La derogación del edicto de expulsión de los judíos de 1492

Abstract

The celebration in Spain of the «Fifth Centennial» brought to light the widely spread wish among the Jewish Community, both in Spain and abroad, for the express although symbolic abrogation of the 1492 edict of banishment by the Spanish Government. It was far from being the first time that such an action was requested, as from the middle of the nineteenth century onward it was repeatedly put forward to the Goverments of Spain. This paper evokes these requests and shows how the edict of banishment was already abrogated last century. Not only because its repeal was implied in the 1869 Constitution and those which followed, but because the new Spanish Government that took power in 1868 expressly abrogated the edict in november of that very year, as it was disclosed in a significant political ceremony held in Madrid, of which the echoes were largely heard all around Spain. In other words, the express and symbolic repeal requested for 1992, had already been put into effect by the Spanish Government 124 years earlier.