| Dear Readers, On March 31, 1492, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree, which ordered the expulsion of Jews from Catholic Spain.
Spain in the Middle Ages had a diverse population of Christians, Jews and the Muslim Moors. Christians grew in power during the 14th and 15th century, and increasingly began to persecute Jews and force the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula. Many Jews converted to Christianity to escape persecution, but some of these "conversos" continued to practice Judaism in secret.
In January 1492, Moorish forces in Granada, the last Muslim-held territory in Iberia, surrendered, completing the reconquest of Spain by the Christians. With the Moors defeated, Inquisitor General Tomas de Torquemada-himself a converso-convinced Ferdinand and Isabella to take action against the remaining Jews and establish Spain as a fully Christian territory.
The ousting of the Moors was cited as a possible motive for the terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spain, on March 11, 2004.
Read the full story.
Today is also Joseph Haydn's birthday. Haydn is known as "the father of the Symphony."
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