[1] After the massacres, Jews began to convert en masse to Roman Catholicism[2] across the Iberian Peninsula, resulting in a substantial population[3] of conversos known as Marranos.
From the late 6th century onward, following the new Visigothic monarchs' conversion from Arianism to the Nicene Creed, conditions for Jews in Iberia considerably worsened.[6][why?][how?]
[citation needed] Some scholars give the start of the Golden Age as 711–718, the Muslim conquest of Iberia; others date it from 912, during the rule of Abd al-Rahman III.
[9] Much of this long history was spent in conflict with kingdoms to its north, a period dubbed by the eventual Christian victors as the Reconquista, or reconquest.
[10] Under their Christian rulers, Jews in medieval Spain were burdened with higher taxes than their Catholic countrymen, and forced to provide payments in kind to the aristocracy and church.
[11] Furthermore, like their counterparts in the rest of Europe, they were restricted to "marginal" occupations including banking and finance, particularly as tax collectors and as moneylenders to the aristocracy and church elite, landowners, peasants, merchants, and artisans alike.
[12] Attitudes were inflamed as much by an official Church antisemitism featuring accusations of Jewish deicide and blood libel as by any factors particular to medieval Spain.
[16] While a rebel against the church, Peter gained a reputation as protector of the Jews, particularly in light of the policies of his half-brother, arch rival, and ultimate killer and usurper Henry of Trastámara (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379; known as el Fratricida).
[17] In order to pay mercenaries he employed in his long campaigns, Henry imposed a war contribution of twenty thousand gold doubloons on the already heavily oppressed Jewish community of Toledo.
Henry then ordered the internment of all the Jews of Toledo, that they be denied food and water, and Confiscation of their property, to be sold at auction to benefit the Crown.
14th century) was a Spanish cleric and archdeacon of Écija, Andalusia and most noted for being the agitator whom historians cite as the prime mover behind the Massacres of 1391, with violence beginning in the Andalusian capital of Seville.
[21] Martínez continued his campaign against the Jews of Seville, calling on clergy and people to destroy synagogues and seize Jewish holy books and other precious items.
[13] As this fanaticism and persecution spread throughout the rest of the kingdom of Castile, there was no accountability held for the murders and sacking of the Jewish houses, and estimations claim that there were 50,000 victims (though it is likely this number was exaggerated).
[23][24] However, the situation continued to escalate and in July, Prince Martin (King John I's brother) was placed in charge of protecting Jews against persecution.
The ensuing decades witnessed a crescendo of anti-converso measures and violent outbursts,[3] culminating in the wholesale expulsion of Jews from Spain 100 years after the massacre, in 1492.
[citation needed] 100,000-300,000 Jews did leave Spain after 1492 (estimates vary) and settled in different parts of Europe and the Maghreb, while some migrated as far as the Indian subcontinent, the majority of whom reverted.
[citation needed] Many settled in parts of the Ottoman Empire, including the Maghreb (where the community was known as Megorashim) and the Levant at the behest of Sultan Bayezid II.
Factors both internal and external to the Sephardim culture resulted in a continuity of tradition and the presence of a substantial Sephardic population around the globe in the 21st century, including in the United States.
Historian Yoel Marciano has argued that the forced conversions contributed to the resurgence of Kabbalah studies among the Sephardim population of Spain in the early 15th century and in the diaspora following expulsion.