Spain and Portugal - The Blood Libel

Accusations in a Climate of Religious Tension

(This is a SUB‑ROOM of ROOM 6 — The Blood Libel — in The Museum of Fake News)

In the Iberian Peninsula, the Blood Libel myth intersected with rising religious and political tensions in the late Middle Ages. As pressure increased on Jewish communities and conversos, accusations helped fuel suspicion, hostility, and the growing machinery of religious control.

These stories circulated in a period when religious identity had become a tool of state power. Even when the allegations were clearly fabricated, they contributed to the justification of harsh measures — surveillance, discrimination, forced conversions, and ultimately the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497.

Below are the most significant Iberian Blood Libel cases, each illustrating how myths can be weaponized to reshape entire societies.

• La Guardia (Spain, 1491)

The most infamous Iberian Blood Libel case

The “Holy Child of La Guardia” is the most notorious Blood Libel in Spain.

No body was ever found. No victim was ever identified. Yet several Jews and conversos were accused of murdering a Christian child in a supposed ritual.

The trial was driven by the Inquisition, not by evidence. The accused were tortured, forced to confess, and executed.

This case became a powerful propaganda tool, used just one year later to justify the Alhambra Decree — the expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492.

La Guardia shows how a myth can be turned into state policy.

• Zamora (Spain, 1500s)

Accusations used to target conversos

In Zamora, Blood Libel accusations were used to reinforce suspicion against conversos — Jews who had converted to Christianity but were still distrusted. These accusations helped the Inquisition justify surveillance, interrogations, and social exclusion.

• Lisbon (Portugal, 1506)

A massacre fueled by apocalyptic fear and Blood Libel rhetoric

In 1506, Lisbon was struck by plague, famine, and social unrest.

A miracle claim in a church escalated into a riot, and preachers invoked Blood Libel‑style accusations to inflame the crowd.

The result: the Lisbon Massacre, in which 2,000 Jews and conversos were killed over three days.

Although not a classic Blood Libel case, the rhetoric was identical: “the others” were blamed for divine punishment, disaster, and social collapse.

• Why these cases matter

In Iberia, the Blood Libel was not just a rumor — it became part of a state‑driven campaign of religious uniformity.

It helped justify: forced conversions, surveillance by the Inquisition, discrimination against conversos, expulsions from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1497).

The Iberian cases show how a myth can be absorbed into political structures and used to transform an entire society.

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