3 o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that had been collected by the Jews ; and then the entire Jewish pop- 

 ulation, including women and children, was incarcerated. The poorer 

 ones were liberated after a while ; but the rich, with their wives, were 

 held in prison until they had completely satisfied the avarice of the 

 count and his officials. Philip the Fair did not fail to follow the ex- 

 ample of his grandfather, in a way that was even more thorough, and 

 brought more profit. He banished suddenly all Jews in the year 1306 ; 

 possessed himself of their entire property ; had their houses, syna- 

 gogues, schools, and even their burying-grounds, sold to the highest 

 bidders ; and compelled all their debtors to pay into his own treasury. 

 With the barons, who craved their share in the spoils, he came to an 

 agreement. 



The drama closed at last in the year 1394 when Charles VI, on the 

 representation of his confessor, and at the request of his spouse, who 

 was under this man's influence, ordered the last expulsion of the Jews 

 from his kingdom, on the plea that many who had intercourse with 

 them had become lukewarm (tepidi) in their faith. 



In Spain, under Mohammedan rule, the condition of the hunted 

 and afflicted people was more favorable than in any Christian land. 

 Although not free, the synagogue chose its own national judges or 

 kings to represent it before those in power. Their schools flourished 

 there ; they pursued especially the study of medicine with greater suc- 

 cess than the Christians. Also under the Christian kings in the twelfth 

 and thirteenth centuries they were still influential, serving the kings 

 as financial advisers, chancellors of the exchequer, as astronomers and 

 physicians. In Toledo alone there were some twelve thousand of 

 them ; their wealth permitted them to purchase at least the most in- 

 dispensable rights by the expenditure of money. In general, from the 

 time of the Arabian rule to the end of the thirteenth century, their con- 

 dition in Spain was more favorable than in any other European land. 

 Within the walls of their Jewish quarters {aljamas), they lived ac- 

 cording to their own law and statute. But the fourteenth century 

 brought evil in its train also to the Jews of the Peninsula. While 

 valuable and serviceable to the kings as farmers of the taxes and chan- 

 cellors of the exchequer, they were hated by the people. Now in one 

 city, and now in another, they were attacked, struck down, and their 

 synagogues burned. The most violent storm broke upon them in the 

 year 1391, and raged throughout the whole of Spain ; priests, like the 

 Archdeacon of Ecija, had kindled the conflagration by their sermons. 

 Many thousands were slain ; 200,000 saved themselves by baptism, 

 but after a few years it was found that 17,000 had relapsed into Juda- 

 ism. A hundred years later 1492 the royal edict appeared which 

 commanded the entire body of the Jews to emigrate, and leave their 

 possessions behind them. Since the Inquisition at the same time for- 

 bade selling food to the Jews, the majority were not able to emigrate, 

 if they wished, and so were compelled to be baptized. The most of 



