Excerpt: INSOLENCE
[With the surrender of Granada on January 2, 1492, the 700-year-old Christian Crusade against Muslims in Spain concluded. It is the most glorious day in our history, said Queen Isabella. The holy war brought out heroism, heroism brought out glory, but glory does not create employment. Brothers, sons, fathers, a multitude of unemployed heroes went about without legs, eyes, without reason or prospects. Preying on the misfortune of heroes, fanatics pressured the Catholic Monarchs to decree the expulsion of Jews. It sounded great from pulpits to finally have the realm as Our Lord meant it to be, milk-white in color, and expurgated of infidels of all affiliation. However, the heroes of Granada were not skilled in the business of running the economy. Jews had been for centuries the accountants, the lawyers, the tax collectors, the thick of the governing bureaucracy. And ennobled by glory, the heroes of Granada were not about to bend their knees to work the fields like Moors. The royal decree gave Jews three months to convert or leave. In three months the Catholic monarchs realized that without captains the economy was heading to no good. The Queen sent her humanists in secret last-minute missions to offer concessions to Jewish professionals. Never mind the rhetoric, said the humanists, all they had to do was a little converting, and since conversion required powerful sponsors, the Queen herself was to be Godmother. Some conversions took place, but most Jews, overcoming the agony of dislocation, opted for the exodus. One Jewish philosopher explained the uprooting: Humans are not plants to take root, they are walking animals, and emigration is natural. Half went eastwards to Byzantium, half sought refuge in Western Europe, in Holland, Germany, England. The great majority of those headed to Western Europe made Portugal the first stopover.]
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