Chapter XIII.--TREATMENT OF THE JEWS BY FERDINAND.

The Monks took such an active part in the persecution of the Jews, that it may be well to give some account of the "Religious Orders," as they are called; all of which hated the Hebrew race, and would gladly have seen it extirpated.

Very soon after the establishment of the Christian religion, there were men who wished to devote their hearts and lives to the service of God, and thought they could better do this by giving up all the pleasures and business of ordinary life. It became the practice for such to leave their families and live together in houses, thence called Religious Houses, under the direction and authority of some priest. Here they spent their time in devotion, and in doing good to their fellow creatures: the services in the churches were performed by them; they undertook the education of the young; books were prepared by them, for in those days there were no books except such as were written by hand; and to them the sick and poor applied for relief, which was never denied.

Those who became inmates of such houses, were not bound to remain in them; but as long as they did so, they were bound to obey the orders of the ruling priest.

But before long, a change took place: these religious houses took the name of Monastery, Abbey, Priory, or Convent. Those who entered these houses, took a solemn oath to remain in them until their death, and to be in all things obedient to the priests, who, under the appellation of Abbots or Priors, ruled over these establishments, whilst they themselves were completely subject to the Pope. As the gifts of money and lands bestowed upon these religious houses, gave them power and influence, those who ruled over them became ambitious, and desired to have a share in the government of kingdoms: in this they gradually succeeded by persuading kings and princes, that by following their advice in all things, they would please the Lord God, and ensure his favour.

As time went on, the heads of the abbeys, monasteries, priories, and convents, became more and more powerful, in the various kingdoms where they were established. The inmates of these various houses belonged to different classes or "orders"; the chief of which, were the Benedictines, Dominicans, and Franciscans.

St. Benedict, the founder of the first religious order in Europe, was born at Spoleto, in Italy, A.D. 480. At the age of fourteen, he retired to a cavern, where the fame of his pious austerities brought him numerous followers. He afterwards founded the monastery of Monte Casino, near Naples, and thus established the Order of St. Benedict, or the Benedictines. The oath taken by all who entered this order, bound them never to marry, nor to quit their convent; to practise the strictest self-denial in every matter; to speak but little to the other members of the community; to give up all intercourse with the world; and to place their minds and bodies at the absolute disposal of their superior; so as not only to do at once whatever he bid them do, but to hold no opinions contrary to his. The Pope or Bishop of Rome, naturally looked with especial favour upon this order of monks; because being pledged to implicit obedience, they formed a sort of army, ready to do anything to increase the power of the priesthood and the Pope. The Benedictine Order was introduced into England by Dunstan, when he became superior of Glastonbury Abbey, in the tenth century.

The founder of the Dominican Order, was a man named Dominic, born at Calahorra, in Old Castile, A.D. 1170. He was employed by Pope Innocent the Third to convert the Albigenses; but failing in his endeavours, he joined in the horrible persecution carried on against them; and for his zeal in the cause, he was, after his death, A.D. 1221, canonized, (that is, ordered to be called a saint) by the Pope.

The founder of the Franciscan Order was born at Assisi, in a part of Italy called Umbria, A.D. 1182; and was after his death canonized, and called St. Francis d'Assisi. He was the son of a merchant, and had in his youth led a wild and dissipated life: but on recovering from a dangerous illness, he became enthusiastically devout; retired into solitude; and underwent every species of penance and mortification; so that his family thought he had gone mad. He gave up all claim to his father's property, and took a vow of poverty. Being looked upon as a saint, many joined him, and he drew up rules for them to observe; and these rules being approved of by Pope Innocent the Third, the order of Franciscan Friars was established, and its members increased rapidly. St. Francis d'Assisi was, as well as St. Dominic, a zealous persecutor of the Albigenses and Waldenses. St. Francis made an unsuccessful attempt to convert the Sultan, or sovereign of Turkey, and then returned to Assisi, where he died, A.D. 1226: he was canonized four years later, by Gregory the Ninth.

It has been said, that the members of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders were called friars, instead of monks. The difference between the two classes was, that the friars rejected the possession of all worldly wealth, and depended entirely for their subsistence upon what they could collect from the pious, in their wanderings about the country. On this account, they were also called "Mendicants," that is, "beggars." There were four orders of these Mendicant Friars: the Dominicans, or Black Friars; the Franciscans, or Grey Friars, sometimes called "Frères Mineurs" (Lesser Friars), or Minorites; the Augustines, or Mendicants, properly so called; and the Carmelites, who claimed their origin from the prophet Elijah.

Before we leave this subject, we must mention that there were also religious houses, called nunneries and convents, for females: the inmates were called nuns, and there were various orders of them, distinguished from each other by some differences in their rules and discipline.

But all monks, friars and nuns were bound by their vows never to marry, nor leave their retirement; and to be in all things obedient to their superior.

When the Court of Inquisition was set up in Spain, it was directed to pay particular attention to the conduct of the Jews, as the clergy had found out that their change of religion was generally only a pretence; and therefore the Pope exhorted all Christian princes to bring them to punishment.

Great numbers of the Jews, terrified at the fate which awaited them, gave up the observance of their own rites and ceremonies, and submitted to any penance or punishment appointed by the clergy: but many of these unhappy creatures were put to death, even after they had confessed Jesus Christ to be the Messiah: others were imprisoned for a long time, and when set at liberty, were obliged to wear two red crosses on their upper garment, which was considered as an acknowledgment that they deserved to be burnt. Property was, of course, seized; and besides their persecution by the Inquisition, the populace oppressed and ill-used them, so that their condition was as miserable as possible. The sufferings of the Jews whom Ferdinand drove out of Spain, were most extraordinary. The greater part embarked on board ships, some of which, from being too heavily laden, sunk, and all on board were drowned; some of the ships are said to have been burnt; some were wrecked on foreign shores, where the miserable passengers died of want. The master of one ship determined to murder all his passengers, in order, as he said, to avenge the death of Christ, whom their ancestors had crucified: the Jews, aware of his design, reminded this bad man, that one doctrine of Christianity was, that Christ desired the salvation, and not the death of sinners; but the master, instead of feeling how little his conduct was like what a Christian's ought to be, caused the Jews to be stripped, and landed on the coast of Africa, where he left them. Some of these poor creatures were destroyed by wild beasts; some died of hunger; but some were saved by the master of another vessel. Some of the Jews, on leaving Spain, sailed direct to the city of Fez, in Africa; but the inhabitants cruelly refused to admit them into the city, and they, too, died of want. Another party sailed to Genoa, which was at that time suffering from a scarcity of food, so that provisions were very dear: the inhabitants, seeing the miserable condition of the Jews, who had no money to buy food, met them with a cross in one hand and in the other bread, which they refused to give to any one who would not first worship the cross. Many who had hitherto resisted all temptation to conform to Christian worship, could hold out no longer, and did what was required of them.

The way in which Ferdinand had treated the Jews, was greatly blamed; and many nations expressed their astonishment, that the king should have so little regard to his own interest, as to banish a people, whose skill in money matters was so useful to the country. This very skill enabled the Jews to disappoint the avarice of the king; for they had managed to send the greater part of their wealth safely out of the country, and consequently Ferdinand got much less money from them than he had expected.

Meantime his subjects felt the loss of Moors and Jews, and the nobles complained that their towns were deserted and ruined.

Many of the Jews on leaving Spain, went into Portugal, where their brethren had done good service to the king, by bringing him accounts of the coasts of the Red Sea; and also by helping his subjects to discover the way of reaching India, by sailing round the southern point of Africa.

But notwithstanding the services of the Jews already in Portugal, the king only allowed the fugitives from Spain to enter his dominions, on condition of their paying a sum of gold, with an understanding, that on a certain day fixed, they must either leave Portugal again, or be sold as slaves: on his part, the king promised to provide ships to take them wherever they wished to go.

When the time came, the king really wished to keep his promise; but his orders were not obeyed, and the Jews who were about to sail, were so barbarously used by the seamen, that they chose rather to be sold as slaves than to put themselves into the power of such ruffians.

The next king of Portugal had pity on the Jews, and set them free from slavery; but afterwards, in order to gain favour with Ferdinand and Isabella, he ordered the Israelites to leave the kingdom on a certain day, after which, all who remained would be again treated as slaves. But the king did not like the idea of expelling such a number of skilful and industrious people, and he determined at least to keep all the children under fourteen years of age, and have them baptized and brought up as Christians. When, therefore, the time of departure drew near, he forbade the Jews to embark from any port except Lisbon; and when they came to that city, the king's officers seized their children, and dragged them away from their parents. We may imagine what a dreadful scene this was! Many, in despair, rather than give their children up, killed them and then put an end to their own lives. Besides this, the king contrived to delay their embarkation so much, that the day fixed passed away before they had sailed, and consequently they became slaves. In utter despair, these poor creatures now agreed to become Christians, in order to recover their liberty, and their children. But such Christianity could only be a pretence; and their enemies, suspecting this, watched them narrowly. The least sign of their observing any of the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish religion, or of their preferring the Law of Moses to the Gospel, exposed them to the horrible cruelties of the Inquisition. Shame upon Christians, who could thus treat their fellow creatures! and instead of trying to win them over by Christian love, could thus render the very name of Christian more and more hateful to them.