New documentary contributions to the study of Lleida’s Jewish quarter

Abstract

This paper presents some of the results of historiographical research aimed at recovering the memory of Lleida’s Jewish quarter. To carry out our study we collected documentary data from, in particular, the Capitular Archive of Lleida and the Municipal Archive of Lleida. We also consulted previous works on Lleida’s Jewish quarter to determine where to begin our research, as well as to contextualize and verify our findings. We subsequently established a network of relationships between residents, using a geographic information system and drawing on information from medieval cartularies, which shed new light on the roads into, adjacent to and within the Cuirassa district and their elements. Furthermore, we obtained socioeconomic information on Lleida’s Jews from the Municipal Archive of Lleida’s Books of Criminal Proceedings and records of General Council meetings. We present the conclusions we have reached regarding Cuirassa’s internal layout, referring to and contextualizing adjacent spaces in the process, and highlight aspects of the day-to-day life of the people who lived in or frequented the district, Jews and Christians alike.

Keywords: Lleida, Jewish quarter, Cuirassa, medieval history