(1) King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, by the grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, Leon,
Aragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, Seville, Sardinia, Cordoba,
Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, of the Algarve, Algeciras, Gibraltar, and of the Canary Islands, count and
countess of Barcelona and lords of Biscay and Molina, dukes of Athens and Neopatria, counts of
Rousillon and Cerdana, marquises of Oristan and of Gociano, to the prince Lord Juan, our very dear
and muched love son, and to the other royal children, prelates, dukes, marquees, counts, masters of
military orders, priors, grandees, knight commanders, governors of castles and fortified places of our
kingdoms and lordships, and to councils, magistrates, mayors, constables, district judges, knights,
official squires, and all good men of the noble and loyal city of Burgos and other cities, towns, and
villages of its bishopric and of other archbishoprics, bishoprics, dioceses of our kingdom and
lordships, and to the residential quarters of the Jews of the said city of Burgos and of all the aforesaid
cities, towns, and villages of its bishopric and of the other cities, towns, and villages of our
aforementioned kingdoms and lordships, and to all Jews and to all individual Jews of those places,
and to barons and women of whatever age they may be, and to all other persons of whatever law,
estate, dignity, preeminence, and condition they may be, and to all to whom the matter contained in
this charter pertains or may pertain. Salutations and grace.
(2) You know well or ought to know, that whereas we have been informed that in these our kingdoms
there were some wicked Christians who Judaized and apostatized from our holy Catholic faith, the
great cause of which was interaction between the Jews and these Christians, in the courts which we
held in the city of Toledo in the past year of one thousand, four hundred and eighty, we ordered the
separation of the said Jews in all the cities, towns and villages of our kingdoms and lordships and
[commanded] that they be given Jewish quarters and separated places where they should live,
hoping that by their separation the situation would remedy itself. Furthermore, we procured and gave
orders that inquisition should be made in our aforementioned kingships and lordships, which as you
know has for twelve years been made and is being made, and by many guilty persons have been
discovered, as is very well known, and accordingly we are informed by the inquisitors and by other
devout persons, ecclesiastical and secular, that great injury has resulted and still results, since the
Christians have engaged in and continue to engage in social interaction and communication they
have had means and ways they can to subvert and to steal faithful Christians from our holy Catholic
faith and to separate them from it, and to draw them to themselves and subvert them to their own
wicked belief and conviction, instructing them in the ceremonies and observances of their law, holding
meetings at which they read and teach that which people must hold and believe according to their
law, achieving that the Christians and their children be circumcised, and giving them books from
which they may read their prayers and declaring to them the fasts that they must keep, and joining
with them to read and teach them the history of their law, indicating to them the festivals before they
occur, advising them of what in them they are to hold and observe, carrying to them and giving to
them from their houses unleavened bread and meats ritually slaughtered, instructing them about the
things from which they must refrain, as much in eating as in other things in order to observe their law,
and persuading them as much as they can to hold and observe the law of Moses, convincing them
that there is no other law or truth except for that one. This proved by many statements and
confessions, both from these same Jews and from those who have been perverted and enticed by
them, which has redounded to the great injury, detriment, and opprobrium of our holy Catholic faith.
(3) Notwithstanding that we were informed of the great part of this before now and we knew that the
true remedy for all these injuries and inconveniences was to prohibit all interaction between the said
Jews and Christians and banish them from all our kingdoms, we desired to content ourselves by
commanding them to leave all cities, towns, and villages of Andalusia where it appears that they have
done the greatest injury, believing that that would be sufficient so that those of other cities, towns, and
villages of our kingdoms and lordships would cease to do and commit the aforesaid acts. And since
we are informed that neither that step nor the passing of sentence [of condemnation] against the said
Jews who have been most guilty of the said crimes and delicts against our holy Catholic faith have
been sufficient as a complete remedy to obviate and correct so great an opprobrium and offense to
the faith and the Christian religion, because every day it is found and appears that the said Jews
increase in continuing their evil and wicked purpose wherever they live and congregate, and so that
there will not be any place where they further offend our holy faith, and corrupt those whom God has
until now most desired to preserve, as well as those who had fallen but amended and returned to
Holy Mother Church, the which according to the weakness of our humanity and by diabolical
astuteness and suggestion that continually wages war against us may easily occur unless the
principal cause of it be removed, which is to banish the said Jews from our kingdoms. Because
whenever any grave and detestable crime is committed by members of any organization or
corporation, it is reasonable that such an organization or corporation should be dissolved and
annihilated and that the lesser members as well as tile greater and everyone for the others be
punished, and that those who perturb the good and honest life of cities and towns and by contagion
can injure others should be expelled from those places and even if for lighter causes, that may be
injurious to the Republic, how Much more for those greater and most dangerous and most contagious
crimes such as this.
(4) Therefore, we, with the counsel and advice of prelates, great noblemen of our kingdoms, and
other persons of learning and wisdom of our Council, having taken deliberation about this matter,
resolve to order the said Jews and Jewesses of our kingdoms to depart and never to return or come
back to them or to any of them. And concerning this we command this our charter to be given, by
which we order all Jews and Jewesses of whatever age they may be, who live, reside, and exist in
our said kingdoms and lordships, as much those who are natives as those who are not, who by
whatever manner or whatever cause have come to live and reside therein, that by the end of the
month of July next of the present year, they depart from all of these our said realms and lordships,
along with their sons and daughters, menservants and maidservants, Jewish familiars, those who are
great as well as the lesser folk, of whatever age they may be, and they shall not dare to return to
those places, nor to reside in them, nor to live in any part of them, neither temporarily on the way to
somewhere else nor in any other manner, under pain that if they do not perform and comply with this
command and should be found in our said kingdom and lordships and should in any manner live in
them, they incur the penalty of death and the confiscation of all their possessions by our Chamber of
Finance, incurring these penalties by the act itself, without further trial, sentence, or declaration. And
we command and forbid that any person or persons of the said kingdoms, of whatever estate,
condition, or dignity that they may be, shall dare to receive, protect, defend, nor hold publicly or
secretly any Jew or Jewess beyond the date of the end of July and from henceforth forever, in their
lands, houses, or in other parts of any of our said kingdoms and lordships, under pain of losing all
their possessions, vassals, fortified places, and other inheritances, and beyond this of losing
whatever financial grants they hold from us by our Chamber of Finance.
(5) And so that the said Jews and Jewesses during the stated period of time until the end of the said
month of July may be better able to dispose of themselves, and their possession, and their estates,
for the present we take and receive them under our Security, protection, and royal safeguard, and we
secure to them and to their possessions that for the duration of the said time until the said last day of
the said month of July they may travel and be safe, they may enter, sell, trade, and alienate all their
movable and rooted possessions and dispose of them freely and at their will, and that during the said
time, no one shall harm them, nor injure them, no wrong shall be done to them against justice, in their
persons or in their possessions, under the penalty which falls on and is incurred by those who violate
the royal safeguard. And we likewise give license and faculty to those said Jews and Jewesses that
they be able to export their goods and estates out of these our said kingdoms and lordships by sea or
land as long as they do not export gold or silver or coined money or other things prohibited by the
laws of our kingdoms, excepting merchandise and things that are not prohibited.
(6) And we command all councils, justices, magistrates, knights, squires, officials, and all good men
of the said city of Burgos and of the other cities, towns, and villages of our said kingdoms and
lordships and all our new vassals, subjects, and natives that they preserve and comply with and
cause to be preserved and complied with this our charter and all that is contained in it, and to give
and to cause to be given all assistance and favor in its application under penalty of [being at] our
mercy and the confiscation of all their possessions and offices by our Chamber of Finance. And
because this must be brought to the notice of all, so that no one may pretend ignorance, we
command that this our charter be posted in the customary plazas and places of the said city and of
the principal cities, towns, and villages of its bishopric as an announcement and as a public
document. And no one shall do any damage to it in any manner under penalty of being at our mercy
and the deprivation of their offices and the confiscation of their possessions, which will happen to
each one who might do this. Moreover, we command the [man] who shows them this our charter that
he summon [those who act against the charter] to appear before us at our court wherever we may be,
on the day that they are summoned during the fifteen days following the crime under the said penalty,
under which we command whichever public scribe who would be called for the purpose of reading
this our charter that the signed charter with its seal should be shown to you all so that we may know
that our command is carried out.
(7) Given in our city of Granada, the XXXI day of the month of March, the year of the birth of our lord
Jesus Christ one thousand four hundred and ninety-two years.
I, the King, I the Queen,
I, Juan de Coloma, secretary of the king and queen our lords, have caused this to be written at their
command.
Registered by Cabrera, Almacan chancellor.
Source. Florida Atlantic University – The Alhambra Decree– Edict of the Expulsion of the Jews of Spain (1492).