reconquest).
Within a few months, the Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion) was officially issued on March 31, 1492, by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. It demanded that all practicing Jewish people convert to Roman Catholicism or leave the united Spanish kingdoms within four months, under penalty of execution and property confiscation.
The decree explicitly charged that practicing Jews were trying to "subvert the holy Catholic faith" and "draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs." The crown claimed that practicing Jews were secretly meeting with Conversos (recent Jewish converts to Christianity), teaching them Jewish laws, providing them with kosher food, instructing them on how to observe Jewish holidays, and circumcising their children. Outside the official edict, public hostility was further driven by accusation of thievery and extortion by Jewish tax collectors, loan interest (usury) by Jewish financiers and which was against the law, and other accusations spread among the populace.
Moreover, the Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum), published in 1493 by Hartmann Schedel, directly accused Jews of "blood libel" and accused Jewish communities of ritual murder, specifically highlighting the case of Simon of Trent. In this case, local Jewish residents abducted, tortured, and murdered Simon, a two-year-old boy, to collect his blood for Passover rituals. Following the 1475 trial, where confessions were documented, 5 Jewish residents were executed, and the city's remaining Jewish community was expelled.
The Alhambra Decree remained on the books for centuries until it was formally revoked by the Spanish government on December 16, 1968.