MAJOR CALL. The first Jewish community that resided in must have settled mainly in the north-western quarter of the old grid of Barcino, where the Major Call was formed. In the mid 13th century, the increase in size of the Jewish population forced the creation of a second Jewish neighbourhood, the Minor Call, close to the first but outsi- de the old Roman city walls. The boundaries of the Major Call were not totally precise because, in fact, in some of its more peripheral areas Jewish houses alternated with Chris- CALL tian houses. In the south it was well delimited by Carrer del 10. HOUSE OF JOSEPH BONHIAC (BARCELONA MAYOR Call, to the west by the old Roman city wall and to the east, 9. CARRER DE SANT SEVER CITY HISTORY MUSEUM) it must have coincided approximately with the line of what 11. CARRER L’ARC DE AND BAIXADA DE SANTA today is Carrer del Bisbe. The northern border is the vaguest SANT RAMON DEL CALL At the base of the building EULÀLIA of all because Jewish houses already existed in the area In mediaeval times this the archaeological remains In mediaeval times, these delimited by what are today Carrer Sant Sever and Plaça de street was known as Carrer can be seen of the house two streets were a single Banys Freds. According to that belonged to Joseph street, Carrer de la Volta, Sant Felip Neri. 12. SAMUEL the written documentation, Bonhiac, a weaver of veils. which was cut off by the Ro- CALL HA-SARDI’S PIOUS 13. NEW BATHS the street housed some The construction underwent man city wall, at one end and MENOR In the mid 13th century, the number of FOUNDATION very important alterations MINOR CALL. The New Baths were con- baths that must have cor- by the properties of the can- 8. MAJOR SYNAGOGUE over the course of the cen- Jews in the city had increased notably due to migrants arri- structed outside the old Close to the crossroads responded with a mikveh ons, at the other. At number 7. CARRER DE SANT turies and today it houses It is known from docu- ving from Occitan lands, where they had been experiencing Roman walled enclosure between Carrers Marlet and or ritual bath house of the 3 Baixada de Santa Eulàlia it DOMÈNEC DEL CALL the Barcelona City History mentation that the syna- a difficult situation. For this reason, in the year 1257, James by virtue of an agreement Arc de Sant Ramon stood the Call. The baths were close has been possible to study a headquarters of a charitable Museum’s centre in the Call. mediaeval building attached gogue and its attached The gate on Carrer de Sant I of Aragon gave licence to create a new Jewish quarter in or contract between Count to the French Synagogue, rooms and offices were Domènec, known back Ramon Berenguer IV and a institution founded by Samuel to the west of the cross- to the wall. Reused material Barcelona, on the other side of the Castell Nou and outside in the form of a stone plaque on the street block today then as Carrer de la Sina- Jewish associate, Abraham ben Isaac ha-Sardi, rabbi roads with Carrer Marlet. the old Roman wall. This led to the birth of the Minor Call, and prohom of the aljama, with an inscription in Hebrew delimited by Carrers goga Major or Carrer de la Bonastruc, in 1160. They The lower end of Carrer also known as the Call d’en Sanahuja or Call de n’Àngela. The as indicated in the Hebrew appeared here. Sant Domènec, Mar- Carnisseria del Call, allowed were situated in the street of Arc de Sant Ramon was let, Arc de Sant Ramon access to this road, which boundaries of this new Jewish quarter coincided with what the same name, on the corner inscription found there and that in the year 1826 was opened to Carrer del Call and the modern Plaça was the nerve centre of the today are Carrers Boqueria, Rauric, Lleona and Avinyó. of Carrer Boqueria, and did after 1391. Manuel Ribé. Its central neighbourhood, home to not form part of the Call itself. incorporated into the façade of Carrer Marlet, 1 (the stone section and the main the Major Synagogue, the They were called the New entrance were where houses of the wealthiest Location of the Call in today’s Barcelona. ICGC. Baths to distinguish them plaque at the site is a copy of the original which is under number 9 of Carrer de Jews and, right at the en- from the Old Baths, in what Sant Domènec stands trance, the butcher’s shop. was then called the Vilanova the custody of the Barcelona - today. At the top end was what neighbourhood, close to Santa City History Museum). The in scription translates as: “Pious was known as the Massot MEDIAEVAL JEWISH TRACES Maria del Mar. The remains of charitable house / of Rabbi synagogue. Inside a house these baths were demolished Samuel / ha-Sardi / The there, a block of reused in 1834 and some prints are 9 IN TODAY’S CITY generous person will prosper” stone was found that had a conserved from the time they (Pr. 11, 25). Another inter- cavity for a mezuzah case. 14. URBAN STRUC- were demolished. TURE OF THE MINOR pretation of the last phrase is 6. MEDIAEVAL SILOS AT The material remnants of Barcelona’s mediaeval Call CALL the Hebrew expression “NBT: A ROMAN DOMUS ON are thin on the ground, in contrast with its rich docu- Neró boʿer tamid” (May his CARRER DE LA FRUITA The central axis of mentary legacy, conserved in the city’s archives. But light always shine). this Call was a narrow The large silos found still today, the names of places and streets evoke street following the when excavating the its presence in an urban setting that has undergone same layout as today’s 10 subsoil of a building significant changes over the course of the centuries. Carrer Ferran. It had reconstructed in the 19th perpendicular alleys century were located on 11 Archaeological digs have also contributed to better that still exist and top of an old Roman do- at the top end they mus and under the 14th- knowledge of the Call. Utensils, for example earth- now open onto Carrer 12 8 5 century houses that had enware plates and bowls, were the same as those Boqueria. King James been owned by Massot II of Aragon and the used by the rest of Barcelona’s residents, but to- 6 Avengenà, Jafudà Llobell bishop of Barcelona gether with these pieces ceramics have appeared 7 and Mahir Llobell. They granted a licence to 14 with inscriptions in Hebrew and ritual objects, par- build a synagogue, in 15 were designed to store ticularly lamps that are considered to have been re- 1292 and 1297, re- grain. They were built in the 12th century and lated with the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah. Other spectively. It was built 16 5. POCA OR XICA in a small square off SYNAGOGUE progressively taken out of pieces such as luxury oriental ceramics have ap- 13 2 the main road. After use between the late 13th peared that are related with Jewish participation in This synagogue was situ- the riots of 1391, the 15. CARRER and the 14th century. 17 ated in the area currently Mediterranean commerce, as well as utensils for dif- Minor Call was oc- RAURIC 4 occupied by the Palau ferent trades: medical instruments, pieces of coral, cupied by families of This was the west- 1 3 de la Generalitat, on the converts who settled dices and patterns for making them, etc. Also worthy ernmost boundary ground floor, right along there with their busi- of note, finally, are the large grain silos located in of the Minor Call. the vertical now occupied nesses which included Before the building by the chapel of Sant Carrer Fruita, and the remains of the house of Jo- gold and silversmiths, of this new Jewish 4. CARRER Jordi. An alleyway allowed seph Bonhiac, where the MUHBA’s El Call centre is weavers, tailors and neighbourhood, the 16. CARRER ARC DE DE SANT HONORAT access from Carrer de la situated today. Outside the physical environment of cobblers. road was a stream SANTA EULÀLIA Font, today Carrer de Sant the Call, the Jewish cemetery at Montjuïc has also gully that descend- 1. THE CASTELL NOU In mediaeval times, Car- Honorat. ed to another on This street is ac- 19 rer de Sant Honorat was been the subject of numerous research studies. The Castell Nou (New 2. CARRER DEL CALL known by the name of Vilanova dels Cò- cessed from Carrer Castle), of which Carrer de la Font. It was dols. Its course was Boqueria. Under the Known in mediae- 3. ENTRY INTO The epigraphic remains of the Call are found today no traces remain, home to a Gothic fountain diverted at Riera val times as Carrer THE CALL in different places around the city, as a result of the vault we can see the was one of the most built in times of King Peter del Pi, today Carrer face of a wall from Torners, Carrer del important buildings Access to the Major the Ceremonious (14th reuse of stone from houses in the Jewish quarter and Cardenal Casañas. Call was one of the the mediaeval tower located close to the Call was through two century) for use by the from headstones from the cemetery of Montjuïc in streets with the most of Santa Eulàlia, Call. During the riots gates opened, respec- Jews, in order to avoid later constructions. This reuse of materials was noth- dynamic commerce. tensions with the Chris- which was subse- of August 1391, the tively, on the streets ing new in the city; in fact it had been a habitual prac- quently incorporated Jews sought refuge Initially it followed the tians. The houses that are know today as Car- situated on the right bor- tice since Roman times. At Carrer Marlet, 1, is the into an 18th century there. The attackers straight line of the Ro- rers Sant Domènec house. Some alleys, besieged it and those man cardo maximus, dered those of Carrer del plaque commemorating Rabbi Samuel ha-Sardi. The and Sant Honorat. Bisbe and constituted the no longer in existen- 17. CARRER VOLTA sheltering inside but it took an oblique 20 The housing rental eastern boundary of the epigraphic remains that are embedded in the walls DE REMEI 18 were forced to leave direction once the ce, connected Carrers payment of the Call’s neighbourhood. The noble of the Lieutenant’s Palace are very visible in Plaça de and made to choose Volta de Remei and The street’s mediaeval Castell Nou gate was gateman or porterius house that juts out from between conversion Sant Iu, in the Plaça del Rei and along the Barcelona Arc de Santa Eulàlia. name was Carrer Arc closed. Subsequently was considered public the main line of the street or death. City History Museum’s archaeological route which On the Carrer Boque- d’en Sanahuja, due 19. MINOR CALL 20. CARRER a gap was made in the expenditure. – which is the oldest ele- passes underneath the square and the royal palace. ria side, today’s cons- to the arch or vault SYNAGOGUE DE LLEONA Roman wall and Carrer ment of the Palau de la that existed at the del Call was able to Generalitat ― stands part- tructions are arranged In 1395, King Joan I This was the threshold street’s intersection 18. CARRER ly on the site of what was Stone plaque with the inscription “House”, reused in Carrer Arc de over the mediaeval that, on the seaward connect with Carrer with Carrer Boqueria. TRES LLITS of Aragon approved once the house of Moshe Sant Ramon. Photo: Barcelona Archaeology Service. plots. On the Carrer side, separated the Mi- Banys Nous. Boundary areas with coexis- This vault forms part the demolition of this ben Nathaniel of Tàrrega, Ferran side, in con- This street, which nor Call from the rest of tence of Jewish and Christian of a casa of mediaeval synagogue, in line rabbi, poet and trader, and trast, the plots were the urban fabric, which properties origin. Under the vault today opens on to with the initiative of a which was later inhab- modified following its at that time was ex- there is a bricked up the Plaça Reial and group of converts who ited by the royal surgeon opening in the mid panding fast. Its name entranceway with a is the continua- wanted to construct Bonjuha Cabrit. Once the 19th century. refers, probably, to the semi-circular arch and, tion of the Carrer in its place a chapel Call had disappeared, the Original layout of the Roman fact that in the 14th if one advances along Lleona, perhaps dedicated to the Holy deputies of the General wall in the Call century, there was an the alley, the 13th owes its name to and establish purchased it to construct enclosure or yard here century mediaeval the tressalits (in their headquarters there. a Trinitarian order for the lions of the royal mediaeval Catalan The street was inhabited tower can be seen. of monks there. The zoo. The royal lionkeep- by renowned physicians tressalit or trans- church of the Trinitar- er was usually a Jew and surgeons. allit is a pejora- ian monastery was and the aljama had the tive term meaning rebuilt and extended obligation of paying for “turncoat”), in other from the 16th century the food of the animals words, the converts onwards. Since the in the king’s collection. who must have lived 19th century it is the there after 1391. base of the parish of Sant Jaume.

_AAFF_CALL_english.indd 1 27/06/2018 0:19:22 ENG 17 THE CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC LEGACY THE JEWISH PRESENCE IN BARCELONA THE ALJAMA, THE MONARCHY AND THE CITY THE ECONOMY AND THE SOCIETY OF THE CALL OF BARCELONA’S JEWISH COMMUNITY

It is not known, at present, when the first Jews reached The Jews had a different legal status to the Chris- The Jews played an important role in the city’s Jewish society then remained structured into three Over the centuries, ideas and people originat- the Iberian Peninsula. If we take into account that Bar- tians, with whom they lived and worked. They re- economy. In the 10th-12th centuries, many of levels: the main level, which included the wealth- ing from Al-Andalus, the Mediterranean and West- cino was a Roman colony founded some two thousand ceived protection from the monarch, but were con- them worked in agriculture, but in the 13th cen- iest traders, Jews close to the royal court, such as ern Europe flowed in to Barcelona’s Call. From the years ago along the route of the Via Augusta, we can sidered one of his possessions. The king referred tury, as the urban economy gained importance, physicians and astrologers, those in finance and late 11th to the mid 14th century it was a cultur- suppose that they were present from a very early stage, to them as his “coffer and his treasure” and stood they sold their fields and vineyards to special- the majority of intellectuals; the middle level, al hub of the highest order and some of its lead- as they were in other coastal urban centres of antiquity. as their protector and “shield”. The aljama of Bar- ise in mercantile activities – their role was highly which included traders, professionals and crafts- ers and intellectuals left a universal legacy. celona, the largest under the Catalan-Aragonese important in the start-up of Mediterranean trade men, and the lower level, the most numerous, The first documented reference of the Jewish presence In the final decades of the 11th and first decades of Crown, was a very important source of funds for the – in craftwork and, above all, in money-lending, which was made up of workers in the employ of oth- in Barcelona dates from the years 875-877, in times of the 12th century, three main figures were prominent: royal treasury. At the same time, the ruling elites which they practised on a generalised level. The ers and the more modest sector of the population. Frankish rule. It is a letter of donation from Charles the Talmudist and poet Isaac ben Reuben Al-Bargelonia, of the aljama maintained close ties with the mon- Jews intervened both in large loans, requested Bald to the Cathedral, which mentions a Hebrew man Talmudist and pre-Kabbalist Judah ben Barzillai and arch. Many Jews participated actively in royal en- by the monarchy, municipalities and long-dis- called Judah or Judacot, who acted as messenger be- scientist and philosopher Abraham bar Hiyya, who terprises and affairs, holding important positions in Ring bearing the name Astruga which means “luck”. It was a common tance traders, and small loans, fundamental for tween the king and Bishop Frodoí. But references con- produced a highly original treatise on the Algebraic administrative, diplomatic and scientific activity - ar name among women living in the Call, 13th-14th centuries. MUHBA. the growth of the urban economy and agriculture. tinue to be very scarce until the 11th century, with the thinking that arrived via Al-Andalus. Later, medicine eas. However, this relationship between the Jewish first mentions of the Call or neighbourhood where the also occupied a pre-eminent position thanks to Shesh- community and the monarch was increasingly af- Jews lived. From that point on, the archives of Barce- A succession of poor harvests, repeated outbreaks et Nasi (who died circa 1209) and Zerahaia fected by the intolerance incited by the Church in lona conserve documents in Hebrew and in Latin which of the plague and increased tax pressures due to Ben Saltell Gracià, who in the 13th century translated its zeal for controlling the urban groups that were indicate an active presence of Jews in the life of the city. wars generated profound and long-lasting econom- medical works by Galen, Avicenna and . in expansion at that time. The kings always acted ic, social and political unrest. The accumulated re- seeking a balance between their own interests, which sentment was easily directed against the Jews, who Educational literature also blossomed apace in Bar- led them to protect the aljamas, and the effects of were seen as part of the royal estate. This meant celona, written under the literary genre of maqama ecclesiastic pressure on the sentiment of the people. that, since Jews were the king’s property, attack- or rhyming prose. Exponents of this genre included ing Jews was a form of attacking the king. Jews Joseph ben Meïr ibn Zabara (born circa 1140), who James I of Aragon (1213-1276) was the monarch were creditors of many , and in attacks wrote the Sefer šaˁašuˁim [Book of Delight], and CALL/BCN that recognised a specific legal status for the Jewish on Jewish communities it was common for notari- in the first half of the 13th century, Abraham ben community of Barcelona. A royal privilege of 1241, al books and registers with records of the debts to Shmuel ibn Hasday, author of Ben ha-mélekh we- URBAN HISTORY granted eight years before the privilege that insti- be burned. Meanwhile they were stigmatised by the ha-nazir [The Prince and the Nazarite], a Hebrew tuted the city’s government, granted Jews the right GUIDE Church, which accused them of deicide and sac- adaptation produced based on the Arabic version to choose law-worthy men (prohoms) to administer rilege. In Barcelona, conflict erupted in May 1348 of the well-known legend of Barlaam and Josaphat. justice within their own community. The legal rec- when an outbreak of bubonic plague was declared. ognition of the Jewish community and of the urban The Call of Barcelona was one of the main centres On 17 May, the Call was assaulted and around twen- community were based on different fundaments, but where intense controversy developed between those ty Jews were killed. Other Jewish neighbourhoods had a similar mechanism: the awarding of parcels of in favour of the rationalism of Maimonides and the Pottery found in the Call, 13th-14th century. MUHBA. Photo: Pep Parer. also suffered attacks, particularly that of Tàrrega. power in exchange for guaranteeing collection by the anti-rationalists opposing it, a controversy that from Notarial records in Barcelona contain a large quantity Crown of the taxes demanded by the king. In both the early 13th century was interlaced with the social of information on the economic activity of Jews in The rioters were punished, but the Jewish commu- cases, Jewish and Christian alike, the old oligarchy conflict facing the notable families of the nessiïm Barcelona in the 13th and 14th century, showing their nity had been traumatised. In 1354, three delega- was losing power against an emerging middle class. and the emerging middle class within the Jewish intervention in mercantile activities related with trade tions from the aljamas of and met community. While Abraham ben Shmuel ibn Hasday with the East and with the development of money- in Barcelona to agree and propose new protection figured among those favouring Maimonides, Samuel lending. The Crown of Aragon Archive also contains measures to the king and the pope, although few Washing tableware and skinning lamb in preparation for Passover. Golden Haggadah, 14th century. The British Library. ben Isaac ha-Sardi, author of the Sefer ha-terumot parchments relating to the royal estate and records of these ever came into force. During the second [Book of Offerings], was one of the leaders of the from the royal Chancery that offer clear evidence re- half of the 14th century, the situation of misery, Late into the 14th century, as Jewish participation in anti-rationalist or anti-philosophical movement. garding participation of the wealthiest Jews in the city epidemics and growing debt, both public and pri- commercial and financial affairs waned, in the Call in activities involving money-lending to members of vate, frequently generated tensions among Chris- there was a growth in the importance of craft work- In this culturally complex environment, the Talmu-

the Royal Family for financing the Crown’s enterprises. tians, among Jews and between the two sides. Anti- ers producing luxury products, such as weaving silk dic school of Barcelona thrived, with teachers of the Judaism increased considerably, and in 1391 there veils, the production of dice and the cutting of coral. category of Aaron ben Joseph ha-Levi (died in the Christians and Jews were neighbours and coincided was a wave of disturbances in the Jewish neigh- All kinds of trades also existed to provide supplies year 1300), Shlomo ben Aderet (1235-1310), his in numerous activities. Their coexistence experienced bourhoods of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. such as tailors, cobblers, butchers, mattress-mak- pupil Crescas Vidal and, in the 14th century, Nissim ups and downs at different times. Restrictions affect- ers, tavern-keepers, resellers of used clothing, etc. ben Reuben, Joseph ibn Habib and Isaac ben Sheshet ing Jews started to be intensified throughout Europe The trouble was sparked on 6 June in Seville, where (1326-1408). Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (Rashba), a Representation of the city of Barcelona in a letter by Gabriel de bcn.cat/ with the measures of the Third and Fourth Councils of for some time the preachings of the Archdeacon of capital figure of Catalan Judaism, was a Talmudist Vallseca, 1449, with the Farrell tower (signalling tower on Montjuïc) museuhistoria the Lateran (1179 and 1215) against doctrines con- Écija, Ferrand Martínez, had been fuelling the fire. of great prestige and an eminent authority on legal facebook.com/barcelonacultura sidered heresy, which established that Jews should The riots, which also affected Cordoba, Toledo and as a distinctive feature. Archivio di Stato di Firenze. matters, who wrote thousands of responsa or ver- twitter.com/bcncultura wear special dress to distinguish them and remain many other cities of Castile, did not take long to dicts for questions asked of him by Jews from all over Barcelona City History Museum confined to the Jewish neighbourhoods. However, en- Jews before authority. Sarajevo Haggadah, Barcelona, 14th century. cross borders and spread to Valencia, Jativa, Palma In the early Middle Ages, the Jewish commu- Europe. His responsa aspired to resolve doubts in (Museu d’Història de Barcelona) forcement of the Church’s dictates was variable: dur- Zemaljski Muzej Bosne i Hercegovine. de Mallorca, Barcelona, Lleida and Girona, among nity was dominated by the old pre-eminent the interpretation of the law and of Jewish traditions Plaza del Rei, s/n ing the long reign of James I of Aragon, these regula- other places. Each town presented a different set families, the nessiïm, until a period of strong and also tackled, with notable pragmatism, the inte- The privilege granted in 1241 was the first step to- 08002 Barcelona tions had little effect on the Jewish neighbourhoods of urban conflicts, but the common feature was internal opposition to this oligarchy of distin- gration of the Jewish community within the frame- wards conceding a form of own government in ex- Information and bookings: in his domains, which precisely at that point achieved that, sooner or later, society’s wrath was ultimate- guished people, led by traders and other busi- work of the society in which it lived and of its laws. Tel. 93 256 21 22 change for the obligation of sharing and collecting their formal recognition as aljamas (Jewish quarters). ly directed against the Jewish communities. John I ness men, resulted in the latter achieving royal [email protected] royal taxes among the members of the Jewish com- of Castile proclaimed that it was a crime to attack support. With the institutionalisation of the al- The last great Jewish thinker born in Barcelona was munity. With time, the aljama came to be governed Jews, because it was equal to attacking the law of jama, the old oligarchy gradually lost pow- (1340-1410), author of the work MUHBA URBAN HISTORY GUIDES by a council that elected its administrative officers, Or Adonai [The Light of the Lord], in which he en- God, and the law of the king, and he ordered his er, both within the community and before the direct executors of the king’s requests for tax col- tered into polemics with , Maimonides and 1. BARCINO/BCN 9. THE ORIENT/BCN officials to protect the Jewish neighbourhoods. But king, in favour of this new middle-class elite. lections. This system reinforced the links between Levi ben Gerson. Crescas, as an administrative of- 2. GAUDÍ/BCN 10. SEAT 1950-65/BCN this gesture was not sufficient to prevent the attacks. Fragments of coral found in the Call. MUHBA. Photo: Pep Parer. 3. DIAGONAL/BCN 11. POBLENOU/BCN the Jewish community of Barcelona and Jewish com- ficial of the aljama, had experienced first-hand the 4. PARKS/BCN 12. THEATRES/BCN munities elsewhere in Catalonia, because Barcelona In Barcelona, a crowd of seafarers – mercenaries internal tensions in Barcelona’s Jewish communi- 5. GOTHIC/BCN 13. COOPERATIVES 1842-1939/BCN was the capital of a fiscal district or collecta that in- who had arrived by boat to enrol on a military ex- Christians and Jews formed part of a single soci- ty during the long crisis of the second half of the 6. WATER/BCN 14. INDIANAS/BCN ety and shared many aspects of urban life, while 7. SHANTY TOWNS/BCN 15. REARGUARD cluded the aljamas of Tarragona, Manresa, Cervera, pedition to Sicily – and ordinary people assaulted 14th century. After the catastrophic assault on the 8. DEFENCE 1936-39/BCN 16. ROMANESQUE 11TH-12TH C./BCN Vilafranca del Penedès and Montblanc, upon which, and pillaged the Call on 5 August. Those Jews that maintaining typical traditions and rules, along with Call in 1391, he undertook intense activity with in turn, other smaller towns were fiscally dependent. were unable to flee found a first refuge at the Castell religious practice, was the main cohesive element the goal, ultimately unsuccessful, of re-establish- Nou, which on 7 August was besieged by an armed of the Jewish community. In addition to the syna- ing Barcelona’s aljama. In those difficult times he © of the MUHBA edition, 2015 1st edition: February 2015 mass. When, next day, the Jews were forced out, gogues, which were the centre of community life counted on the support of humanist Bernat Metge, their only alternatives were to convert or to lose as places for prayer, study and meetings, the Call a friend of his and right-hand man of King John I. AUTHORS: Eulàlia Vernet, Anna Rich and their lives. In those days of the summer of 1391, also had a Kosher butcher’s shop, a fishmonger’s, a Carles Puigferrat around three-hundred Jews died in the city and bakery, taverns, a charity institution (pia almoina) Passover Seder. Barcelona Haggadah, 14th century, The British Library. many more converted. Royal justice acted forcefully and a brothel. There were also ritual baths (mikveh), EDITORS: Núria Miró, Jaume Riera and Joan Roca Pressure mounted against the Jews, above all through against the rioters and the main aggressors were where, by rule, Jews had to purify themselves: men impetus from the Dominican monks, upon whose re- once a week and women following menstruation PHOTOGRAPHY: Archivio di Stato di Firenze, General condemned to hang. Hasdai Crescas, leader of the Archive of Diputació de Barcelona, quest, in 1263, the notorious Disputation of Barce- kingdom’s Jews, had the king’s support in his at- and giving birth. Kitchen utensils were also puri- Historical Archive of the City of lona was held between Friar Pablo Cristiani, a con- tempts to restore the aljama, but the Call and the fied there. Historical documents also talk about the Barcelona, The British Library, Car- ISSN: 2014-8879 vert, and Rabbi Mosche ben Nachman of Girona, also aljama of Barcelona were never to be re-established. consumption of Jewish or Kosher wine, and the pur- tographic and Geographic Institute known as Rabbi Nahmanides. The debate centred chase of palms for building booths for the Feast of of Catalonia, Barcelona City History on whether the Messiah, long-awaited by the Jews, During the years 1396-1397, the number of Jews in Tabernacles (Sukkot), in which Jews would spend a Museum (MUHBA), Barcelona Ar- had actually already appeared. However, despite this the city once more grew, above all due to the arrival week to commemorate the time that they were wan- chaeology Service, Zemaljski Muzej pressure, the institutional framework was quite solid of people expelled from in 1394. In the year dering the desert following the flight from Egypt. Bosne i Hercegovine, Pepe Herrero, and the Jews were recognised for their capital role in Chart showing the functioning of the Barcelona community (Manuel 1403, King Martin the Humane limited the stay in the Antonio Lajusticia, Núria Miró, Pep Forcano) the urban economy and in affairs of the monarchy. city of Jews who were passing through and, in 1423, The growth in population of the Call led to an in- Parer. Cover: Stone plaque com- B.24697-2011 DEPOSIT: LEGAL crease in the number of synagogues. By the late memorating the founding of the The situation was different from the second third of The 13th century and the first third of the 14th were, after the Consell de Cent (governmental body) insis- Pious Foundation of Rabbi Samuel the 14th century, in times of acute and prolonged so- overall, a period of splendour for Barcelona’s Call. tently requested it, King Alfonso IV granted Barcelo- 14th century there were five in the Major Call: the ha-Sardi. Photo: Pep Parer cial crisis, when anti-Judaism wreaked havoc, despite After that, the situation became more difficult. Al- na the perpetual privilege of not consenting the stay Major Synagogue, the Women’s synagogue (next to royal regulations aiming to curb it. The serious at- though Peter III the Ceremonious (1336-1387) re- of Jews for more than 15 days. These measures pre- the Major synagogue), the French Synagogue, built EDITORIAL COORDINATION: Ana Shelly tack on Barcelona’s Call in 1348 because of the black inforced protection of the Jews, putting an end to vented the reconstitution of the Jewish community in for the refugees expelled from France in 1306, the DESIGN AND TYPESETTING: Montserrat Cucurella-Jorba plague was a very severe blow and the aljama never a period marked by restrictions of their rights and the city. The history of Barcelona’s Jews was by then Massot synagogue and the Poca or Xica synagogue. recovered from the terrible riot of 1391. It marked of the professions they could hold in the royal ad- that of the converts, who had settled mainly in the old In the Minor or Sanahuja Call there was one situ- the end of the organised Jewish community and ministration, his measures turned out to be insuf- Minor Call. When the new Inquisition was implement- Construction of a city. Barcelona Haggadah, 14th century. The ated in the spot occupied today by the parish church of the Call as a neighbourhood inhabited by Jews. ficient to guarantee security at times of severe crisis. ed in the year 1487, many opted to leave the city. British Library. of Sant Jaume (former Trinitat church and convent). Rabbi with students. Barcelona Haggadah, 14th century, The British Library.

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