Posted on 08/18/2006 9:31:38 PM PDT by Let's Roll
Very incisive observations.
BUMP
lol
"Expulsion and loss of all personal property and assets with forced travel over long distances would essentially be a death sentence in the 1400's."
As it was in the early 1800's when Pres. Andrew Jackson and others forced the Cherokees of the South to leave their land and homes and undertake a forced march in the middle of winter to the reservation in Oklahoma. Also known as the "trail of tears", along which thousands died of cold, disease and starvation.
BarbaricGrandeur - you seem to know this stuff. I read long ago that the whole Inquisitorial crackdown on fake Christians began because some port or harbour city was betrayed to the Moors? Is that right? If you know the name of the city I can look the rest up myself. Thanks in advance for any help you can give :0)
I thought Europe wanted a 1000 year Reich. No reason not to allow 500 years of penance. That's a fifty percent discount.
Europeans always hated the Jews. Now, to be fair, they also hate Muslims. The only difference is that they are scared of the latter.
Awesome insight! I definitely will pass this link to many friends who do not read FreeRepublic, as well!
The jewish people totally dominated the scene. The men dressed in the long black coats and thier black hats was a welcome sight!
My son had been stationed in Germany for four years during X42 regime and travelled extensively thru Europe.
His first thought upon seeing all the jewish people in Antwerp was that he hadn't realized there were that many jews left in all of Europe.
Did my heart good to hear of his experience.
Pathetic!
I think I know the incident you are referring to. It was not the the Inquisition though, but the riots of the 1350s that saw a wave of forced conversions. They happened not long after an Italian port, (I forget the name), had been overrun by Muslim pirates. There were reports that they were let into the city by the local Jewish population; possible but probably just hysteria, after all the Jews are convenient to blame for just about anything. I believe I read about this possible connection in one of the works by the historian Warren Carroll but I would have to check that as I haven't read his stuff in awhile.
In any case in Spain where the war against the Muslims was still going on at that time it's possible that there were some fears that the Jews might become some sort of fifth echelon, and this kind of rumor might have contributed to local fears. Nevertheless, the primary motive for antisemitism in Spain was probably economic although there may have been an added element at what might be described as a "siege mentality," in which, because the Jews were not Christian they were perceived as being potential allies of the Muslims.
I'll look around and see if i can find more info on this possible connection. I'll send you a message if I find anything.
I haven't seen anyong denying the holocaust here.
Germany lost WWWII in 1933. If the European theatre had lasted another 6 mos, the first A-bomb had their name on it.
And not just the Spanish. Portugal's history is similar; in fact, the two countries were united for a while. There's a fellow in my church who is of Portuguese ancestry, and a couple of years ago, he checked his roots and found out he was 7/8 Jewish; the only immediate ancestor who wasn't was the great-grandparent that gave him his family name.
"Come on. Israel and the United States can defend Israel from its neighbors with or without Europe's support."
But will we?
That makes it all better then.
What you say is true, but Hitler certainly went large scale with his hatred of the Jews didn't he?
Actually, converting, leaving or torture/burning.
Recently I have come to believe that anti-Semitism is a mental disorder. Every anti-Semite I have met was sick in the head, in one way or another. Some were sexually dysfunctional as well; you may have heard that Hitler only had one testicle. Therefore it's safe to say that anyone who doesn't like Jews has something wrong in his upper story, and maybe in his lower story, too.
In the case of Spain, it may help to explain why the golden age of the Spanish Empire lasted for less than a century (1492-1588). Without the Jews around to advise them on what to do with the vast wealth they acquired in the Americas, they spent it, instead of investing it. And while the empire itself lasted for quite a while after the defeat of the Armada, it was soon eclipsed by the rising empires of France, England and the Netherlands, and few Europeans saw it as much of a threat. As for the Jews that had been persecuted and expelled from Spain, many of them went to the Netherlands, where they helped that country get started, and to the Ottoman Empire, which also enjoyed its best years in the sixteenth century. A few decades later, one of Suleiman the Magnificent's advisors commented on the wisdom of Spain's King Ferdinand, and the sultan replied, "What! Call ye this Ferdinand wise who depopulates his own domains to enrich mine?"
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