Approximately 200 years of Spanish history (1300-1500) are the focus of this book. Paris sketches the medieval history of the Iberian peninsula, stressing the tolerance of most of the Islamic dynasties, the relative amity between the three major religions of the area, and the flourishing culture that this relatively peaceful era nourished. The 14th century brought division within the Catholic Church itself; a plague that killed 25-30% of the population of Europe; and, in Valencia in 1391, a pogrom that gave its Jewish residents the choice of conversion or death. The "end of days" refers to the second coming of Christ, which would happen only if all the Jews were converted. Over half of the Jewish residents of Spain converted in the 14th and 15th centuries. These "conversos" were the primary target of the early Inquisition. Paris describes the early period of the Inquisition, the motives and actions of the inquisitors, and the fate of those accused. The actual expulsion of the Jews (not the conversos) in 1492 and the Moors (who were also given the opportunity to convert) in 1502 mark the climax of the events of this book.

In 587 the Visigoth rulers decreed that only Christians may live in Spain, but later Spanish kingdoms, which emerged in the process of the Reconquest, were for centuries multicultural and the most tolerant in Europe. In the late 14th-15th centuries, however, Spain became increasingly intolerant toward its minorities, culminating in the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and the Moriscos in the 16th century. This change occurred because, in the course of the Reconquest, the Church and state power merged. The epitome of this merger was the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition in 1478, and the power held by Torquemada. The intolerance toward Jews developed racist traits, manifested in the introduction of "purity of blood" statutes and increasing persecution of Conversos by the Inquisition. Traces the stages of this process. Discusses the pogroms of 1391, the disputation of Tortosa (1415), the establishment of the Inquisition, the La Guardia blood libel case of 1491, and the expulsion of 1492. The epilogue (pp. 267-309) reflects on parallels between 15th-century Spain and 20th-century intolerant societies.