Authors: B. Netanyahu
ISBN-13: 9780940322394, ISBN-10: 0940322390
Format: Paperback
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Date Published: September 2001
Edition: Subsequent
The Spanish Inquisition remains a fearful symbol of state terror. Its principal target was the conversos, descendants of Spanish Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity some three generations earlier. Since thousands of them confessed to charges of practicing Judaism in secret, historians have long understood the Inquisition as an attempt to suppress the Jews of Spain. In this magisterial reexamination of the origins of the Inquisition, Netanyahu argues for a different view: that the conversos were in fact almost all genuine Christians who were persecuted for political ends. The Inquisition's attacks not only on the conversos' religious beliefs but also on their "impure blood" gave birth to an anti-Semitism based on race that would have terrible consequences for centuries to come.
This book has become essential reading and an indispensable reference book for both the interested layman and the scholar of history and religion.
Preface to the Second Edition | ||
Introduction | ||
Bk. 1 | Historical Background | |
I | The Jewish Question | 3 |
II | The Spanish Scene | 28 |
II | The Age of Conversions | 127 |
Bk. 2 | The Reign of Juan II | |
I | The Struggle for Monarchic Superiority | 217 |
II | The Great Debate | 351 |
III | Reverses and Triumphs | 662 |
Bk. 3 | Enrique IV and the Catholic Kings | |
I | Enrique IV: His Aims and Tactics | 715 |
II | Later Old Christian Controversy | 814 |
III | The Chroniclers of Enrique IV | 897 |
IV | The Catholic Kings: The Early Period | 915 |
Bk. 4 | The Origins of the Inquisition | |
I | The Major Causes | 925 |
II | Sidelights and Afterthoughts | 1048 |
App. A | The Number of the Marranos in Spain | 1095 |
App. B | Diego de Anaya and His Advocacy of Limpieza | 1103 |
App. C | When Did Sarmiento Leave Toledo? | 1106 |
App. D | Juan de Torquemada | 1110 |
App. E | The Gibraltar Project | 1122 |
App. F | The Death of Enrique IV | 1127 |
App. G | Espina's Source for the "Tale of the Two Tents" | 1131 |
App. H | The Abuse of the Conversos as "Judaizers": When Did It Begin? | 1133 |
App. I | Bernaldez on the Conversos' Occupations | 1137 |
App. J | Racism in Germany and Spain | 1141 |
App. K | The Converso Conspiracies Against the Inquisition | 1147 |
Notes | 1173 | |
Bibliography | 1321 | |
Acknowledgments | 1349 | |
Index | 1351 |