The Jews of Avila

Avila is in Old Castile, fifteen miles from Madrid. In the Middle Ages it was one of the wealthiest and most flourishing cities of Spain. Jews have resided there since 1085, when they dwelt in the street called “Calle de Lomo” (now “Calle de Esteban Domingo”). In 1291 the congregation was of such large proportions that it paid more than 74,000 maravedis in taxes. It possessed several synagogues. One of them was on the same spot in the Calle de Lomo on which the Church of All Saints was afterward built; a second, not far from the former, was “presented” by the government in 1495 to the monastery of Santa Maria de la Encarnacion. The Jewish cemetery, which had a frontage of about 200 meters, lay in the valley; it is now called “Cerca de los Osos.” After the expulsion of the Jews their Catholic majesties “presented” it to the monastery of St. Thomas, which purchased additional land with the proviso that converts to Christianity or descendants of converts should not be interred therein.