St. Vicente Ferrer and the Anti-Semitism

of Fifteenth Century Spain
by Ronald J. Duncan
   

from HaLapid, Spring 2002

 

St. Vicente Ferrer (1350-1419) was a Dominican preacher (Orden de Predicadores) from Valencia, Spain who played a critical role during the events of the late 1300's and early 1400's that led to the forced conversions of thousands of Jews and the massacres of others.  When Ferrer was forty years old, he launched a campaign against Judaism with the purpose of eliminating it from Spain, and over the next three decades he came close to achieving it.  He was canonized because he was an eloquent preacher who stirred Christians to dedicate themselves to their faith and because he was credited as the best evangelist of the age in Spain being responsible for thousands of conversions.  On the other hand, Ferrer's preaching was anti-Semitic, and it engendered violent emotions that turned his followers into mobs that invaded Jewish neighborhoods assaulting Jews, destroying property, and even killing people.  An integral element to his success as an evangelist was the intimidation created by the gang behavior of his followers.

Ferrer's first campaign against Jews came in 1390 when he was caught up in the wave of anti-Semitic movements that were sweeping Spain at the time.  That year he went on an evangelizing mission to Castile accompanied by Cardinal Pedro de Luna, who was later elected Pope Benedict XIII.  The two of them were to lead the anti-Semitic forces in Spain over the next three decades, each re-enforcing the other.  Ferrer's incendiary preaching against the Jews and Judaism in this crusade through Castile was a part of the environment of odium that led to the 1391 assaults on Jewish communities in which thousands of Jews were killed, the worst pogroms ever in Christian Spain.  In some cities the entire Jewish population was either killed, forced to convert, or fled the city, completely eliminating the Jewish presence.  This experience seems to have honed Ferrer's vision that it was in fact possible to eradicate Judaism in Spain.

During the 1390's and early 1400's Ferrer was credited with the conversion of many Jews, including some who were outstanding leaders in their communities.  Šelomo ha-Levi was one of these leaders, the respected rabbi of Burgos who converted along with several other members of his extended family.  He took the baptismal name of Pablo de Santa María and in later years went on to become the Chancellor of the government of Castile.  He remained an ally of Ferrer, and when he was Chancellor, they collaborated in formulating the restrictive laws on Jewish communities.  Ferrer was also credited with the conversion of Šemuel Abrabanel, one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Seville.  The conversion of important figures like these caused a crisis among Spanish Jews, weakening the faith of their followers and leading to further conversions. 

Many of these converts, known as anusim or “the forced ones,” took on Christianity simply as a protective shield to fend off the threats to their lives, livelihoods, and families; however, some went further and even joined the anti-Semitic forces themselves.  Ferrer had established his credentials as an evangelist, but he had done so in the environment of violent anti-Jewish pogroms.  In the early 1400s, he began elaborating a plan to crush the aljamas, or Jewish communities, that had survived the genocidal attacks of 1391.  His plan was to ghettoize Jews and remove them completely from contact with Christians.

In 1406, Ferrer was in Castile advocating his plan against the Jews with Queen Catalina and Fernando de Antequera who was assisting her.  Eventually, his ideas, along with those of other anti-Semitic leaders, were enacted into a set of laws between 1408 and 1412 that essentially destroyed the Jewish way of life.  These laws culminated in the Ordinances of Valladolid, promulgated in 1412, which raised anti-Semitic restrictions to a new height.  The limited political autonomy that the aljamas had experienced in the fourteenth century was revoked, meaning that Jews could no longer judge themselves nor make decisions about the preservation of their communities.  Jews were no longer allowed to work in governmental or judicial offices of Casti