Tudela

From San Jaime square neighbouring the cathedral, part of Merced street which leads to the Old Jewish quarter or Vétula Jewish quarter. The Jewish district occupied the south-eastern section of the walled site, in other words, the space falling between the plot which would later be occupied by the cathedral and the River Queiles with an exit to the south via the Zaragoza Gate. Its site would be furrowed by Rúa Mayor (main street) from which various winding alleys would depart. José Luis Lacave identified it in 1992 with the current San Julián street; and the surrounding streets would be: Verjas, Tornamiras, Horno de la Higuera, Merced, Hortelanos, Arbollones and Fuente del Obispo. Recent studies have shifted the site of the Vetula Jewish quarter to the environs of the current Juderia square in Miguel Servet, Huerto del Rey and Magallón streets.

An original building endowed with ceramic plates incorporated in its whitewashed façade, at the crossing with Tornamiras street it marks the start of the Jewish district which already existed at the time of the Moslem domination and whose limits were more clearly stipulated after the conquest of the city in 1119 by Alfonso I the Battler. The Aragonese King, who entered Tudela under an agreement, signed with the Moslems the Charter of Sobrarbe and with the Jews the Charter of Nájera, recognising its rights and properties and establishing the limits of the districts. The care and the didactic sense in naming the streets with beautiful tiling which illustrates the meaning of each name, allows the route to be followed via a sector which is notably medieval in nature, marked out by inns and restaurants and with a certain Bohemian atmosphere. On Merced street the Ezquerra Palace, dated 1690, has a magnificent coat-of-arms on its façade, finished at its base with the shell of the Way of St. James.

Recent studies situate the Vetula Jewish quarter in the environs of the current Juderia square on Miguel Servet, Huerto del Rey and Magallón streets.

Abraham Ibn Ezrá (c. 1089-1167) spent his youth in al-Andalus (in Córdoba, Seville and Lucena) where he trained in Jewish culture in Arab.

In around 1140 he decided to abandon Sefarad to travel around the North of Africa, probably in the company of Yehudá ha-Leví, and Europe. He thus became a wandering wise man, well received for the knowledge he transmitted to the communities he visited: those of Beziers and Narbonne in France, Rome, England etc.

We are unaware whether he returned to Sepharad or whether he died in a European country. Howver, his multifaceted figure has left a deep mark on the whole intellectual life of the Jews of Europe. His biblical comments are some of the most highly appreciated in the Jewish world; his grammars are a common summary of the philological knowledge of Al-Andalus 11th century which it had not been possible to access up to then without knowing Arab and he introduced into the West the mathematical concepts of fractions and decimals.

He died in around 1167 according to some historians in Calahorra. His fame was so extensive that one of the craters on the moon, 42 kilometres in diameter, currently bears his name: Abenezrah.

Via Roso street we reach the Tourist Office, the strategically located meeting point alongside one of the cathedral gates. Before entering the Tudela museum where you can make a joint visit to the cathedral and the Romanesque Cloister, the archivolts of the Judgement gate already provide a glimpse of the controversial relations between Jews and Christians over the centuries: if you look carefully amongst the people sentenced after the Final Judgement you will soon find a Jewish couple selling their cloth on a chest, symbolically representing all those of their kind.

Until 1783 Tudela cathedral was the collegiate church of Santa María la Blanca, with the latter having been erected in 1119 on the site of the main mosque of the Moslems from the 9th century. In addition to the Judgement gate, prominent on its exterior are the Santa María gate to the north and the Virgin gate to the south in Romanesque style. Inside, the choir is regarded as one of the greatest works of flamboyant Hispanic-Gothic style in Navarre and the Flemish-style main retable was carried out by Pedro Díaz de Oviedo.

Benjamín of Tudela (c. 1130-1175) is the most famous of the medieval travellers and along with Abraham ibn Ezrá and Yehudá ha-Leví, he is one of the most famous Jews.

He was cultured, wise man; multilingual (he was fluent in Hebrew in Aramaic and understood Arab and perhaps Greek and Latin), well-versed in the Torah and in the Halakha, he knew classical and medieval history. He was an expert in business and trades which may have been the reason behind his journeys.

His journey started in Tudela in 1160 and ended on his return to Paris. The key parts of the route were Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Cairo. In his Book of Journeys(Sefer Masaot) he provides an accurate description of the situation of the Jewish community in each place, their economy and a political and religious overview. His eye for detail is a main source about the Mediterranean world in the second half of the 12th century; the distances, the number of inhabitants in each city, the climate etc. Worthy of special attention are his notes about Islamic sects and the descriptions about the ruins of the old Babylonia and the antiquities of Rome, Constantinople and Alexandria.

His journey must have lasted for between five and fourteen years. The first edition of the Book of journeys (Sefer Masaot) by Benjamín of Tudela appeared in 1543 in Constantinople. Since that time its editions have appeared in many languages.

The creation of the New Jewish quarter of Tudela is linked to the name of Sancho VI the Wise who promoted the development of this new district which cohabited for a while with the previous one as from 1170 under the protection of the castle which dominated the city from the Santa Bárbara hill. The orography characterises the peculiar structure of the district, developed from the two parallel thoroughfares formed by San Miguel and Paseo del Castillo. Via Caldereros street and Guerreros street the route goes into the heart of the New Jewish quarter by means of steps and narrow roads which maintain the layout of the medieval district. Sotarraño street connects to San Miguel street in a popular district where the last spell in the lives of the Jews of Tudela was played out until their expulsion in 1498, six years after the decree of the Catholic Monarchs was signed.

Sancho VI the Wise allowed the Jews in 1170 to sell their houses and set up alongside the Castle in the New Jewish quarter which replaced the Vétula or old Jewish quarter. It is highly likely that said move was made very slowly and that for years until the plots of the new site had been prepared, both sites coexisted. In the middle of 1177 mention is made of the Jewish synagogue at its former plot when mentioning the boundaries of a purchase (aliam albolelcan que se tenet cun illa sinagoga iudeorum que fuit de Jacob Suabi medico). It would seem that in the first few years of the 13th century the move had to be made to the New Jewish quarter inside the citadel; at this time this was the only space of the topography of Tudela referring to where the Jews live as an organized community. This new district soon spilled over the fence of the Wall and extended round the mound until almost reaching the gates of the parish church of San Salvador, to the south, and via the east to the walls of the Moorish quarter in the direction of La Planilla.

Some illustrious families like the Abenpasat gained the privilege of remaining on the original plot of the Old Jewish quarter, now reduced to the immediate vicinity of Huerto del Rey street. Self-evidently, the simultaneous occupation of the two districts demonstrates the high population of this community, perhaps coinciding with the almost permanent presence of the King and his court in the capital of the Ribera.

With the passage of time and in more permissive situations, such as the reigns of the last Evreux (1350-1425), the Jewish quarter, as an inhabited space, gradually began to move towards the plots of Christians situated outside the castle such as the district of Aljuneyna – near the Church of San Miguel – and as far as the outskirts of the parish of San Pedro were houses of Jews are recorded since the early years of the 14th century. The references in the 15th century to the gates of the Jewish quarter could refer to those already in place inside the castle or to new openings in the new enclosure, outside the walls of the fortress. In any case, the limits of the Jewish district were very diffuse and imprecise. The gradual loss of members left many spacious empty which had previously belonged to the Jews and many of them were living amongst the Christians.

In the middle of 1177 mention is made of the Jewish synagogue at its former plot when mentioning the boundaries of a purchase (aliam albolelcan que se tenet cun illa sinagoga iudeorum que fuit de Jacob Suabi medico).

establishes the marriage of Selomó, the son of Yom-Tob Alparga (or Alfarga) and Soli, the daughter of Hayim ben Kelaf, signed on Thursday the second of Elulof year 5060 since the Creation of the world (August 18th 1300). The document sets out the habitual formula for the groom to ask for the hand of his promised one:

It is the oldestKetubah conserved. The text is framed by a coloured band in red ink and, on each side, there is the figure of a small bird and this is the only Ketubah preserving its zoomorphic ornamentation. The form of decorating this manuscript can be related to that defended by Rabbi Simeón ben Zerah Durán de Mallorca (1361-1444) who recommended the decoration of all the blank spaces in a document to avoid the manipulation of the clauses and hence the alteration of the marriage. .

Shem-Tob ben Isaac Shaprut, a Jewish-Spanish philosopher, doctor and polemicist was born in Tudela in the mid-14th century and he is frequently confused with the doctor Shem-Tob ben Isaac of Tortosa who lived one hundred and fifty years later.

Whilst still a young man he was forced to debate at the Disputation of Pamplona on December 26th 1375 about original sin and redemption with Cardinal Pedro de Luna who would later become Pope Benedict XIII, in the presence of bishops and theologians. Later, owing to the devastating war which persisted in Navarre between the Castilians and the English, he was forced to flee the country with his family. He settled in Tarazona where he practised as a doctor amongst Jews and Christians.

Whilst in Tarazona he completed his Eben Bojan (May 1380 or 1385), a controversial work against christened Jews (mumarim). The work comprises fourteen chapters or gates and is written in the form of a dialogue, taking as its reference the Milhamot Adonai of Jacob ben Reuben, wrongly attributed to David Quimhi.

Governance of the Jewish quarter often fell into the hands of just a few families who comprised a kind of urban oligarchy. In this regard, the lineages of the Menir, Falaquera and Orabuena are known in Tudela. By contrast to other peninsular kingdoms, until 1390 the figure of the Great Rabbi did not exist in Navarre, known as the maximum representative of the Jews of the kingdom. Said appointment was made by the Orabuena family of Tudela. This family held said office until the mid-15th century. In the last third of said century another from Tudela, the Malach, replaced it.

The Decanal Palace is a building originating in the final quarter of the 15th century which serves as a house of the deans of the collegiate church of Santa María, enlarged and remodelled later by the dean Pedro de Villalón. It was also used as a residence by monarchs and popes in their stays in Tudela; it houses works of religious art local and archaeology: the tomb of Prince Don Fernando, the son of Sancho VII the Strong and it has access to the view of rich chapters of the cloister, these being some of the most important pieces in the collection.

in 1481 the city of Tudela refused to provide information about the murder in Saragossa of the inquisitor Pedro de Arbúes.

The second marriage contract, also drafted in Hebrew, stipulates the marriage of Moses del Gabay and the widow Solbella, daughter of Samuel Sarsalom, signed in Tudela on Friday 14th of Marheshwan 5247 (October 13th 1486). The bride provided a dowry in garments, jewels and trousseaus valued at 100 florins. In turn, the groom donated to her as a tosefet 10 florins and as a mohar a house in Cascante free of encumbrances and a vineyard, also in Cascante, with a tax to the church of Santa María of the same place of 16 sueldos per annum. In addition to the groom, the ketubah is signed by two witnesses: the notary of the aljama, Jacob de la Rebiza and Jacob Gormezano.

From Córdoba, on May 4th 1486, the Catholic Monarchs a letter was written to Tudela ordering the handing over of any heretics arriving from Aragón to the inquisitors. The people of Tudela replied that any officer of the Inquisition who had the nerve to enter the city would be hurled into the river.

taking advantage of the Monarchs´ stay in Daroca, two commissioners from Tudela protested about the way the catholics submitted to the inquisitors so they would cancel the censorships against Tudela. They asked for the inquisitors not to interfere with the assets of the convicts and for their tasks to be limited to the absolution and penitence imposed.

the people of Tudela did not get on with the inquisitors and in 1510 its town hall commissioned the proxies in Courts to take from here this friar who says he is an inquisitor.

The Book of Journeys (Sefer Masaot) by Benjamín of Tudela, first published in Constantinople in 1543, is still a masterpiece as a first-hand account of the daily life of the Jews in the 12th century.

At the synagogue there is a copy of the famous roll that the old Christians had put on display between 1610 and 1738 with the names of the converts from Tudela,

In other words, so as to be able to take them off the manta (roll) where necessary.

By contrast, this did not rule out the long-standing resistance of the population to the Holy Office: in 1481 the city of Tudela refused to provide information about the murder in Saragossa of the inquisitor Pedro de Arbúes.From Córdoba, on May 4th 1486, the Catholic Monarchs a letter was written to Tudela ordering the handing over of any heretics arriving from Aragón to the inquisitors. The people of Tudela replied that any officer of the Inquisition who had the nerve to enter the city would be hurled into the river. Two years later, taking advantage of the Monarchs´ stay in Daroca, two commissioners from Tudela protested about the way the catholics submitted to the inquisitors so they would cancel the censorships against Tudela. They asked for the inquisitors not to interfere with the assets of the convicts and for their tasks to be limited to the absolution and penitence imposed. Although the monarchs accepted the proposal, the people of Tudela did not get on with the inquisitors and in 1510 its town hall commissioned the proxies in Courts to take from here this friar who says he is an inquisitor.

Nothing is known about the necropolis pertaining to the Vétula Jewish quarter, prior to the 12th century, but the theory has been put forward that it may have been located under the new part of the city, on the other side of the River Queiles. The necropolis of the New Jewish quarter, on the other hand, is said to have been situated at El Palenque dating from the 12th to the 15th centuries.

In 1984 three tombs were excavated in an emergency intervention which estimated that the successive works in the area had destroyed between 60% and 80% of the necropolis, with the rest having been left in dispersed areas with varying degrees of integrity. In 1998, on the occasion of the fifth centenary of the Expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of Navarre, there was a more extensive excavation which uncovered twenty seven burials in an intact surface measuring 30 square metres.

The tombs at the necropolis, very close to each other, having made the most of the cemetery surface, are oriented in a West-East direction with the bodies lying in supine position with their arm parallel to their bodies. The burial was carried out with or without a wooden box which usually rested on the grave or, in some cases, on sandstone covered by slabs.

The burials uncovered at the necropolis do not have any trousseaus and are extremely austere. Although Jewish burials are not usually very lavish, some important findings have been made as is the case of the necropolis in Seville. This poverty is one of the reasons which has safeguarded the cemetery from the sacking which other sites have suffered.

This is a fragment of an ashlar made of limestone, one of whose faces has been decorated by a six-pointed star inscribed in a circle and with a rosette at the centre of the star. This rosette, found in Padre Ubillos street in 1986 when the wall of a lean-to was being knocked down backing onto one of the stretches of the Islamic wall, may have been placed on the now disappeared Calahorra Gate to protect the city from the evil genies which come from the northwest, facing the area from where the prevailing winds come («north wind»). Similar examples can be found at the Gormaz Fortress (Soria).

The ashlar is currently on show to the public at the Synagogue.

Returning to San Miguel square, after going along part of Paseo del Castillo, where the humble nature of the district seems to remind us of the final moments of the Jews in Tudela, with a debilitated, impoverished aljama, the route leads to Salvador square where the monument to twinning between Tudela and Tiberiades is situated, a work by Beatriz Lasry donated by the Sephardi Community in Spain, bearing the words of Benjamín of Tudela:

From here Granados street, allowing us to see remains of the former medieval wall which defended Tudela, leads to Mercadal square, already outside the Jewish quarter, where the Castel-Ruiz is located, a former Jesuit convent with a beautiful cloister and some splendid wineries and, by its side, the Baroque church of San Jorge el Real. Before completing the journey it is worth walking a few metres along Pasaje street in an area of the city which again reminds us of the original cohabitation of Moslems and Jews before the Christian conquest and, finally, overlook Herrerías street, erected on the same moat which the Tudela had, on the other side of which the multi-coloured display of houses in the Moorish quarter closes the cycle of the three cultures.

In 1998, on the occasion of the fifth centenary of the Expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of Navarre, there was a more extensive excavation which uncovered twenty seven burials in an intact surface measuring 30 square metres.

This must have been of paramount importance in the medieval era as there are various documents which refer to it. It is now suspected that it is the same watchtower as that known as Torre del Campo de Navadebel (Field of Navadebel Tower).

It has traditionally been regarded as dating from the Moslem era, perhaps built in the 9th century with the fortification of Tudela by Amrús ben Yusuf. Notwithstanding, recently there is a tendency to think it has a Christian origin, probably from the 13th century.

Between 1998 and 1999 there was a systematic surveying of the district of Tudela by the Provincial Government within the programme of the Archaeological Inventory of Navarre.

On a small hill situated near the crossroads on Murchante road with that of Corella the work team identified the remains of a construction at its highest part. Its chronology is from the Early Middle Ages, brick walls and the remains of a paved floor as well as its position seemed to indicate that it was a small surveillance post. The work report indicated that it could belong to the so-called Torre de la Judía (Tower of the Jewess).

This is an alabaster stone ashlar in L, corresponding to a door jamb. It was located in 2003 at a plot on Magallón street where important archaeological levels of the Islamic era were located between the 9th to the 12th centuries and this may have been the first time that excavations were carried out in the Old Jewish quarter area. The ashlar was situated in a landfill with material from the 16th century, but it could well have been used on any other structure as a further stone.

Contrary to the known examples in Besalú and Gerona, which are narrow, long and deep, the one in Tudela is circular, broad and shallow. What´s more, all known ones are situated on the lateral of the door and the one in Tudela seems to have been at the front on the façade. This may be justified by the limited surface provided by the door jamb between the bracket and the façade, eleven centimetres, less than what was usual on walls at the time.