A decree that marked a before and an after
On March 31, 1492, in the midst of the European renaissance, the monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabel I approved an edict that would radically change the cultural landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. The Decree of the Alhambra, signed in Granada, determined that the Jews had to quickly decide their fate: convert to Christianity or embark on a path of exile within four months.
The consequences of a drastic decision
There is no doubt that this edict had an unequal impact across the different territories of the Crown. In the case of Castile, the response was explosive: nearly 100,000 people chose to leave their roots behind, settling in various regions of the Mediterranean and preserving elements of Jewish culture, such as medieval Castilian. By contrast, under the Catalan-Aragonese Crown, less than 20,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes, with only around 8,000 fleeing Catalonia.
The prestige of the Judeo-Catalan communities
The communities that remained active in Catalonia, known as ‘katalanim’, had significant prestige, with recognized educational institutions in Rome and Salonica. However, they were always perceived as a minority in the immense stage of the Catalan exile, which echoed the rich Jewish history of the peninsula.
The Catalan Jewish population: a reality in numbers
In 1492, Catalonia had a notable percentage of Jewish population, with 15% of the total population. Although estimates of the demographics of the time are difficult to obtain, it is estimated that around 400,000 inhabitants resided in the region. Of these, the Jews would have constituted a community of approximately 60,000 individuals. This data reveals that, despite the flight of about 8,000, a large part of the Judeo-Catalan community decided to accept Christianity, adopting Christian surnames among them, even if a minority decided to keep alive the Jewish faith in anonymity.
A legacy that endures
The Alhambra Decree not only represents a tragic chapter in Jewish history, but becomes a reminder of the consequences that political decisions can have on the lives of thousands of people. More than five centuries after these dramatic events, the legacy of these communities still resonates, marking the cultural and social history of the Iberian Peninsula and leaving a deep mark on the collective identity.