Disputation of Barcelona

[4][5] The ordered disputation was organized by Raymond de Penyafort, the superior of the Christians and the confessor of James I. Christiani had been preaching to the Jews of Provence.

The disputation took place in front of the royal court of King James of Aragon (1263), who guaranteed and asserted freedom of speech for the Jewish spokesperson Nachmanides.

Nachmanides also argued that since the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the world had still been filled with violence and injustice, and among all religions, he claimed that the Christians were the most warlike.

"[8] According to a report by Nachmanides, Friar Paul claimed: "Behold the passage in Isaiah, chapter 53, tells of the death of the messiah and how he was to fall into the hands of his enemies and how he was placed alongside the wicked, as happened to Jesus.

'"[7] The Jewish residents of Barcelona, fearing the resentment of the Dominicans, entreated him to discontinue; but the King, whom Nachmanides had acquainted with the apprehensions of the Jews, desired him to proceed.

At the end of the disputation, James I awarded Nachmanides a prize of 300 gold coins and declared that never before had he heard "an unjust cause so nobly defended.

"[9] On the Shabbat after the debate, the king also attended the Sinagoga Major de Barcelona, arguably one of the oldest synagogues in Europe,[10][11] and addressed the Jewish congregants there, "a thing unheard of during the Middle Ages".

[12] Since the Dominicans claimed victory, Nachmanides published a transcript of the entire proceedings, including some dialogue that took place privately between himself and the king.

It was dramatised for television in 1986 by Channel 4 and starred Christopher Lee as James I, Bob Peck as Pablo Christiani and Alan Dobie as Nachmanides.