The Jews of the Canary Islands
Calendar of calumny
By Benny Landau
BEVERLY HILLS - Lucien Wolf was depicted
in the history pages of the Zionist movement as one of those stumbling blocks
that Chaim Weizmann had to bypass on his way to reaching the Balfour Declaration.
During the early years of the 20th century, Wolf was a leading member of the Conjoint
Foreign Committee of British Jews, an organization that served as the main mouthpiece
of the Jewish establishment in Britain, and the one that formulated its policies.
Wolf insisted that only his committee be allowed to negotiate with the British
government on Jewish matters. He was famous for being wary of the establishment
of a Jewish state in Palestine, and predicted that such an act would confront
the Jewish community in Britain with an embarrassing predicament of double loyalty.
In addition to his political and journalistic activity, Wolf was known as an expert
on Jewish history. In 1925, he edited and published an intriguing book called
"Jews of the Canary Islands," which was recently reprinted and published
again by the University of Toronto Press. In his lengthy introduction to the book,
Wolf described how, some 35 years earlier, he had started investigating the circumstances
of the re-settlement of the Jews in England under the protectorate. He was struck
then by the curious fact that the chief figure in that movement, Antonio Fernandez
Carvajal, and several of his fellow adventurers hailed from a little archipelago
in the East Atlantic that had never before figured in Jewish history and was not
even mentioned in its records.
Wolf sought to throw further light on the Jews of the Canary Islands, and
in the autumn of 1894, planned a visit to Las Palmas, its main port city. Fortuitously,
he confided his intentions to a friend, the Marquess of Bute, and was spared a
fruitless and tiring journey. Lord Bute, as it turned out, had some years earlier
acquired a large part of the original records of the Canariote Inquisition and
brought them to England. He placed the documents at Wolf's disposal and the historian,
after examining them carefully, proceeded to translate, explain, edit and publish
them.
Quite naturally, Wolf focused his attention on those records that related to
the Crypto-Jews [Jews who secretly practiced their religion after being forced
to convert to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition]. The information
he uncovered proved to him that a small Jewish community had established itself
in the Canary Islands even before 1492, when it absorbed victims of the Jewish
expulsion from the Iberian peninsula. A few years after new edicts were handed
down by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, the entire Jewish population
on the islands was forced to go underground. Its members concealed their true
religion, pretending to be "New Christians," and for a while, managed to conduct
an almost normal life despite the Inquisition's intelligence activities on the
mainland.
Some of them even prospered. They found themselves at the hub of the most lucrative
marine routes to the New World, and cooperated with the local pirates who turned
the archipelago into their main base. Sailing from the islands' ports, the pirates
would attack the Portuguese ships on their way back home, loaded with merchandise
from India and China. Most of the local economy relied on these piracy activities
and the residents, Jews and non-Jews, had a mutual interest in resisting the policies
of the king and queen, and the persecution of the Inquisition.
Excellent intelligence
However, the forces of terror could not be stopped. The Inquisition, a very
determined and organized entity, operating through a network of spies and informants,
opened an office in Las Palmas in 1504 and manned it with clerks who diligently
documented their activities. They aimed to expose Crypto-Jews and other heretics,
encouraged friends and neighbors to inform on each other, and recorded testimonies
and depositions. They also filed everything with a bizarre meticulousness that
was probably their best secret weapon: For hundreds of years, the Inquisitors
seem to have had the best intelligence in the world.
The leaders of the Inquisition operated under the assumption that the New Christians,
also known as "Conversos" and "Marranos," were secretly keeping their Jewish customs.
Many historians maintain that this suspicion was nurtured and exaggerated as part
of the Inquisition's effort to suppress this population, to perpetuate its low
status and to block its social advancement. The entire purpose of the persecution
of the Jews during this era, according to these theorists, was social and economic
suppression masquerading as religious dogma.
The daily activity of informing appears to be almost a farce, as seen in Lucien
Wolf's now-reissued book. For example, he presents the case of Diego de Mendragon,
who appears on May 17, 1499 at the Canary Islands office of the Inquisition and,
after taking the usual oaths, gives his deposition:
De Mendragon had heard that Goncalo de Burgos is a heretic, and that a Hebrew
book was found in his house. Also, when the deponent and his wife were visiting
at the house of the said Burgos, the latter told them he was to have six wives.
Upon the deponent inquiring how he knew that, [Burgos] replied that when he had
been in Spain, a soothsayer had told him he should live till the age of 80 and
have six wives, all honorable women, that he was to suffer great persecution -
which he supposed was when he was imprisoned by the Inquisition - and that afterward,
he should have much happiness, but that at 80, he would die a terrible death.
Whereupon the deponent's wife replied that she would rather live a short time
and die a good death, than live long and come to a bad end. Upon which Burgos
replied that after living 80 years, what did good death or bad matter, as power
was the only thing worth possessing.
Wolf presents numerous other intriguing testimonies as well, which he translated
from the original records as in the following excerpts:
May 18, 1499: Pedro de Bibliosa deposes that Juan Bernal said to Juan Marquez:
"Welcome, Jew." The latter replied, "You honor me by calling me a Jew," to which
the said Bernal exclaimed: "Son of a harlot, you are then a Jew!"
June 14, 1499: Maria de Alcazar appears before the Inquisitors and testifies that
a slave of Juan Crespo has told her that his mistress was in the habit of cooking
two dishes of stew for herself and her husband. In her husband's she put pork,
but not in her own.
November 5, 1505: Alonso de Vargas deposes that certain Moors and, above all,
a certain Jew, have sworn that Goncalo de Burgos said that his father was a Jew,
and that he also wished to die as one of the same creed. For this reason, he had
made arrangements with the above-mentioned to establish himself in Barbary, and
information of this was sent to the Inquisitors at Seville, who summoned the said
Burgos to appear before them. But in traveling to Seville in answer to the summons,
Burgos was drowned off the coast of Cadiz.
November 7, 1505: Blanca Fernandes, among other things, denounces the wives of
Goncalo de Cordova and Diego Marroquy for speaking a language she did not understand,
and supposes to have been Hebrew.
November 10, 1505: Goncalo de Segura testifies that it is commonly reported that
Luis Alvares, resident of this island [Teneriffe], a convert, is the rabbi of
the converts, and that his house is a synagogue. That one Friday, he saw the wife
of Juan de Crespo entering the said house, and because of his suspicions, he stopped
and watched to see her come out again, which she did in an hour's time. And on
the following Friday, he met her going in the direction of this house, but had
no time to see whether she entered.
Also, Goncalo de Burgos had told a Jew that he intended to establish himself in
Barbary to live as he wished. Upon the Jew asking if he were not a Christian,
he replied: "In name yes, but at heart, a Jew."
November 15, 1505: Hernandes Martinez, a Portuguese, denounces in his testimony
the wife of Juan Fernandes, a dyer, for saying "that by good works, a Jew would
save his soul in his religion as well as a Christian in his."
November 22, 1505: Juan Fernandes appears before the Inquisitors and confesses
that about 18 months previously, when in La Palma and wishing to write to Gramel
Ferran, but not knowing how, he begged a certain Ximenez to write for him, that
he signed the letter in Hebrew characters, as he used to do before his conversion
to Christianity, not having learned any other kind, but that he had no wish to
offend against the Catholic faith or to observe any Jewish custom, but merely
because he knows no other writing.
On the same day, Isabel Mendez, wife of Juan Fernandes, appears before the Inquisitors
and testifies to having said: "A man will be saved by his works whatever his creed,"
that on being reproved, she held her tongue and that she had been a Christian
only two or three years.
November 26, 1505: Juan Alonso de Anaya deposes among other things that many persons
have told him and, in particular, Gutierres de Ocana, notary public, that in the
island of Gomera, or that of Hierro, the said Ocana kept and compelled all to
keep, the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday." As Ocana is a convert, the deponent
supposed that this was a way of observing a Jewish custom. Furthermore, this deponent
had heard from many persons that it is commonly believed that Luis Alvares, who
is a convert, calls meetings of converts by day and night, and exhorts them with
respect to the Jewish creed. Also, it is well-known that all the converts who
have lived, or are living, on this island obey him and are under his authority.
And that they meet secretly at his house, no "old" Christian being allowed to
take part in these meetings.
November 27, 1505: Diego de San Martines deposes among other things that the wife
of Pedro de Balvas bakes her bread in the house of another woman, who says that
it appears to be unleavened bread. That Gutierres de Ocana is alleged to have
said: "Those who are burned are martyrs." Deponent gives further evidence as to
the numbers of converts seen entering the house of Luis Alvares, where it is commonly
supposed Jewish ceremonies are held, that deponent's house overlooks the said
house, and he has seen many converts entering there at night, among others Martin
Aliman and his brother, Francisco and Diego de Carmona, Alonso Gutierres, Fernando
Desoria, etc. The house of Luis de Niebla is called "The little synagogue."
October 8, 1505: Antonio de Valladolid gives evidence against Juan de Herrera.
The deponent saw a lamp burning on a Saturday in a house belonging to the said
Herrera, though it was apparently unoccupied. The lamp stood in a corner and was
not burning before any statue. Questioned as to the character of the said Herrera,
whether any of his relatives have been condemned by the Inquisition, the deponent
replies that Herrera, whom he suspects of being a Jew, fled from Toledo for fear
of the Inquisition.
December 5, 1505: Anton Garcia, son of the late Diego Diaz, a relaxado [a heretic
given over to the civil authorities to be burned at the stake], confesses to having
said, when some men were discussing the Jewish faith, that he believed in it,
but that it must have been the Devil speaking in him as he has always believed
firmly in the faith of Jesus Christ.
Too much to bear
The tragedy of the Inquisition and its intelligence operations did not always
play out as a farce of ignorance and superstition. Lucien Wolf tells about "a
marked man in the archipelago" named Alvaro Goncales who was born at Castil Blanco,
in Portugal, and who was arrested at the age of 70. As a Jew, he had acted as
a rabbi and cantor. In 1496, when the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal was
decreed, Goncales joined the Roman Catholic Church together with all his family.
The deception of Crypto-Judaism was, however, difficult for him to bear and he
soon found himself compelled to flee the country.
For three years, he lived in Gibraltar and then emigrated to Miguel in the
Azores, where he was arrested. Together with other New Christians, he managed
to break out of prison and to escape. In 1504, he arrived in the Canary Islands.
He settled in La Palma, where he worked as a cobbler and acquired some vineyard
property.
According to the evidence gathered by Inquisition intelligence, he and his family
lived as Orthodox Jews. He prepared his meat in the Jewish fashion, observed the
fasts and festivals, and opened his house to other New Christians in La Palma
on Friday evenings, when he welcomed the Jewish Sabbath in Orthodox fashion. He
refused to allow his slaves to be baptized and he did not hesitate to speak his
mind on the subject of Christianity. When one of his "old Christian" neighbors
taunted him for being a Jew, he replied that it was "better to be a good Jew than
a bad Christian."
After a trial that lasted from October, 1524 until January, 1526, Goncales
was convicted of heresy and perjury. He was handed over to the civil powers and
all his property was confiscated. Although he had denied the charges alleged against
him, he made no secret of his devotion to Judaism when he was led to the stake,
on February 24, 1526.
(Taken from Haaretz )
E-mail: Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum
Copyright © 1997-2003
Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum