to make Crescas a moneylender, and the details of his life are my invention. In 1391, seven years after the official inauguration of Santa Maria (and more than a century before the Catholic monarchs ordered the expulsion of the Jews from their kingdoms), the Barcelona Jewry was burned down by the people. Its inhabitants were put to death, while those who managed to avoid death, by, for example, seeking refuge in a convent, were forced to convert to Christianity. The Barcelona Jewry was totally destroyed, and churches were built inside it, until King Juan, worried at the economic consequences for the royal coffers upon the disappearance of the Jews, attempted to coax them back to the city. He promised them tax exemptions until their community reached two hundred members, and annulled specific impositions such as having to give up their beds and other furniture whenever the royal court was visiting the city, or having to feed the lions and other wild animals kept by the sovereign. The Jews did not return, however, so that in 1397 the king conceded to Barcelona the right not to have a Jewry.
The grand inquisitor general Nicolau Eimerich took refuge with the pope in Avignon, but on the death of King Pedro returned to Catalonia and continued his attacks on the works of Ramon Llull. In 1393, King Juan banished him from Catalonia, and the inquisitor again sought refuge with the pope. However, that same year Eimerich returned to Seu d’Urgell, so that King Juan had to urge the bishop to expel him at once. Nicolau fled to Avignon a second time, but on the death of King Juan was granted permission by King Martin the Humane to spend the last years of his life in his native Girona, where he died at the age of eighty. The references to Eimerich’s assertions that torturing several times was merely a continuation of the first torture, and on the conditions in which prisoners should be held, are true.
Unlike Castille, where the Inquisition was created only in 1487, Catalan Inquisition tribunals had existed since 1249. These were completely separate from and independent of the traditional ecclesiastical jurisdiction as exercised by the Episcopal tribunals. This early establishment of the Inquisition in Catalonia is explained by its original objectives: to fight against heresy, which at that time was identified with the Cathars in the south of France and the Waldensians who followed Pedro Valdes in Lyons. Both these doctrines, considered heretical by the Catholic Church, found supporters among the inhabitants of old Catalonia because of geographical proximity. Many Catalan nobles in the Pyrenees became part of these movements, including Viscount Arnau and his wife, Ermessenda; Ramon, lord of Cadi; and Guillem de Niort, magistrate for Count Nuno Sane in the Cerdagne and Coflent.
This explains why the Inquisition began its sad journey through the Iberian Peninsula in Catalonia. In 1286, however, the Cathar movement was finally extinguished, and by the fourteenth century the Catalan Inquisition was being instructed by Pope Clement the Fifth to direct its efforts against the banned order of the Knights Templar, as was happening in the neighboring kingdom of France. In Catalonia, however, the Knights were not regarded with such antipathy as they were by the French king (although this was principally for economic reasons). At a provincial synod called by the archbishop of Tarragona, the bishops unanimously adopted a resolution declaring the Knights Templar free of all blame, and finding no reason to accuse them of heresy.
After the Templars, the Catalan Inquisition turned its attention to the Beghards, who had also won support in Catalonia. Several death sentences were passed, which, as was customary, were carried out by the secular authorities after the accused was handed over to them. By 1348, with the attacks on Jewries throughout Europe following the outbreak of the Black Death and widespread accusations against the Jews, the Catalan Inquisition began to persecute those whom it regarded as befriending or sympathizing with Jews.
My thanks go to my wife, Carmen, without whom this novel would not have been possible; to Pau Perez, who has lived it with as much passion as I have; to the Escola d’Escriptura of the Ateneo of Barcelona for their wonderful work in teaching and spreading Catalan literature; and also to my agent, Sandra Bruna, and my editor, Ana Liaras.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Nick Caistor is an award-winning translator of more than thirty books from Spain and Latin America. He has edited
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PART ONE - Chained to the Land
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
PART TWO - Chained to the Nobility
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
