Hervás

La calle del moral (Moral street)

In Hervás there is no historic record of any segregation of Jews into districts separate from the Christians. Neither have any references been made expressing neighbouring interreligious conflicts in Hervás prior to 1492. The documents never mention the Jewish quarter in Hervás, but rather they refer to «the Jews of Hervás» who lived together in a climate of relative tolerance without any conflicts to warrant segregation, in all likelihood around Corredera and Plaza streets where the converts resided in the 16th century. However, there was a Jewish street close to Rabilero street where the synagogue was traditionally located.

Although some sources date the arrival of the Jewish contingent to the town in the 13th century, the first official documentation dates from 1464, linking the Jews to the Zúñiga family, in other words, to the Duchy of Béjar to which Hervás belonged from 1369 until the granting of the privilege of township in 1816.

It should be borne in mind that in the 15th century Hervás has slightly more than two hundred residents, including forty five Jewish families who, with the aid of the Duke, had taken refuge here fleeing from persecutions of 1391. The documents mention families like the Cohen, the Çalama, the Haben Haxiz or the Molho and for many years their relevance in the community followed the saying:

After the edict of 1492, twenty five families left Hervás bound for Portugal and the rest were subjected to forced conversion to Christianity; some of them returned such as Rabbi Samuel two year later to join the brotherhood of St. Gervase which allowed the Jewish collective to stick together for some time. The cases of crypto Judaism detected in the years following the decree of expulsion and the incessant persecution of the Inquisition meant that the converts' phenomenon in Hervás bore a relevance which is still recalled today with the annual celebration of days dedicated to the Converts.

Location of the former synagogue

Tradition has it that the synagogue was located at number 19 Rabilero street. East facing, the synagogue was built with rural elements and in line with the popular construction standards using adobe and chestnut-wood.

On the first storey there was a spacious gallery which jutted out into the street. It was supported by four wooden shafts which rested on stone bases, forming a spacious colonnade at the building's entrance. This outbuilding was knocked down in 1949 owing to its poor state of repair.

The main door was situated in the place of the current barred windows with a second door which has not been conserved either. Behind the synagogue there was an extensive garden bordering the banks of the River Ambroz.

The Hervás Synagogue and its Talmudic School was an important educational and cultural centre in the district under the guidance of Rabbi Samuel. It was regarded as one of the most important in the province along with that of Cáceres or Plasencia.

Fuente Chiquita bridge with Hervás in the background

Abajo Street gives out onto the bridge which crosses the Ambroz. At the buttress of the Fuente Chiquita bridge, formed by a funeral headstone from 1395, passing your hand over the polished cut of the stone means taking part in the intra-history of thousands of market gardeners who sharpened their sickles or knives here over the centuries. It also provides an occasion to recall the verses of the poet and folklorist Emilio González de Hervás which goes:

Almost brushing the branches of the willow, which weeps over the river, perhaps recalling the legendary misfortune of the Maruxa, the wandering Jew, the route takes us to the other side of this body of water to arrive, on the right, at a space where there is a magnificent panoramic view of the Jewish quarter with its set of houses distributed along the bank. And watching it all from the heights, St. Mary's tower.

From this branch of the Ambroz it is easy to imagine the daily life of the Jews of Hervás near the river. Although some sources date the arrival of the Jewish contingent to the town in the 13th century, the first official documentation dates from 1464, linking the Jews to the Zúñiga family, in other words, to the Duchy of Béjar to which Hervás belonged from 1369 until the granting of the privilege of township in 1816.

It should be borne in mind that in the 15th century Hervás had slightly more than two hundred residents, including forty five Jewish families who, with the aid of the Duke, had taken refuge here fleeing the persecutions of 1391. The documents mention families like the Cohen, the Çalama, the Haben Haxiz and the Molho and their relevance in the community remained for many years following the saying en Hervás, In Hervás, Jews predominate.

After the edict of 1492, twenty five families left Hervás bound for Portugal and the rest were subjected to forced conversion to Christianity; some of them returned such as Rabbi Samuel two year later to join the brotherhood of St. Gervase which allowed the Jewish collective to stick together for some time. The cases of crypto Judaism detected in the years following the decree of expulsion and the incessant persecution of the Inquisition meant that the phenomenon of converts in Hervás bore a relevance which is still recalled today with the annual celebration of days dedicated to the Converts.

It should be borne in mind that in the 15th century Hervás has slightly more than two hundred residents, including forty five Jewish families who, with the aid of the Duke, had taken refuge here fleeing from persecutions of 1391. The documents mention families like the Cohen, the Çalama, the Haben Haxiz or the Molho and for many years their relevance in the community followed the saying:

After the edict of 1492, twenty five families left Hervás bound for Portugal and the rest were subjected to forced conversion to Christianity; some of them returned such as Rabbi Samuel two year later to join the brotherhood of St. Gervase which allowed the Jewish collective to stick together for some time.

The accusations of Eucharistic profanity imputed to the Spanish Jews never existed nor insult to the consecrated host by the converts of Hervás.

Thanks to a document kept at the General Archive of Simancas, we are informed that the old Christian Juan Sastre, a resident of Zarza de Granadilla, had stolen the holy host and pyx of the church of Aldeanueva del Camino in late April or early May 1506. On the occasion of the offence, the rumour spread amongst the population that New Christians from Aldeanueva del Camino and Hervás had been involved. The vicar-general of the diocese of Plasencia had decreed the imprisonment of the presumed guilty parties and the seizure of their assets.

People were also spreading the rumour that the converts had put the consecrated host into a cauldron of boiling water and, in the meantime, whilst they subject it to torment, a crucifix painted on the altar of the church of Hervás was miraculously sweating. The Inquisition Court de Extremadura intervened whose headquarters was provisionally in Plasencia. Juan Ruiz de Tripiana, the vicar-general of the diocese, was one of the inquisitors at the trial.

Finally, the court imputed the profanation of the Eucharist to Juan Sastre and the converts of Aldeanueva del Camino and Hervás who died at the stake.

The House of the Brotherhood today on Vado street

In the House of the Brotherhood commonly assemblies were held of the Hervás aljama. In 1522 the brotherhood of Our Lady of the Assumption was created which incorporate the majority of the collective of New Christians and the House of the Brotherhood became the domicile of the converted brotherhood. This is why it is known as the «house of the brotherhood» and the alley behind it as brotherhood alley. This street, alongside Judeo-Cristiana and Vado streets, went to make up the so-called Jewish farmyard, the heart of the aljama.

In the interior of the brotherhood there was a space set aside for making Kosherwine, wine which had been purified according to the rituals laid down by the Law. It had its winery, wooden press or «squeeze», pillars, vats, a winery and a loft to be used as a granary and drying place for agricultural products.

St. John the Baptist Convent

Leaving behind the Jewish quarter via Convento street, marking another of the limits of the Jewish quarter, you will soon find different contemporary testimonies of Jewish symbology as a homage of a people to a very special part of their past.

Convento square is a prime space endowed with imposing houses presided over by the convento de los Padres Trinitarios (Trinity Fathers Convent) founded in 1664 by María López Burgalés, a descendant of converts. The church façade is made of mortar, imitating red brick, and it is related with that of St. Nicholas of Valladolid: the convent, which has erved as a prison, town hall and school after the Disentailment, today houses a splendid Tourism Hostel after in-depth rehabilitation work which has allowed the best of its architecture to be recovered.