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.
"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."
This puts a lie to the statements that the Inquisition had no authority and did not torture into "confession" any "Jews", only "Christians".
In fact many Jews, having converted to Christianity under duress, were Christians in name only (while secretly practicing their Jewish faith at home), making them precisely the kind of target sought out by the Inquisition.
To say that did not constitute, by the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church, persecution of Jews is IN FACT a lie. Roman Catholic authorities and Spanish rulers acting as the secular officers of a Roman Catholic nation, forced (yes "under duress" means "forced") many Jews to convert to Christianity and then, believing that many of such converts were converts "in name only" set about persecuting those suspected of not being true Christians, not being true to their publicly stated faith.
To say that the Roman Catholic Church had nothing to do with the persecution of Jews who did not convert to Christianity is another fiction. It makes believe that (a) Roman Catholic officials in Spain did not act in concert with secular Spanish officials, who acted as the secular rulers of a Roman Catholic nation, helping to provide the "duress" (convert or leave) to convert, (b) whereby so many Jews left Spain, left generations of built-up life and wealth behind. To say that the Roman Catholic Church in Spain had nothing to do with that is a lie.