III. Social life and trades

None of the studied authors would blush at the accusation that they marginalised Jews, as before all these, the very Yahweh had done so in the desert, as had Jesus in life. "We cannot let into our homes those who have opposed and continue to oppose God's plans".

There are ten cases in which communicating with the Jews was illegal 1) it is forbidden to cohabite with them, 2) it is forbidden to eat their bread, 3) it is forbidden to use them as doctors or call them in case of illness, 4) it is forbidden to receive medicine from their hands, 5) it is forbidden to enter the bathroom with them, 6) it is forbidden to invite them to banquets or attend Jews' banquets, 7) it is forbidden for Christian children to be brought up in Jewish houses, 8) it is forbidden to be their servants, 9) it is forbidden to have them as servants, and 10) Jews cannot hold public office among Christians. Breaching any of these ten rules constitutes a mortal sin, due to the danger it implies for the faith of the Christian who sinned. A priest committing any of these sins is immediately deemed unfit, and a lay person becomes ex-communicated. Relating to Jews, as well as other unfaithful and heretic people, is a vice against faith. All moral writers dealing with this issue agree that, in cases of extreme necessity, Christians can approach Jews. In other cases, civilians are allowed to deal with Jews provided the Christian does not renounce to his principles.

Jews were confined to the Jewish quarters and only for unavoidable humanitarian causes were Christians allowed to deal with them; in these cases, Christians were also subject to strict norms. Jews are sinful people for having killed Christ; therefore, they deserve total exclusion. One must pray for their conversion, but it is forbidden to indulge in spiritual exchanges with Jewish people until they convert. (reference).

By killing Jesus they damned themselves forever. They have had God's favour: the divine Word has appeared onto them on three occasions to provide them light, but they still await for the Messiah, although they have rejected Him, at the end of time, they will join the flock: the Church which asks God to tear the Jewish people from their obstinate blindness and makes them turn their eyes to the Light is Christ (reference). In their delirium, the Jews are still awaiting the Messiah, while they reject the Messiah sent by God (reference).

The studied authors consider that Christian people have not only the right but also the duty to exclude the Jewish people from the daily life of the communities, in order to defend themselves from their "pernicious" influence which could endanger the integrity of the faith of the Christian faithful. In old times, it had been a people submerged in opulence which "always paid little attention to truth and purity of religion". They want to deny the miracles of Jesus but, in so doing, "they only talk nonsense and fabricate lies". The Lord felt "the cruelty and the hate of those venomous hearts more than the bitterness of the bile coming from them. How right was the prophet Jeremiah when he said of that ungrateful and damned people, on whom He had bestowed such good: "The vineyard I planted with so much love has become strange and turned against me". The Jews are like "the product of God's wrath" (reference).

In fact, the authors quoted, like almost all authors of the time, say that, by keeping the Jews excluded, the Christian authorities and people were simply imitating God's behaviour in the Old Testament, since he also segregated them when they failed to comply with His commandments. To this we must add that the Jews, by killing Jesus, put themselves outside God's plan, since Christ came to the world to complete God's plan to save mankind, initiated with the law and the prophets. The Jews were God's favoured people while they remained within His law. But their sins led them away from their God and the first punishment was their captivity in Babylon. They are one of the peoples who have breached the law of God, and, for this reason, are damned by Him; they are to blame for their situation: they fabricate stories and lies to flee from the truth. Their long exile and endless pilgrimage prove the gravity of their sin; those who converted in times of the primitive Church were an example for all believers, but, in its majority, it is the blindest and most incredulous people in history (reference).

This way of thinking was present in the councils of Toledo. Jews married to a Christian woman had to convert to Christianity or separate from their spouse. Jews could not receive tribute nor accept contributions. Jews lost their patria potestas when their children reached the age of seven, and these had to marry Christians when the time came. Jews, like other infidels, enjoyed the privilege of immunity as regard tithes (reference).

Two important religious authors, one of them in the 12 th century and the other in the 13 th century, had a significant influence. In Liber predicationis contra judeos (reference), R. Lull details, making use of a dialogue between a Christian priest and a Jew, the differences between both religions. Martino de Leon, in his sermons, accuses Jews of the death of Jesus and portrays them in a similar way to 16th and 17th century Spanish authors (reference).

The devotionaries, books of meditations and prayers of the Church in the 16th and 17th centuries, reflected the thought of previous centuries. Until the Modern Age, the condemnations did not cease: "guilty blindness and obstinacy", "perfidy", "stubborn insolence", "callousness of heart which will lead them all to hell"; "sectarian plague", people who "hate the truth and resist the Lord ", "iron infidelity", for their sins they all deserved to be annihilated. On Judgement Day, they will call for Christ, but He will not listen. Until the Modern Age, these feelings were expressed ceaselessly, with great doses of cruelty, and excited the spirits of a people and led to cruel justice, or rather, crimes of justice: accusations of profanation of the Host, ritual murder, propagation of the plague, poisoning of fountains, wells and rivers (reference).