Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [76]
They were mistaken. Perversely but predictably, a new paroxysm of religious intolerance surged through Spain. In the 1590s, the dormant Inquisition came back to life, starting with a relentless campaign of persecution, torture, and execution directed at New Christians in La Mancha, who were denounced as secret Jews by their debtors. Limpieza de sangre—or “purity of blood”—once again became a battle cry, as old statutes were resurrected banning anyone with Jewish blood from holding positions in government, universities and colleges, and military and religious institutions. In 1600, the Inquisition of Lima attacked Portuguese New Christians in Peru. In 1609, Spain commenced another mass expulsion, this time directed not at Jews but at Muslims and “secret” Muslims. By 1614, Spain had driven out about a quarter million Moriscos, destroying its own agricultural base in the south.10
With ebbs and flows, Spain persisted in this fanatical, self-destructive intolerance throughout the seventeenth century. In 1625, thirty-nine New Christians were executed at an auto-da-fé in Cordoba. In 1632, the Inquisition celebrated another act of faith in Madrid, burning seven “judaizers” to death before King Philip IV. At Granada in 1672, seventy-nine more were burned at the stake. And at Madrid again in 1680, twenty-one “perfidious Jews…God's worst enemies” were executed before Charles II and his court. All told, the Inquisition burned some 32,000 “heretics” at the stake. At the same time, the empire took on the mission of defender of the faith in Europe, spending fortunes on wars against Protestants in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. In 1767, King Charles III actually expelled Spain's Jesuits, supposedly because of “machinations” so “abominable” that the king had to keep “the most absolute silence on th[e] subject.”11
Why sixteenth-century Spain declined has been a favorite topic of historians. Technological backwardness, entrenched feudal traditions, crushing foreign debt, the lack of a significant industrial and entrepreneurial sector, demographic decline, a weak state apparatus, and chronic budgetary crises are some of the contributing factors most often cited.12 In fact, many of these factors can be traced, directly or indirectly, to the Spanish crown's official embrace of religious purging and burning beginning in the 1480s.
This is not to suggest that the Inquisition was the source of all of Spain's ills—a position mocked by one writer of the nineteenth century: “Why was there no industry in Spain? On account of the Inquisition…Why are Spaniards lazy? On account of the Inquisition. Why are there bull-fights in Spain? On account of the Inquisition. Why do Spaniards take a siesta? On account of the Inquisition.”13
Nevertheless, the fact remains that Spanish intolerance—the combination of the Inquisition, the expulsions, the limpieza de san-gre statutes, and so on—inflicted catastrophic costs on the empire. Even putting aside the horrendous killing and human suffering, Spain's religious persecutions required a colossal waste of resources. For example, to expel its quarter-million-strong Morisco community, Spain had to put into service its entire navy and militia. The trials and torture chambers of the Inquisition were deadweight losses, generating no knowledge or wealth, only hatred and paranoia. Moreover, with each new round of violent fanaticism, Spain either destroyed or drove out its most valuable sources of human, financial,