The Rise of the Inquisition: An Introduction to the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions by Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez
This book provides a good introduction to the topic of the Spanish Inquisition, and Judaism in the later years of our period in Spain and Portugal. Although this book glosses over the fact, we come from a time when Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together in peace. When the Catholics took over, however, all that changed, and the Muslims and Jews were forcibly removed from their homes of generations, and targeted for extermination
The story begins in 1391 when Catholic antisemitism reached deadly heights. This is the second time in Spanish history that just living could prove deadly to a Jew. At first, the Inquisition could be escaped if one could prove that he had always been known as a Jew, but in 1492, the Jews were ordered out of Spain, and the Inquisition began punishing them with death. Prior to 1492, it was only the New Christians who were being targeted, but afterwards it was everyone.
Conversos, or New Christians were people who were baptized by force. They were offered to be killed or baptized. Church ruling said that they were given enough choice in the mater, and they should be held to the standards of the new faith, and punished if they continued to practice Judaism. People who had avoided being baptized could continue to be Jews, but could be punished by the Inquisition for helping the New Christians practice Judaism. This proved deadly for many parents of New Christians, and Jews proved willing, if not eager to help the New Christians continue to practice Judaism.
Some Jews were willing to accept conversion as a requirement for an exit visa to escape to Muslim lands, or Amsterdam. They largely received warm welcomes in these locations.
In 1496 a political marriage occurred between Spain and Portugal, which is when things got bad for the Portuguese Jews. They were expelled in 1497, and continuing to live in Portugal was a capital offense punishable by death and the confiscation of all property. At the same time, the king confiscated all Jewish youth up to age 20, and forcibly baptized them and raised them in Christian households. This seems to have been designed to prevent the Jews from leaving even though they had been ordered to leave. In 1531, the pope sanctioned the entrance of the Inquisition into Portugal.
In 1533, the Pope declared that Jews baptized by force were not Christians, and therefore, practicing Judaism was not heretical. This seems to have had little effect.
The Inquisition continued until 1834, well outside of our period.