TAUSTE

TAUSTE, town in Aragon, N.E. Spain, close to the border of the former kingdom of Navarre. The earliest information about the community of Tauste is from about 1271. It concerns the payment of 600 sólidos as yearly tax, which attests to a certain prosperity. This decreased to 332 sólidos in 1304 and further dwindled during the 14th century. In 1357 the Inquisition held trials in Tauste, and several Jews were condemned to life imprisonment. The nature of their offenses is not known. Nothing is known of the fate of the community during the persecutions of 1391. In 1402 the Jews of Tauste were requested to give a loan to the king. In 1405 there was an attempt to set up a burial society for the community. In 1414 the infante Alfonso (later Alfonso V) confirmed a royal decree restricting the area of the Jewish quarter; a time limit of six months was set for carrying out the resulting changes of residence. In 1458 this community figured among those granted a series of concessions by John II. Toward the end of the century, however, the community dwindled and experienced great poverty. In 1483 Ferdinand of Aragon appointed the surgeon Yuce Atorcar to head the community, which was placed under the supervision of the merino of saragossa . -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, index; Neuman, Spain, index; I. de las Cagigas, in: Sefarad, 6 (1946), 74; L. Piles Ros, ibid., 10 (1950), 105, 372f., 383f. (Haim Beinart)