Confiscations in the Economy of the Spanish Inquisition

Numeracy of Religious Minorities in Spain and Portugal During the Inquisition Era

“…Rawlings 2006, p. 49). Moreover, although the occupational status of the Jews included in our sample is on average high, their occupational structure coincides with that ascribed in the literature to the Jewish population in Spain and Portugal at the time (Kamen 1965, Saraiva 2001). As in several other European countries, for example Prussia in 1849, the Jewish occupation structure was very much skewed towards commerce, professionals, and crafts (see Table 3) 23 .…”

“…A number of defendants were actually brought to trial for various «major heresies» at the same time. For example, Maria Cazalla was arrested and accused of Lutheranism, Illuminism, Erasmism and Molinism (a Catholic theological line named after the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina who claimed that divine grace and human free will are not mutually exclusive) in 1532 (see Kamen 1965, chapter 5). «Minor heresies» refers to unorthodox beliefs and behaviours of Old Christians, which the Inquisition began to be responsible for after the 1560s.…”

“…Money lending and other financial operations, stigmatised activities in medieval Europe, played a key role in Jewish economic life as well. Jews in Iberia also produced artisans; typically tailors, jewellers and blacksmiths (Kamen 1965, Roth 1995).…”

The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change and Economic Growth

“…Secure property rights in Britain encouraged commerce, industry and production for the market, while the Spanish economy crumbled under high taxes and insecure property rights. For example, the most common argument in the literature is that the Spanish decline resulted from a succession of kings bankrupting the country with high taxes and irresponsible fiscal policy (e.g., Kamen, 1965, andKennedy, 1987). The classic work of Earl Hamilton (1938, p. 175) As a result, Italian city-states failed to benefit both from the direct and indirect effects of Atlantic trade, and in fact, part of the growth of Atlantic trade was replacing Italian Mediterranean trade, creating a negative impact on Italy.…”

“…However, this did not last, in part because the monarch gained access to large cash revenues in the form of gold and silver from the New World. The Inquisition also played an important part in undermining property rights(Kamen, 1965). Catalonia had relatively good initial institutions but was undermined by the Castilian monarchy (and of course does not have direct access to the Atlantic).…”