Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech at the Tribunal del Alcázar in Seville, 19 February, 1388 Maya Soifer Irish, Rice University (2020) Introduction On Ash Wednesday in 1391, a riotous crowd gathered in Seville after the city’s magistrates had ordered some Christians whipped for verbally abusing Jews. Threatening to attack Seville’s Jewish quarter, the mob seized Alvar Pérez de Guzmán, who as alguacil mayor —the royal official charged with maintaining public order— was responsible for protecting the Jews, and attempted to kill him and another highly placed official, Juan Alonso de Guzmán, Count of Niebla. The magistrates were able to arrest the main agitators and pacify the crowd, but the unrest continued to bubble just below the surface.1 On Tuesday, June 6, the revolt erupted again, and this time no one could or would stop it.2 The gates of the Jewish quarter (judería) were set afire, hundreds of Jews were killed, their houses were despoiled by the raging mob, and many of the survivors converted to Christianity.3 The royal chronicler Pero López de Ayala wrote that “at that time, because of the rebellion, perished the aljamas [communities] of the Jews in Seville, Córdoba, Burgos, Toledo, Logroño, and many other [aljamas] of the kingdom [of Castile]; and in Aragon, those of Barcelona and Valencia, and many others.” By the time the killings and despoliations were finally over (after ten months, or by April 1392, according to the newest assessment by Benjamin Gampel), thousands of Jews were killed or forcibly converted, and many Jewish communities ceased to exist. Only days after Seville’s riot, several reports blamed Ferrán Martínez, an elite cleric at the Cathedral of Seville, for triggering the violence. On 16 June, the regents for the eleven-year-old king of Castile, Enrique III, asserted that it was “the archdeacon of Écija” who provoked the gentes menudas [lower-class people] into attacking the Jews. López de Ayala declared that the killing of Jews happened because of the “preaching and instigation made by the archdeacon of Écija in Seville,” and described him as the “cause” (causa) of the uprising. Even though no contemporary account placed Martínez directly on the scene of the riot in Seville or elsewhere in Spain, such was his reputation for harassing the Jews that he need not have been physically present among the rioters to be accused of urging them on. Who was Ferrán Martínez? The records are silent about him until 1373, when they describe him as a canon at the Cathedral Chapter of Seville and the archdeacon of Écija. Other archival documents indicate that Martínez likely hailed from the town of Carmona (near Seville), and was a wealthy landowner, who donated a large estate to the Cathedral Chapter, and who had close ties to members of Seville’s ruling elites. Martínez rose to power and influence in the years following the civil wars (1355-1369) between King Pedro I of Castile 1 The only medieval account that gives the exact date for the first anti-Jewish riot in Seville – Ash Wednesday, which fell on 8 February in 1391 – is Cuarta crónica general (Biblioteca Nacional de España, mss. 1295, fol. 366r). 2 Rabbi Hasdai Crescas of Zaragoza, who wrote his account of the events in October of 1391, claims that the riot happened on the first day of Tammuz, 5151, i.e. Sunday, 4 June, 1391. Cuarta crónica general, written in 1460, has Tuesday, 6 June, 1391 as the date of the massacre in Seville. 3 The Christian account, citing 4,000 Jewish dead, is found in Cuarta crónica general (fol. 366r), but the numbers are almost certainly exaggerated. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to download, share, adapt and republish, provided you attribute the source and do not use for commercial purposes. Ferrán Martínez’s speech 2 and his half-brother, Enrique Trastámara, which ended with Enrique killing Pedro and seizing the crown. As part for his bid for the throne, Enrique disseminated proclamations alleging that Pedro had empowered Jews and Muslims to oppress Christians. The propaganda was effective and led to widespread attacks on Jews in northern Castilian towns. The anti-Jewish preaching campaign that Ferrán Martínez initiated in Seville during the 1370s may have been inspired by this war-time propagandistic discourse. By 1378 his activities were causing alarm in Seville’s Jewish community. The aljama’s leaders began sending letters to the king of Castile, complaining that the archdeacon was inciting the people to harm their bodies and possessions. They also asserted that Martínez was abusing his authority by enforcing strict segregation of Jews from Christians, and took advantage of his appointment as a royal judge to pass sentences that blatantly favored Christians over Jews. King Enrique II and his heir, Juan I, responded by sending letters to the municipal officials in Seville, urging them to restrain Martínez and protect the royal property.4 There is no evidence that the royal interference had any effect on the archdeacon’s behavior. By 1388, the leaders of the aljama had had enough, and took Ferrán Martínez to court. The Tribunal del Alcázar was a royal court held twice a week before the gates of the Alcázar (royal palace) of Seville. The task of the chief municipal justices (alcaldes mayores) who presided over this court was to hear and settle townsmen’s complaints against various municipal officials: alcaldes (judges), alguaciles (royal officials charged with maintaining public order), and others. Since he had been a royal judge since 1376, Martínez’s case fell under the jurisdiction of this court. The proceedings took place over the course of two days: 11 and 19 February, 1388. The Jewish community was represented by Hía ibn Ataben, a wealthy cloth merchant and the aljama’s putative leader. Two alcaldes mayores, Fernando González de Medina and Ruy Pérez de Esquivel, adjudicated the case. On the first day, in front of Ferrán Martínez and an audience consisting of Christians and Jews, ibn Ataben laid out his community’s case against Martínez, arguing that the archdeacon had violated the mandates contained in the letters from Enrique II and Juan I, and overstepped his authority by adjudicating legal cases involving Jews. Next, he asked that the public scribe, Martín Sánchez, read to Martínez the royal letters in question. All three letters, from Enrique II (dated 25 August, 1378) and Juan I (dated 3 March, 1382 and 25 August, 1383), were included in the court records. The last letter was particularly scathing in its criticism of the archdeacon. Addressing Martínez, Juan I wrote that the Jews … have written to us complaining in very strong terms that you walk among them daily, preaching many evil things; also that you are threatening them and saying that you know from us and the Queen that we would be pleased if Christians were to kill or injure Jews, and that we would pardon them, and that you would help save them from our justice. … We are much amazed at your claim that you are so intimate with us that you know our and the Queen’s intentions, and that you do such things. Therefore we prohibit you to walk around preaching these sermons and saying these things against [the Jews], and if you want to be a good Christian, that you stay in your house rather than go running around like that with our Jews, lest the aljama of this city is destroyed through your actions and they lose what is theirs. The excerpt transcribed below picks up the narrative at the very end of the first day, after the letters had been read, and when Ferrán Martínez engaged in a verbal altercation with ibn Ataben and other Jews. It then continues with the events on 19 February, when the court reconvened and heard the speech delivered by the archdeacon in his own defense. Unfortunately, the judges’ verdict was not included in the transcript, and the outcome of the case remains unknown. Given that Martínez persisted in his anti-Jewish campaign, and continued to serve both as a royal judge and a provisor (chief judge) of the archdiocese of Seville, the case was likely decided in his favor. For the Jews of Seville —and of all Spain— the consequences of this decision were devastating. 4 In Castile, and elsewhere in medieval Europe, Jews were considered to be the property of the royal treasury. Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 3 Transcription of Ferrán Martínez’s speech5 [the end of the proceedings on 11 February, 1388] … E que en quitando leer los dichos alualaes antel … Those letters having been read in the presence of dicho arçediano, el dicho don Ferrant Martines, the Archdeacon, don Ferrán Martínez, the arçediano, dixo quele diesen traslado delos dichos Archdeacon, said that he had been given a copy of alualaes e afruenta, e avria su acuerdo e que the said letters and the petition, and that he would responderia. deliberate and respond. E seyendo ydo el dicho alcalle Ruy Peres de ante la After the alcalde Ruy Pérez left the gate of the puerta delos dichos alcaçares, e estando y los dichos Alcázares, there remained the alcalde mayor, Ferrán Ferrant Gonçales alcalle mayor, e el dicho Ferrant González, the Archdeacon, Ferrán Martínez, as well Martines, arçediano, e otros, el dicho don Hia, e as others, and don Hía, along with many other Jews, otros muchos judios conel, el dicho don Hia and as don Hía was arguing with Ferrán Martínez, estando rasonando conel dicho don Ferrant and Ferrán Martínez, the Archdeacon, with him, [it Martines, e el dicho don Ferrant Martines, so happened]6 that among other matters that don arçediano, conel, [acaesçio que el dicho] don Hia Hía raised with the Archdeacon, he asked why que dixo al dicho arçediano entre las otras rasones [Martínez] had in his possession a confiscated piece que y se fablauan que por qual rason tenia del una of cloth that belonged to [don Hía]. Then, in pieça de panno prendada. E luego el dicho don responding to this, don Ferrán Martínez said that Ferrant Martines en respondiendo a esto dixo que [don Hía] was not telling the truth when he claimed non disie verdat quel touiese en su poderio aquella that [Martínez] had that piece of cloth in his pieça de panno quel disia, nin nunca dios lo possession, nor did God ever intend for it to be in quisyese que en su poder entrase del, pero que la his keeping, but that his notary held it as a pledge tenia su escriuano en fialdat por rason legitima que for a lawful reason that he could show, and that the mostraria, e que la tenia en su poder en fialdat el said notary held it as a pledge [sic], and that if he [i.e. dicho escriuano, e que sy a poder, lo tomase fuera Martínez] had the power, he would have [don Hía] de aquel lugar onde estaua que a sy como a perro driven away like a dog because of the lies that he que era, que por las palabras que avia dicho non had spoken, and all those Jew-dogs, his relatives, in verdaderas quel le faria que quantos perros judios the judería would not dare avenge him. sus parientes avia en la juderia que non le diesen vengança. E el dicho don Hia dixo que dixiese lo que por bien And don Hía said that [Martínez] had confirmed his toviese, e pidio a mi, el dicho Martin Sanches, opinions, and asked me, Martín Sánchez, public escriuano publico, que diese ende fe e testymonio, notary, to attest and verify what had been said. las quales palabras el dicho arçediano dixo ante mi, el dicho escriuano, e ante otras gentes muchas que y Such were the words that the Archdeacon spoke estauan presentes, non estando y presente el dicho before me, the notary, and before many other alcalle Ferrant Gonçales, e seyendo entrado a comer people who were there, alcalde Ferrán González not a los dichos alcaçares. 5 Transcribed from the Archivo Histórico Nacional manuscript (AHA, Sección clero, Toledo, Catedral, legajo 7215), and checked against the two published transcriptions: José Amador de los Ríos, Historia social, política y religiosa de los judíos de España y Portugal, vol. 2 (Madrid: Ediciones Turner, 1984), 585-589; and Yitzhak Baer, ed., Die Juden im christlichen Spanien. Erster Teil: Urkunden und Regesten, vol. 2, Kastilien, Inquisitionsakten (Berlin: Schoken, 1936), 215-218. 6 This part of the sentence is illegible in the manuscript. Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 4 being present there having gone to eat at the Alcázares.7 [Martínez’s speech on 19 February] E despues desto, dies e nueve dias del dicho mes de And after that, on 19 February of the same year, febrero e del dicho anno, el dicho don Ferrant don Ferrán Martínez, responding to the complaint Martines, arçediano, en respondiendo a la dicha and declaration made by don Hía, as stated above, afruenta e protestaçion que el dicho don Hia le fiso, said that segund que dicho es, dixo “quel non puede dexar de pedricar nin de desir de “he cannot cease preaching or speaking about the los judios en sus pedricaçiones lo que Jesu Christo Jews in his sermons what Jesus Christ had said in dixo en sus euangelios, la rason por que por quanto his Gospels, and the reason is because every time he dixo que cada que tiene de leer e de pedricar qual has to read and preach any Gospel, he always talks quier euangelio que sienpre fabla en los euangelios e about what the Gospels and other scriptures say otras escripturas que diga de los judios, e que el que about the Jews, and that he will speak and preach lo dira e pedricara aquello que Jesu Christo dixo en whatever Jesus Christ said and mandated in his sus euangelios e mando, por que Jesu Christo dixo a Gospels, because Jesus Christ had said to all his todos sus diçipulos: ‘Yd a [sic] pedricad a todas las disciples: ‘Go to [sic] preach my Gospel to all the cryaturas del mundo el mi euangelio, e el que creatures of the world, and he who believes and is creyere e fuer bautisado sera saluo, e el otro sera baptized will be saved, and the other will be condenado a los ynfiernos.’8 condemned to Hell.’9 E dixo mas que qual quier que lo non resçibiese e Moreover, He said that whoever does not receive non quisiese que fuese su rey e reynase sobre el, Him and accept Him as his king to reign over him, aquel pedricase ser enemigo suyo e fijo del diablo.10 would be declared His enemy and the son of the E que por quanto reprehende la pedricaçion de los devil. And because they [the Jews] denounced the apostoles e non la quieren resçibir, los mandaron preaching of the apostles, and refused to accept it, açotar e açotaron los e lo [sic] echaron de la synoga, they had the apostles flogged and thrown out of the e los apostoles yuan con grant alegria, por quanto synagogue, and the apostles went away with great nuestro sennor Jesu Christo los fasia dignos para joy, because Our Lord Jesus Christ deemed them resçebir aquel martirio que reçibian por onra de Jesu worthy of such martyrdom, which they received in Christo. honor of Jesus Christ. E non es marauilla que a los apostoles lo fisieren, ca It is no wonder that they did it to the apostles: they lo fisieron a Moysen por les pedricar la verdat, e did it to Moses as well, for preaching the truth to non furtasen, lo quisieron muchas veses apedrear, them, and they made no secret of wanting to stone segund que esta en la ley de Moysen, e a Ysayas, e a him many times, according to the Law of Moses; Geremias, que fueron profetas santos de dios, por and [they did it] to Isaiah and Jeremiah, who were los pedricar la verdat e los amonestar que non the holy prophets of God, for preaching the truth 7 The document states earlier that it was alcalde Ruy Pérez who had left the proceedings. 8 Cf. Mark 16:15-16. 9 Mark 16:15-16. 10 Cf. Mark 10, 15. Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 5 fisiesen los males que fasian en Jerusalem, a Ysayas to them and for warning them not to do the evil aserraron,11 e a Geremias echaron una cadena en la things that they were doing in Jerusalem. They garganta e lo pusieron en un çieno metido fasta la sawed Isaiah in two;14 they threw a chain around garganta;12 e Geremias quando non lo quisieron oyr, Jeremiah’s neck and put him in mud up to his lloro e fiso llanto, el qual llanto canta la iglesia los neck;15 and when they refused to hear him, dias de las tiendras [sic].13 Jeremiah cried and made Lamentations, which the Church chants during the days of the Tenebrae.16 Por lo qual que non quisieron creer de las [sic] Because they refused to believe the prophets, the profetas, fue destroyda la cibdat de Jerusalem por el city of Jerusalem was destroyed by King rey Nabuco de nosor [sic],17 e el rey Dechias [sic]18 e Nebuchadnezzar, and King Zedekiah and his sons sus fijos fueron traydos al rey Nabuco de noser, rey were handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar, king of de Babylonia, e degollo delante dellos [sic] sus fijos, Babylonia, and they decapitated his [Zedekiah’s] e a el quebro los ojos, e esto reçibio el rey e sus fijos sons before them [sic], and put [King Zedekiah’s] por la maldat de los judios, e el rey Sedechias fue eyes out; and that is what happened to the king and traydo en cadenas catiuo a Babylonia, e fueron los his sons because of the Jews’ wickedness;19 and muros todos de Jerusalem destroydos por King Zedekiah was brought to Babylonia in chains Nabusardan su cosinero [sic], el qual enbio Nabuco as a captive, and the walls of Jerusalem were de nosar, despues de çinco meses e quemo la çibdat destroyed by Nebuzaradan, his cook [sic],20 whom toda e la casa de dios. E mataron a Ur, hermano de Nebuchadnezzar sent after five months, and he Aron, por que les amonestaua que non fisiesen el burned the whole city and the house of God.21 And beserro, e mataron lo escopiendo le en el rostro they killed Ur, brother of Aaron, because he warned fasta lo afogaron, e asi murio. them not to make the golden calf, and they killed him by spitting in his face until he suffocated, and so he died.22 11 Heb. 11:37. 12 Jer. 38:6. 13 Read tiniebras. 14 Cf. Heb. 11:37. The apocryphal story of the sawing of Isaiah was a Hebrew narrative from the second century BCE that was translated into Greek and incorporated into a Christian work, “Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah.” It was mentioned by Origen, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, and also appeared in the Babylonian Talmud (Yeb. 49b) and the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanh. 10.2). 15 Jer. 38:6. 16 Tenebrae is a religious service celebrated during the last three days of the Holy Week, when the Book of Lamentations (traditionally believed to have been authored by prophet Jeremiah) is read. 17 Nabucodonosor/Nebuchadnezzar. 18 Sedechias/Zedekiah. 19 2 Kings 25:7, Jer. 39:5-7. 20 Nebuzaradan was the commander of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, whose title in the original Hebrew is rendered as , or “master butcher.” The Vulgate calls him “princeps” and “magister militia,” rendered into medieval Castilian as “príncep de la cavallería” and “maestro de la cavallería” in Alfonso X’s General estoria. The Common English Bible translates Nebuzaradan’s title as “captain of the guard.” Martínez’s use of a Hebrew word translated into Castilian is intriguing. 21 2 Kings 25:8-12, Jer. 39:7-10. 22 Hur is mentioned in Ex. 17:10-12, and Ex. 24: 14, but he does not appear in the Exodus story of the golden calf. However, Rashi (eleventh-century French rabbi and exegete), in his commentary on Ex. 32:5, notes that Hur was Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 6 Por lo qual dios en el postrimero libro que Moysen And that is why in the last book of Moses, God put fiso, dios les dio tantas maldiçiones que serian muy curses on them that would be too long and horrible luengas de contar e muy espantosas. E dixo a to recount, and he said to Moses: ‘These curses will Moysen: ‘Estas maldiçiones todas vernan sobresto be on this people, after you will have left them.’28 pueblo despues que tu fueres salido de entre ellos.’23 These and many other curses were made by those E estas maldiçiones e otras muchas fesieron ellos a who preached the Law to them, as is written in quellos que les pedricaron la ley que escripto es en God’s Law; and the prophet Jeremiah [said]: ‘When la ley de dios, e el profeta Geremias que quando el the leopard loses or changes his spots, and the black prieto [sic]24 perdiere o mudare las verdades [sic]25 Ethiopian loses his blackness, then at such time, the que tiene e el negro de Tiopia perdiere la negregura Jews, who always learned evil, will do good.’29 [sic]26 que tiene, estonçe en aquel tiempo faran los judios bien que siempre aprendieron mal.27 E estas palabras son de la ley que Jesu Christo las And these are the words of the Law that Jesus dixo. E esto e otras cosas muy malas en ellos Christ spoke. And this and other very bad things fesieron aquellos que los quisieron castigar e were done to them by those who wanted to punish amonestar que non furtasen, no es de marauillar, ca and warn them not to steal, as in the Old Law, en la vieja ley, donde les dio dios la manna en el where God gave them manna in the desert, ordering desierto, mandauales que non tomase mas de them not to take more than they needed each day, aquello que de cada dia auian mester, e ellos non and they disregarded [the order], stealing that guardado aquello furtauan aquella manna e manna and hiding it; and wherever they threw it, the escondian la, e ally donde la echauan fallauan la worms found it.31 fecha gusanos.30 E pues a dios furtauan, non obedesçiendo su And since they stole from God, disobeying his mandamiento e le mentian, non es marauilla que order, and lied to him, it is no wonder that they rob furten e roban e mientan a los reyes e prinçipes de and steal and lie to the kings and princes of the las tierras onde ellos viuen, espeçial mente en lands where they live:33 especially in the things that aquellas cosas que dixieron a mi sennor el rey don they said to my lord, King don Enrique, your father, Enrique, vuestro padre, que dios de santo parayso, e God grant him holy paradise, and to you, lord, God a uos, sennor, que dios mantenga, en desir que yo help you, in saying that I pronounced bad sentences Aaron’s nephew who was killed because he had reprimanded the Israelites for worshipping the calf. The apocryphal story of Hur’s martyrdom was disseminated in Christian Europe via Peter Comestor’s Biblia scholastica, and included in Alfonso X’s General estoria (13th c.) 23 Deut. 27-28. 24 Read pardo. 25 Read variedades (?) 26 Read negrura. 27 Jer. 13:23. 28 Deut. 27, 28. 29 Jer. 13:23. 30 Exodus 16: 19-20. 31 Ex. 16:19-20. 33 Martínez’s rhetoric echoes the townsmen’s petition at the cortes (representative assembly) in Toro in 1371, which accused the Jews of exercising an excessive and nefarious influence at the royal court during the reign of Pedro I (1350- 1369). Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 7 que daua malas sentençias contra ellos en aquellos against them in those cases that the king, our lord, pleytos que por el rey, nuestro sennor, me eran had entrusted to me.34 To which, lord, I answer encomendados. A lo qual, sennor, respondo que that they should show the sentences that I have muestren quantas sentençias he dado contra judios given against Jews or Jewesses, and if they were bad o judias, e si malas e contra [sic]32 las yo di, yo las and against [the law], I wish to pay for all of them. quiero todas pagar. Ca prouare, sennor, que por una Then I will show, lord, that on account of the sentençia que auia de dar que me fue encomendado sentence that I had to give and that was entrusted to sobre rason delas monedas de todo el regno, que me, regarding the monedas of the entire kingdom,35 montaua mas de unas setenta mill doblas, que me and which was valued at more than 70,000 doblas, dauan dies mill doblas por que diese sentençia por they would give me 10,000 doblas to decide in their ellos, la qual era contra dios e contra derecho, e favor, which was against God and the law; and they saben muy bien que yo nunca quisiese una dellas know very well that I never wanted nor received any resçibir nin resçibi. of [that money]. A las otras injurias que disen que les fise o fago, As for the other injuries they say I cause or have respond que sy yo derecho fisiese, que veynte e tres caused them, I answer that if I could set things sinagogas que estan en la juderia desta çibdat, right, the twenty-three synagogues that are located adeficadas contra dios e contra derecho, serian in the judería of this city, erected against God and todas derribadas por suelo, por que las fesieron law, would be razed to the ground, because they contra dios e contra la ley, alçando las e apostando built them against God and against the law, raising las mas de lo que es ordenado de derecho. E en el and adorning them beyond what is stipulated by the tiempo de la mortandat que aqui fue grande, law.36 And during the time of the Pestilence, which leuando el cuerpo de dios yo por la çibdat a los was great here,37 as I was taking the body of God38 enfermos, los judios sin ninguna reverençia non through the city to the sick, the Jews, not showing fasian sy non pasar por entre medias del cuerpo de any respect, did nothing but pass through the dios, fasta que yo mande que a palos e a piedras los middle of the body of God, until I ordered that destoruasen que non pasasen con sus bestias por sticks and stones block their passing with their entre medias del cuerpo de dios. beasts [of burden] through the middle of the body of God. E a las otras cosas de los pleitos de la eglesia que yo And as for the other things, the church lawsuits that oyo, mando que non moren judios nin moros con I hear, I order that neither Jews nor Moors live with christianos, esto manda el derecho, e mando lo Christians, that is what the law commands, and our guardar nuestro sennor el arçobispo, por los lord the Archbishop ordered that it be observed, muchos males que se fasian e fasen, conuersando because of the many evils that happened and los christianos con los traydores de los judios, lo continue to happen, Christians talking to the traitors 32 A word seems to be missing in the manuscript: possibly, derecho. 34 In 1376, King Enrique I appointed Ferrán Martínez to a special court, known as the Tribunal de la Cuadra, whose function was to review appeals from legal cases already adjudicated by alcaldes mayores, who served as appellate judges. 35 The moneda or moneda forera tax was paid every seven years to guarantee that the king of Castile would not alter coinage. In August of 1379, Ferrán Martínez traveled to the cortes in Burgos to argue against the imposition of monedas on the Cathedral Chapter of Seville. 36 Martínez may be referencing Las Siete Partidas, a legal code compiled during the reign of Alfonso X (1252-1284). In Partida 7.24.4 Alfonso states that a new synagogue “cannot be erected in any part of our dominion, except by our order.” Also, they “cannot be made any larger or raised to any greater height, or be painted.” 37 There was an outbreak of bubonic plague in Seville in 1383. 38 A consecrated Eucharistic host. Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/ Ferrán Martínez’s speech 8 qual era contra dios e contra la eglesia. E esto fase of the Jews,39 which was against God and against nuestro sennor el arçobispo e mando a mi que lo the Church. And this was done by our lord the guardase, por quanto es seruiçio de dios e salud de Archbishop, and he ordered me to uphold this los reyes, la qual salud an de procurar los perlados order, because it is the service of God and the de la santa eglesia e los sus menistros, por que dios safety of the kings, which safety has to be looked sea seruido e los reyes sean defendidos. E los after by the prelates of the Holy Church and its alualaes e cartas que nuestro sennor el rey sobre esta ministers, so that God be served and the kings rason dio non se entienden, saluo si asy es, segunt protected. And the letters and orders given by our que la relaçion falsa le fue fecha, mas non entendio lord the king cannot be understood except thus: defender aquellos que derecho e justiçia fasen e that the king was given a false report, but he did not pedrican, ante lo manda que fagan justiçia e que intend to stop those who do and preach law and pedriquen la palabra de dios, e yo asy lo fago. E justice. Rather, it orders that they do justice and esto do por respuesta a la requeriçion del dicho don preach the word of God, just as I do. And this I Hia.” give as a response to the demand of the aforementioned don Hía.” Bibliography • Baer, Yitzhak. A History of the Jews in Christian Spain. Translated by Louis Schoffman. Vols. 1-2. The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1992-93. • Gampel, Benjamin. Anti-Jewish Riots in the Crown of Aragon and the Royal Response, 1391-1392. Cambridge UP, 2016. • Mitre Fernández, Emilio. Los judíos de Castilla en tiempo de Enrique III: El pogrom de 1391. U de Valladolid, 1994. • Moore, R. I. The Formation of a Persecuting Society, 2nd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2007. • Nirenberg, David. Anti-Judaism: the Western Tradition. W.W. Norton, 2014. • Soifer Irish, Maya. “Toward 1391: The Anti-Jewish Preaching of Ferrán Martínez in Seville.” The Medieval Roots of Antisemitism: Continuities and Discontinuities from the Middle Ages to the Present Day, edited by Jonathan Adams and Cordelia Heß, Routledge, 2018, pp. 306-319. • Wolff, Philippe. ‘The 1391 Pogrom in Spain: Social Crisis or Not?” Past and Present, vol. 50, 1971, pp. 4- 18. 39 Martínez may be referring to Jewish officials in Seville who had remained loyal to King Pedro I during the civil wars between Pedro and his half-brother Enrique Trastámara. Martínez was probably a loyalist of Enrique, who was crowned as king of Castile in 1369. Open Iberia/América: Teaching Anthology https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/