Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/387

243 t THE INQUISITION. 2-1^ to wallow in the ancient mire of Judaism. The chapter VII. clergy, especially the Dominicans, who seem to have inherited the quick scent for heresy which distinguished their frantic founder, were not slow in sounding the alarm ; and the superstitious popu- lace, easily roused to acts of violence in the name of religion, began to exhibit the most tumultuous movements, and actually massacred the constable of Castile in an attempt to suppress them at Jaen, the year preceding the accession of Isabella. Af- ter this period, the complaints against the Jewish I478, heresy became still more clamorous, and the throne was repeatedly beset with petitions to devise some effectual means for its extirpation. ^° A chapter of the Chronicle of the Curate of Los charges a- i gainst them Palacios, who lived at this time in Andalusia, where the Jews seem to have most abounded, throws considerable light on the real, as well as pretended motives of the subsequent persecution. " This accursed race," he says, speaking of the Israelites, " were either unwilling to bring their children to be baptized, or, if they did, they washed away the stain on returning home. They dressed their stews and other dishes with oil, instead of lard ; abstained from pork ; kept the passover ; ate meat in lent ; and sent oil to replenish the lamps of their synagogues ; with many other abominable ceremonies of their religion. They entertained no respect for monastic life, and frequently profaned 30 Mariana, Hist, de Espana, torn. ii. p. 479. — Pulgar, Reyes Ca- t61icos, part. 2, cap. 77.