El call de la Ciutat de Mallorca a l'entorn de 1350 : espai urbà i població

Abstract

Although the presence of Jews on the island is documented since the the socalled Dark Ages, their role during the period of al-Andalus is completely unknown, and of the time before the Christian conquest only a few sporadic details are known. With regard to the Middle Ages, the raids on the Jewish quarters of the City of Majorca and Inca in 1391 would seem to have eclipsed any other focus of attention. What in fact is known about the Jews in the period immediately preceding 1391? The answer, albeit only partial, can be found by analysing a very specific source which has hitherto been little used in historical analysis, namely, the transcription by J. Miralles i Montserrat, published in 1997, of the Monedatge del Call de la Ciutat de Mallorca, dating from 1359, which is conserved in the Archives of the Crown of Aragon. The urban area of the Jewish quarter. Our most frequent image of the Jewish quarter of the City of Majorca comes from the 19th century and does not entirely agree with the one that emerges from the document under study, although it does more or less conform to the vague definition of an area «qui est intre frates minores et sorores santa Clare», according to the plans of 1286, and those of 1290, which identify it as the «partita vocata Templum et Calatrava». The information provided in the property register of the Monedatge, or tax roll, of 1350 enables this description to be verified and more clearly defined. Analysis of the document in question shows that the Jewish quarter of the City of Majorca in the year 1350 was an urban area (see Map 1) bounded on the north by Plaça de Sant Francesc and what is now Carrer Ramon Llull, and on the south by the modern-day streets Montserrat and Born de Santa Clara (the latter now known as Sant Alonso); on the east side it was bounded by the streets Botons, Caldes and Salom, while on the west it was bounded by the present-day street Santa Clara, which runs into Carrer del Sol and finally opens into the modern Carre