Segovia

Main Synagogue. Façade

The ancient Mainsynagoguewas the religious centre of the Jewish community of Segovia in medieval times. Located between Juderia Vieja street and the wall, it ran parallel to Puerta del Sol street. The current entrance was via Corpus Christi square, crossing a typical Segovian yard which forms part of the Convent of the Order of St. Clare, the owners of the temple.

Due to the absence of documents it is not possible to know the time and conditions in which the Jewish community built the Mayor Synagogue in Segovia. Researchers have analyzed this synagogue architectural and artistically agree in indicating their strong resemblance to the so-called Santa Maria la Blanca in Toledo.

The orientation of the Main synagogue in Segovia suggests, according to some authors, that it could have been erected on a previous mosque. With documentary evidence of its existence going back to 1373, it is known that it served as a Jewish temple until its confiscation en 1410 and that nine years later it had already been consecrated to Christian worship.

Alongside these large horseshoe arches, supported on octagonal pillars which culminate in beautiful chapters decorated by closed circles, the 40 smaller arches of the upper floor and the Mudejar decoration of the coffered ceiling of the current church afford an idea of the dimensions of the old Jewish temple, one of the five synagogues registered in the city, and there could even be anything up to seven.

After terrible fire of 1899 which reduced the building to its structural lines, at the start of the last decade Segovia city council carried out the restoration of all the plasterwork, stained glass and chapters forming the original ornamentation by means of the original photos of the day of the fire in 1889 which were available and the remains conserved of the plasterwork originals.The artists involved were José María García Moro (Sculptor), José Luis Silveira (Restorer), Carlos Muñoz de Pablos (Stained glass designer) and Valero Herrera Ontañón (Municipal Surveyor).

New Jewish Quarter Street and Almuzara Street, where the small Jewish yard is situated

Almuzara street goes right into the heart of the Jewish quarter of Segovia from Merced square. The small yard at number 3 of this street is one of the few testimonies to the architecture of the Jewish district located in an area which underwent major remodelling work over the centuries. Another Jewish butcher´s was situated on this street according to a document from 1287.

In 1287, in a book of notarial records of the catedral the carneçería de los judíos (Jewish butcher´s) is named for the first timesituated in the Almuzara. This document is also the first testimony in which it states that the Jews of Segovia were already totally settled and endowed with their own institutions.

Escuderos street at the place where the Burgos synagogue was located

Burgos synagogue was located in the parish of San Miguel alongside a fortified house as set out in a document from 1358. Its name appears in 1410 in another document, la sinoga que disen de Burgos. Its location has been given as number 17 Escuderos street.

There is a theory that this was the temple of a community of Jews from Burgos which set up in Segovia in view of the fact that no Segovian Jew seems to have borne the surname Burgos.

What does seem clear is that the Synagogue was expropriated in 1412 when the Jews were segregated to the Jewish quarter following the laws of Ayllón.

Main square, looking towards Infanta Isabel street where the Talmudic school was located

On the former Rehoyo street, now Infanta Isabel street, there was a Talmudic school midrash of which there are no further references than those appearing in two rental contracts from 1364 and 1366 in which it is referred to as a boundary with another property.

In 1410, whilst Juan II was still a minor (between 1406 and 1419), several Segovian Jews were accused of having profaned at their main synagogue a consecrated host. The only account of these events was found half a century after the even in the work written by the Franciscan Friar Alonso de Espina.

The narration, which must be considered with caution, in view of the ill will of the author to the Jewish collective, and included in his Fortalitium fidei contra iudeos, sarracenos aliosque christiane fidei inimicos, recounts that a group of Segovian Jews bought from a sacristan a consecrated host to profane it in the synagogue. After unsuccessfully trying to burn it and fearful of the consequences, these Jews decided to hand over the host to the prior of the Dominican monastery of Santa Cruz de Segovia. The latter then reported them to Bishop Juan Vázquez who, in turn, informed Queen Catherine of Lancaster, the mother and guardian of Juan II about what had happened as she was in the city at that time. The authorities arrested the accused and they were tortured.

Those held included Meir Alguadex, the doctor of the deceased Enrique III who in his testimony states that he killed the monarch too.

After being declared guilty, the defendants were dragged through the city and dismembered. As the Segovian bishop - so continues the narration of Alonso de Espina – wished to investigate the facts further, the Jews bribed their governor to poison him. Once the conspiracy had been uncovered, the governor and some Jews were executed too and some other parties involved fled the city.

Merced square where the former old synagogue was located

The Old Synagogue appears documented for the first time in 1412, a year in which it was granted by the guardians of King Juan II to the convent of St. Mary of Mercy to compensate for the plots which this community had handed over for the segregations of the Jews. The guardians of Juan II specified that the monks had to set up at the building of the old synagoguea hospital to shelter the poor but there is no record that they did so.

At present nothing remains of the Old Synagogue; the plot taken up by the convent of Mercy was used in the 19th century to open a square opposite St. Andrew´s Church.

Alongside the Old Synagogue at the current Merced (Mercy) Square there stood one of the two religious schools of Segovia. In 1412 it starts belonging to convent of St. Mary of Mercy, as well as the synagogue.

Abraham Seneor (circa 1412-1493) is one of the most influential characters of the final stage of the Segovian aljama thanks to his political talents and his great capacity for economic management.

In 1477 don Abraham was the peace officer of the aljama and he later took up the post of the chief justice of the Jewish aljamas of Castile. He stood out as a lessee and administrator of royal rents and as from 1488 he held the office of royal treasurer of the Brotherhood. After his conversion, he was appointed member of the royal council, accountant of the Prince of Asturias and councilor of the city of Segovia. Also he has obtained a chivalry execution, extended to his descendants.

Along with the figure of Abraham Seneor we also find that of his son-in-law Mayr Melamed, another of the leaders of the Castilian Jewish community. Both converted to Christianity after the edict of expulsion of 1492.

The building at the corner where Talmudic school was located

The second Talmudic school which is said to have been situated in the Almuzara, bordering the Old Synagogue. The community had erected this educational centre on a plot which belonged to Segovia cathedral and this institution was thus paid an annual amount of fifty silver reales.

In 1412 the Old Synagogue was expropriated from the Jews and given to the convent of St. Mary of Mercy so that the friars could set up a hospital there. The terms of the donation by the King included the fact that the Mercedarians must take on the responsibilities pertaining to the old synagogue.

Hence, in 1414 the convent renewed the lifelong rental of the old Talmudic school, undertaking to pay a censo every year of forty silver reales, the less than the Jewish community had paid.

In this contract the property is described as some houses and a yard with the whole building fecho e edeficado. The registration of the cathedralic stewardship of food for the years 1419-1420 has a book entry including the first conserved payment of those made by the convent:

The synagogue of the Ibáñez de Segovia

Almuzara street extends into Refitolería street where the old palace of Gensol is located and this in turn into San Geroteo street, again on the circuit of the former calle Mayor (main street). The college of the Jesuit Mothers occupies the space of the old synagogue of the Ibáñez of Segovia, also known as the New Main synagogue, which in 1419 replaced the one known by that name until then the church of Corpus Christi.

The documentation is confused as regards the fate of this synagogue at the time immediately subsequent to the expulsion of 1492, but we do know that in 1507 it became the property of Bartolomé Ibáñez with the family keeping it until the late 19th century when it came into the hands of the Daughters of Jesus.

It was a temple with just one nave of whose original decoration today only practically all of an oculus has been conserved as well as the coffered ceiling, the walls and the head. The Mikveh or ritual bath which was at this synagogue and disappeared in the 1980´s demonstrates the relevance as regards the Jewish community.

The bulk of the catedral between the Jewish quarter and the Main square was erected as from 1525 on part of the houses of the former Jewish quarter and St. Clare´s convent, with its large dimensions closing the space of a private district which still conserves the atmosphere and air of mystery of that old Jewish aljama.

During the time of Enrique IV, as is borne out by a document dated 1452, the houses of the Jewish quarter which had been set up here became an abattoir.

The start of the wall-walks at Martínez Campos street where the Campo synagogue was located

Campo synagogue was located very near the Main new synagogue at the start of Martínez Campos street. No remains of the building have been kept, but in all likelihood its entrance was via the courtyard called corralillo de los huesos (boneyard) alongside which was the butcher´s. It was built in around 1456 in the first few years of the reign of Enrique IV and paid for by Elvira, the wife of the convert Diego Arias. After the expulsion, it came into the possession of the major of the citadel Diego del Castillo because in 1506 it was owned by his heirs.

The Jewish Quarter

The Jewish quarter of Segovia extends via the south side of the city between the old Main synagogue, now the church of Corpus Christi, and the streets of Juderia Vieja, Santa Ana, Rastrillo, the square and streets of Socorro, Nueva Juderia and Almuzara. There were also Jewish houses in the blocks outside St. Andrew´s gate and immediately adjoining it. Opposite the gate on the other side of the Clamores stream there stood the cemetery.

The Jewish quarter was closed in 1481 by decree of the Catholic Monarchs, putting up seven gates with brick arches.

The Jews were forced to reside and locate all the buildings and outbuildings specific to the aljama within the delimited space, but they were not forbidden to move around the rest of the city nor to continue to exercise their professional activities as they had done up to that juncture: Juçef Biton, a Jewish blacksmith who had spent many years working for the canons of the cathedral of Segovia, continued, after 1481, to practice his profession in total normality.

The houses of the Jewish quarter were made of stone, brick and wood. They were small houses with two or three floors which took up a plot of around thirty or forty square metres and had courtyards and yards. Currently the façades can perfectly be seen with wood framing and brick courses and verdugadas. As seen in many small windows which correspond with the stairs.

In the 13th century, Jews, Christians and Moslems too part together in community tasks like the sale of land or trials. Neither do we have any testimony to the effect that the Jews of Segovia suffered any attacks or persecutions as occurred in other Spanish Jewish quarters. However, access to the kingdom by John II, the grandson of Henry III, marked for the Castilian Jewish community the start of a time of growing tension which culminated a century later in the expulsion decreed by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.

Juan Bravo street. At the bottom was the site of the Juderia Gate

At the confluence of the square with Juderia Vieja street, coinciding with the eastern limit of the district, was the first of the seven gates enclosed the Jewish quarter after the decree of 1480, applied in the following year. The order by the Catholic Monarchs was certainly more successful than the previous Pragmatic by Catherine of Lancaster in 1412 whereunder Jews and Moslems were obliged to be concentrated in closed districts: between 1481 and 1492 when the expulsion of the former was decreed, the population of the district quadrupled, illustrating how dispersed they were throughout the city up to that date.

The wall-walks of Martínez Campos street where the 'Corralillo de los huesos' (graveyard) was located

We know that the Segovian Jewish quarter had a hospital annexed to the Campo synagogue, but unfortunately we are unaware of its regulations nor do we have any references to the tasks developed on a daily basis thereat.

We are unaware of the existence of this institution and of the building it occupied owing to the donation that the Catholic Monarchs made thereof to the council of Segovia in September 1492 a few months after the Jewish community had abandoned the city.

After the expulsion, it came into the possession of the major of the citadel Diego del Castillo because in 1506 it was owned by his heirs.

The documentation is confused as regards the fate of this synagogue at the time immediately subsequent to the expulsion of 1492, but we do know that in 1507 it became the property of Bartolomé Ibáñez with the family keeping it until the late 19th century when it came into the hands of the Daughters of Jesus.

After terrible fire of 1899 which reduced the building to its structural lines, at the start of the last decade Segovia city council carried out the restoration of all the plasterwork, stained glass and chapters forming the original ornamentation by means of the original photos of the day of the fire in 1889 which were available and the remains conserved of the plasterwork originals.

Segovia Museum

Socorro street stretches from the square of the same name to Casa del Sol, the former bulwark of the wall over the Clamores stream. During the time of Enrique IV, as is borne out by a document dated 1452, the houses of the Jewish quarter which had been set up here became an abattoir.

This is how it was remembered too by Francisco de Quevedo in El Buscón. The Works carried out between 1986 and 1990 by the architect Manuel Manzano-Monís allowed the transformation of the former abattoir into Segovia Museum after the building was granted to the State by the City Council in 1980.

The visit to the museum is organised in six rooms distributed around the central courtyard where archaeological, ethnological and artistic pieces are gathered which reconstruct the historic trajectory of the Segovian province.

The artists involved were José María García Moro (Sculptor), José Luis Silveira (Restorer), Carlos Muñoz de Pablos (Stained glass designer) and Valero Herrera Ontañón (Municipal Surveyor).

Main entrance to the Jewish Quarter Educational Centre

At number 12 of Juderia Vieja street there stands the Jewish quarter Educational Centre, also known as the house of Andrés Laguna in memory of one of its most illustrious residents, an eminent doctor and humanist from the 16th century, the descendant of converted Jews, who travelled throughout Europe and translated Aristotle, Dioscorides and Galeno, being regarded as one of the most cultured men of his time.

This large house, a symbol of the power of the New Christians in Segovia, accommodates a Jewish quarterEducational Centre which is accessed via the courtyard, organized by means of panels, touchscreens and interesting holographic projection which reproduces in full detail the celebration of the Jewish Shabbat in a virtual synagogue.

All kinds of products related with the Jews and the Segovian Jewish quarter can be bought at the shop.

Rabbi Mayr Melamed's House

Rabbi Mayr Melamed, Abraham Seneor’s son-in-law, was converted taking the christian name of Fernán Núñez Coronel.

Professing even his old religion, and due to the important social status of this character, he was allowed to have access to his house both the Jewish and the Christian area.

Preserved rafters are very important. Currently is a hotel-restaurant.

The Jewish cemetery

The Jewish cemetery is situated outside the walls on the southern slope of the alley of the River Clamores, opposite the stretch of the wall, which runs from the former Jewish abattoir to the Main Synagogue (current Church of Corpus Christi) and where the Jewish district was said to have been rooted since 1481.

The exit from the walled site from any of the synagogues existing at that time was via the San Andrés Gate and from there, going down the Hontanilla to the Puente de la Estrella (Star Bridge) – now rebuilt – which crosses the River Clamores and leads us to the actual Cemetery at spot commonly known as El Pinarillo.

It is not possible to establish chronological dating with a minimum degree of precision in view of the absence of gravestones which could provide us with information.

When carrying out burials, the Jewish community took advantage of the limestone nature of the rock of this part of Clamores to carry out two types: the first consists of using caves formed by nature, once enlarged and conditioned; the second model corresponds to those of the anthropomorphic type.

The tombs are oriented from east to west and at all of them the skeletons were found intact in supine position and facing east. Some outline the head and shoulders of the corpse whilst in others the form of the cavity is simply trapezoidal.

Access to the cemetery is unrestricted and it is signposted from the Jewish district and new information signs and new lighting have been placed by Segovia city council. Here is located La Casita Blanca, a place recovered by the Department of Historical Heritage and Tourism of the City of Segovia. Inside there is an exhibition, some items and objects donated by the Jewish Community of Madrid, which help us to understand the death ritual in Judaism.