t that, when the Saracen invasion took place, the Jews did
whatever they could to promote its success. They, like the Arabs, were
an Oriental people, both traced their lineage to Abraham, their common
ancestor; both were believers in the unity of God. It was their
defense of that doctrine that had brought upon them the hatred of their
Visigothic masters.

Under the Saracen rule they were treated with the highest consideration.
They became distinguished for their wealth and their learning. For
the most part they were Aristotelians. They founded many schools and
colleges. Their mercantile interests led them to travel all over the
world. They particularly studied the science of medicine. Throughout the
middle ages they were the physicians and bankers of Europe. Of all men
they saw the course of human affairs from the most elevated point of
view. Among the special sciences they became proficient in mathematics
and astronomy; they composed the tables of Alfonso, and were the cause
of the voyage of De Gama. They distinguished themselves greatly in light
literature. From the tenth to the fourteenth century their literature
was the first in Europe. They were to be found in the courts of princes
as physicians, or as treasurers managing the public finances.

The orthodox clergy in Navarre had excited popular prejudices against
them. To escape the persecutions that arose, many of them feigned to
turn Christians, and of these many apostatized to their former
faith. The papal nuncio at the court of Castile raised a cry for the
establishment of the Inquisition. The poorer Jews were accused of
sacrificing Christian children at the Passover, in mockery of the
crucifixion; the richer were denounced as Averroists. Under the
influence of Torquemada, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Queen
Isabella, that princess solicited a bull from the pope for the
establishment of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly issued in
November, 1478, for the detection and suppression of heresy. In the
first year of the operation of the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand
victims were burnt in Andalusia; besides these, many thousands were dug
up from their graves and burnt; seventeen thousand were fined or
imprisoned for life. Whoever of the persecuted race could flee, escaped
for his life. Torquemada, now appointed inquisitor-general for Castile
and Leon, illustrated his office by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations
were received, the accused was not confront