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Following centuries of unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity and Jewish integration into Spanish society,
periodic persecutions of the Jews began at the end of the Middle Ages,
including forced conversions. The more the reconquest of Spain by the Christians (the Reconquista) progressed,
the more severe the persecutions and anti-Jewish edicts became.
That process reached a climax in the 1391 riots. According to estimates,
one-third of all Jews were murdered in those riots, one-third converted to Christianity,
and the remaining one-third continued to cling to their faith.
