economic situation of Spain was a focal point for Ferdinand and therefore he used the expulsion of the Jews to his own advantage. The Jews were largely successful in Spain and their immense wealth became a growing concern to the Catholic monarchs; Ferdinand and Isabella. Their numbers were vast and the economic power was thriving, this caused them to pose a threat to the Catholic monarchs. On 31 March 1492, the obdurate Catholic Monarchs issued a decree that required all Jews, to become Christians, within four months, or to leave the country. This was the apex of anti-semitic policies which had begun with attacks on the conversos. In 1480 the Cortes of Toledo had required Jews to display badges to make them separate from that of society. While two years later there was another smaller scale expulsion of the Jews from towns and parts of Andalucia which displays that the Jews were always a target within Spain If the Jews chose to remain unconverted and leave Spain their possessions were repossessed by the monarchy. The Jews were expelled due to an increasing concern of them being false converts who were still practicing their religion, this caused social unrest as the Catholics within Spain felt this was a threat and a cause for concern. There fails to be a concrete answer concerning the Jewish population in 1492; Henry Kamen believed there were 70,000 Jews in Castile and 10,000 in Aragon. Whereas John Lynch believes there to have been 200,000 Jews in both Aragon and Castile. However, one fact that was a mutual consensus was that a significant number of Jews chose expulsion in 1492. This allowed Ferdinand and Isabella to regain some control as they were able to show that they could show that the Jews were no longer an issue and they were also able to achieve brief economic success. The edict of expulsion in 1492 spoke volumes on Isabella’s character as it highlighted the clear distaste Isabella had for the Jews as by eliminating Judaism, it was hoped to discourage revision to it and therefore create a much more religiously unified Spain which was very important to the heavily pias Isabella.

However, despite the brief economic success, the expulsion of the Jews harme