of the people against the
Jews; thence the frequent troubles which agitated some towns of the
peninsula; thence the tumults which more than once were fatal to the
Jews, and in which their blood flowed in abundance. It was difficult for
a people accustomed for ages to set themselves free by force of arms to
resign themselves peacefully and tranquilly to the lot prepared for them
by the artifices and exactions of a strange race, whose name, moreover,
bore the recollection of a terrible malediction.

In later times an immense number of Jews were converted to the Christian
religion; but the hatred of the people was not extinguished thereby,
and mistrust followed these converts into their new state. It is very
probable that a great number of these conversions were hardly sincere,
as they were partly caused by the sad position in which the Jews who
continued in Judaism were placed. In default of conjectures founded on
reason in this respect, we will regard as a sufficient corroboration of
our opinion the multitude of Judaizing Christians who were discovered as
soon as care was taken to find out those who had been guilty of apostasy.
However this may be, it is certain that the distinction between New and
Old Christians was introduced; the latter denomination was a title
of honor, and the former a mark of ignominy; the converted Jews were
contemptuously called _maranos_ ("impure men," "pigs"). With more or
less foundation, they were accused of horrible crimes. In their dark
assemblies they committed, it was said, atrocities which could hardly be
believed for the honor of humanity. For example, it was said that, to
revenge themselves on the Christians and in contempt of religion, they
crucified Christian children, taking care to choose for the purpose the
greatest day among Christian solemnities. There is the often-repeated
history of the knight of the house of Guzman, who, being hidden one night
in the house of a Jew whose daughter he loved, saw a child crucified at
the time when the Christians celebrated the institution of the sacrifice
of the eucharist. Besides infanticide, there were attributed to the Jews
sacrileges, poisonings, conspiracies, and other crimes. That these rumors
were generally believed by the people is proved by the fact that the Jews
were forbidden by law to exercise the professions of doctor, surgeon,
barber, and tavern-keeper; this shows what degree of confidence
was placed in their morality. It is useles