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 harmed Spain more so than it did benefit them. When the Jews were exiled in 1492 the economy suffered as when they left they also stopped working and taking part within economic life. This led their expulsion to actually hinder the economy from growing. Despite the fact that they left their possessions which were confiscated the money created from this was instant and didn’t last the same as having the Jews continue to work would have. This, therefore, causes the expulsion of the Jews to have little benefits other than that of religious control and uniformity, which reinforces the fact that the Inquisition was designed for religious purposes spearheaded by the pias and Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. One popular belief regarding the expulsion of the Jews is that the Catholic sovereigns caved to the pressure from the nobility, who were anxious to be rid of an emerging upper class that would threaten their own interests – such as their status and social class standing or even their economic situation.

26.2.2019