CHAPTER XXIV

THE SPANISH JEWS

Influence of the Semitic Race on Civilization--Enterprise of the Ancient Jews--Their Eminent Talents--Their Power during the Middle Ages--Their Universal Proscription--Their Condition under the Moors of Spain--Their Extraordinary Attainments--Their Devotion to Letters--Their Academies--Rabbis as Ambassadors of the Khalifs--Learned Men--Poets, Physicians, Statesmen, Philosophers--Maimonides: His Genius and His Works--His Character--Preponderating Influence of the Spanish Jews in Government and Society--Their Necessity to the Ruling Classes--They are driven to Usury--Their Prosperity--They are favored by Alfonso X. and Pedro el Cruel--Their Proficiency in Medicine--Obligations of Mediæval and Modern Science to the Jews--Their Wonderful Survival under Oppression--Their Exile from the Peninsula--Their Sufferings--The Taint of Hebrew Blood in the Aristocracy of Spain and Portugal 105