I don’t know the number that creates the myth, but certainly, many Jews were burned at the stake and others converted from such threats. Are you saying that didn’t happen?
You wrote:
“I don’t know the number that creates the myth, but certainly, many Jews were burned at the stake and others converted from such threats. Are you saying that didn’t happen?”
I’ll say it - it didn’t happen - on the part of the inquisition. The inquisition only had authority over baptized Christians. No Jew was ever burned at the stake by the inquisition for refusing to convert to Christianity. Those who were threatened into converting were threatened into converting in the 13th and 14th centuries by civilians in pogroms. The inquisition was established in the late 15th century. One of the reasons why it was founded in Spain was to stop abuses of converted Jews by Old Christians.
I am not saying that Jews were not persecuted. I am saying that the order of events is incorrect.
The Jews in Spain were given the choice of converting to Catholicism or leaving Spain.
Many Jews converted because as was the custom across the world at the time, if you left a country by royal decree your lands and wealth were forfeit. So convert or leave Spain as a pauper. Wealthy Jews understandably converted.
Many Jews were baptized and then continued to practice their religion in secret.
So King Ferdinand requested permission from the Pope for the Inquisition. The Pope reluctantly gave his permission. So many Jews were left open for persecution either because they still practiced their religion or simply because they were accused by rivals or suspicious neighbors.
I object to news papers continuing to print flawed history. Get your facts right or get out of the business.
And as far as “many” Jews being burned at the stake the number is widely exaggerated. It is at most 300 over 356 years. Not a small number when talking about individuals but certainly a tiny number when talking about man's inhumanity to man throughout history.