Las Siete Partidas: Laws on Jews, 1265 Essay

Las Siete Partidas was a work commissioned by tabby Alfonso X in 1265. It introduced law codes which only took effect in Castile a century later. These law codes, which were found on earlier feudal, civil, and canon laws, were conflicting to Jews. The conditions turn out on Muslim Moors, however, were even more severe than those placed on the Jews (Muslims, for instance, were prohibited from having mosques. ) The focus of this essay will be on excerpts taken from Las Siete Partidas which deal primarily with the Judaic the great unwashed. The Laws on Jews were an attempt to do by the costs and benefits of living with a Jewish minority.Laws which served to control the spread of the Jewish minority negative miscegenation Jews who live with rescuerian womenshall be install to d swallow uph. Jews were also forbidden from proselytizing Moreover, a Jew should be very careful to empty preaching to, or converting any Christian. Socializing with Jews was prohibited we forbid any C hristianto invite a Jew or Jewishto eat or drink together. Jews were prohibited from owning slaves or oppressing Christians. Some laws were based on false allegations which claimed that Jews were engaging in human sacrifice (blood libel).Blaming Jews for Christs crucifixion (deicide) led to further anti-Semitism. Some of the laws were designed to cherish Jews. Jews were protected on Saturday (Sabbath) as well as in their place of worship (synagogue. ) Jews were prohibited from leaving their homes on Good Friday (days on which Christians were head-on towards Jews. ) Some laws served non only to protect Jews, but were degrading as well. For instance, Jews had to wear a Jewish badge to distinguish them in humans in order to avoid the offenses and evilsall Jewsshall bear some distinguishing aspiration. A law which requires Jews to identify themselves with a badge implies that Jews and Christians were not so different racially, but separate peoples in terms of their history, culture , and language. The Christian alliance in Castile, in order to maintain power over their population, introduced laws which would get a line that the Jewish minority would not grow. These laws were at times degrading and inappropriate towards Jews. However, there were attempts to protect and appease Christian hostility towards Jews.It would prove to be a challenge to maintain a balance between disparage the Jewish community in an attempt to check its growth and fashioning use of its influence and power (King Alfonso made use of Jewish doctors and bankers. ) It would not be unfair to ask whether the conflicting relationship between Christians and Jews was out-of-pocket to the fact that the Jews were in fact a nation within a Christian nation. Moreover, if the Christian community in Castile recognized the Jewish people to be a nation, then they may have felt threaten by the possibility of the reestablishment of a Jewish state.