The Jewish Quarter of Segovia

On May 4th, our afternoon tour began at la Plaza de Merced to explore the Jewish Quarter, or La Judería, of Segovia and to imagine what it was like when the Jews lived in this section of the city. The Jews first entered into Segovia in 1215, which is documented by letters that were exchanged between the Pope and the bishops concerning the relationship between the Jews and Christians. There were suspicions of the Jews gathering to gamble, an activity that was frowned upon in the Christian religion. However, there were only around 100 Jewish families in Segovia at the time, so there was not a huge scare. Additionally, up until 1391 there was relative harmony between the different religions, except when the black plague hit Europe in 1348. Many Christians used the Jews as a scapegoat for the pandemic, which led to an uprising against the Jews.

Also in 1391 the pograms attacked the biggest Jewish communities all over Spain including Sevilla, Madrid, and Toledo. From then on, there were continuous anti-Jewish teachings, such as the preaching from Friar Vincent Ferrer, and in 1412 there were a set of anti-Jewish laws passed. The first law consisted of ways to restrict the practice of their religion and the law that followed was to annul the status of the aljama (self governing Jewish communities that lived in different parts of the city). Important properties, such as the Sinogoga Mayor began to be confiscated from the Jews.

Between 1412-1419, the legend of the Corpus Christi evolved as a way to justify the expropriation of Jewish property. Supposedly a group of Jews took a host from the priest at the Christian church in Segovia and went into their synagogue with it. They desecrated the host by putting it into a burning cauldron, but the host flew out of a crack in the ceiling of the synagogue. Then, the Jews went to the authorities about the host, but some ended up executed as a result of the incident.

From 1419-1474, there was a resurgence of Jewish people in Segovia because of the religious tolerance of Enrique IV. This is when Jews took complete control of the Jewish quarter as well. Abraham Seneor lived during this time in Segovia and was the most influential Jew of Spain.

When Isabel became queen of Castile and Leon in 1474, she was concerned with societal unity and in 1478 the Inquisition was implemented to establish Catholic orthodoxy (i.e. to determine if jews who converted to Christianity were conversos falsos or not. The Inquisition arrived in Segovia in 1485 and all Jews were required to convert in four months or leave Spain. As a result of this, 50%-60% left Spain and in today's world, there are communities of Sephardic Jews in the U.S., Argentina, and France, among other countries.

After we explored the quarter, we crossed the Clamores River to venture over to the Jewish cemetery on what's called the Cuesta de los Hoyos, or the Hillside of Holes. Each depression in the ground represents a grave, varying in size based upon the age of the person buried. It was easy to distinguish  between an adult or child's grave. From this hillside, which used to be referred to as the Prado Santo (Holy Field), there is great view of the Alcázar in Segovia as well.