In March 31st 1492, the Spanish Kings decreed that all Jews who resided in their domains, and didn't want to convert to Christianity, should live the country by the 31st July 1492. According to some sources, many thought at the time that this was just an attempt from the Monarchs to get money in their archs. Acting accordingly to this presumption, some members of the Jewish community supposedly offered up to 600.000 ducats to the monarchs for the revocation of the edict. These same sources claimed that Ferdinad, Aragon's King, was inclined to accept (apparently he was more "pragmatic" than his wife; no wonder he was Maschiavello's hero). But his wife opinion's prevailed, and so the decreed wasn't revoqued (Isabel I was strongly influenced by the ideas of the inquisitor Torquemada).
So, what if the offer is accepterd, and the edict is revoqued? And, as a separete WI, what if after the conquest of Granada the Muslims are allowed to keep their religion?
What effects would these meassures have in the history of Spain and Europe?
Just an idea: one must bear in mind that the fact that there's no expulsion
doesn't mean things are going to be idilic for religious minorities in XVI century Spain. Both pressure for conversion, and pressure to converts to abandon their old-faith practices would probably continue, and maybe even increase. Spontaneus emigration might follow, and one cannot rule out the possibility of an expulsion at a later date. But, even with this in mind, I think that the effects of no expulsion in 1492 are worth analysing... Thoughts?
At the end of this article there's a translation of the decree:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_Decree (This is Wikipedia, so I don't ensure it's a reliable translation.)