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This split was the biggest coup in Jewish history, without removing England from the hold of Catholicism, the world would be a very different place today.

The influence of the Marranos in England began under Henry VIII (1509–1547). It initially coincided with that of the Venetians, who, in the 1530s, gained the upper hand over the king’s government by heavily indebting it. The moneylenders also played a crucial role in Henry’s matrimonial life, favoring his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The rupture of the king’s marriage foreshadowed that of the Spain-England alliance he had sealed, as well as his schism with the Catholic Church. Francesco Zorzi, a Franciscan monk from Venice, conversant in Hebrew and a collector of rabbinical and kabbalistic works, advised Henry VIII in his request for a divorce between 1527 and 1533. Another influential advisor was Thomas Cromwell, an obscure adventurer who, after serving rich merchants in Venice, returned to England, managed important affairs for the Church, and was elected to Parliament in 1523, becoming “chief minister” in 1532. Having gained the confidence of Henry VIII, he encouraged him to become the new Constantine by founding the Anglican Church, then became his business agent for the confiscation of church property, which he largely diverted for his own profit. Thomas Cromwell was surely a creature of the Venetian Marranos, if he was not a Marrano himself. Under Henry VIII, England became the stronghold of antipopeism, and its rivalry against powerful Catholic Spain was exacerbated.

Deeply involved in the development of printing in Antwerp and Amsterdam, the Calvinist Marranos actively contributed to the propaganda against Philip II, Spain, and Catholicism. In 1566 they triggered a revolt in Antwerp that spread to all the cities of Holland. In one year, 4,000 priests, monks, and nuns were killed, 12,000 nuns driven out of their convents, thousands of churches desecrated and ransacked, and countless monasteries destroyed with their libraries. Many Spanish contemporaries, like the poet Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645), discerned a Jewish conspiracy at the source of these revolts and the concurrent decline of Spain.209 The revolts led to the independence of the United Provinces in 1579 (which Spain did not recognize until 1648). When Philip II temporarily took over Antwerp in 1585, Jews, Marranos, and Calvinists transferred their economic activity to Amsterdam.

This split was the biggest coup in Jewish history, without removing England from the hold of Catholicism, the world would be a very different place today. The influence of the Marranos in England began under Henry VIII (1509–1547). It initially coincided with that of the Venetians, who, in the 1530s, gained the upper hand over the king’s government by heavily indebting it. The moneylenders also played a crucial role in Henry’s matrimonial life, favoring his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The rupture of the king’s marriage foreshadowed that of the Spain-England alliance he had sealed, as well as his schism with the Catholic Church. Francesco Zorzi, a Franciscan monk from Venice, conversant in Hebrew and a collector of rabbinical and kabbalistic works, advised Henry VIII in his request for a divorce between 1527 and 1533. Another influential advisor was Thomas Cromwell, an obscure adventurer who, after serving rich merchants in Venice, returned to England, managed important affairs for the Church, and was elected to Parliament in 1523, becoming “chief minister” in 1532. Having gained the confidence of Henry VIII, he encouraged him to become the new Constantine by founding the Anglican Church, then became his business agent for the confiscation of church property, which he largely diverted for his own profit. Thomas Cromwell was surely a creature of the Venetian Marranos, if he was not a Marrano himself. Under Henry VIII, England became the stronghold of antipopeism, and its rivalry against powerful Catholic Spain was exacerbated. Deeply involved in the development of printing in Antwerp and Amsterdam, the Calvinist Marranos actively contributed to the propaganda against Philip II, Spain, and Catholicism. In 1566 they triggered a revolt in Antwerp that spread to all the cities of Holland. In one year, 4,000 priests, monks, and nuns were killed, 12,000 nuns driven out of their convents, thousands of churches desecrated and ransacked, and countless monasteries destroyed with their libraries. Many Spanish contemporaries, like the poet Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645), discerned a Jewish conspiracy at the source of these revolts and the concurrent decline of Spain.209 The revolts led to the independence of the United Provinces in 1579 (which Spain did not recognize until 1648). When Philip II temporarily took over Antwerp in 1585, Jews, Marranos, and Calvinists transferred their economic activity to Amsterdam.

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[–] [deleted] • 6 pts (edited )

Henry got into debt because he was a psycho warmonger, but incompetent enough to fail at all his ambitious plans to conquer France. Probably some of the foreign moneylenders were kikes, but there were still no kikes allowed in England since the reign of Based Longshanks.

Protestant / Catholic was more of a German / Latin split. The Catholic Church had reverted to Mediterranean cultural domination in the preceding centuries, after having been strongly influenced by the newly-converted Germanic nations in the earlier Middle Ages.

Henry was the son of a usurper. He was also a paranoid tyrant. He slaughtered much of the royal family for fear of rival claimants. He destroyed much of the old English nobility and replaced them with his yes-men. He wanted a son, hence a divorce from his first wife, which the Pope (for political reasons of his own) wouldn't grant. Henry also coveted the wealth of the Church. Cromwell was a rotten grifter POS for sure. But there was also growing opposition to Rome within the English Church, backed by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.

Redistribution of Church wealth and closure of many monasteries was inevitable and necessary by that time. It's crazy how large a percentage of all real estate the Church had monopolized, and how many monasteries and friaries there were. But Henry was driven by the desire for plunder to horrendous crimes.

Henry's relations with Spain were harmed by the divorce (wife 1 was a Spanish princess) not the break with Rome. Henry was allied with Spain again after a few years.

The revolt of the Netherlands again is bound up with Germanic resentment at Spanish rule. Philip treated the country as a province of the Spanish Empire.

The absorption of Jews and Moors into the Spanish population (on condition that they converted to Christianity - irrelevant from the racial POV) probably had something to do with Spain's decline, sure.

[–] • 0 pt

Marranos were Jews that were forced to convert to Christianity but still practiced Judaism in private.

[–] [deleted] • 2 pts

If you're responding to this:-

The absorption of Jews and Moors into the Spanish population (on condition that they converted to Christianity - irrelevant from the racial POV) probably had something to do with Spain's decline, sure.

My point was that assimilating those non-European populations was a bad idea regardless of religion.

[–] • -1 pt

you need to read the book. it details very well and identifies the marranos who played pivotal roles in everything you said. it's always more complicated than the surface information you're presented with.

[–] [deleted] • 4 pts

The Jews have usually been the friends of tyrants, and tyrants have usually been the friends of the Jews. Both being parasites and fearing the wrath of the people, they find their interests aligned. But even if indeed, some Jews were peripheral participants, that doesn't mean that the Jews caused the whole course of events.

To portray the Jews as omnipotent, and the Gentiles as impotent, is false and defeatist.

[–] • -1 pt

yeah i never said that. but when u multiply their 'peripheral participance' in the cromwell affair and then the great revolution with william of orange taking over, yeah, they pretty much defeated catholicism in england, not 'protestants' who were just the working hands of their system.

[+] [deleted] • 1 pt