VICH

VICH, town in Catalonia. At the height of its prosperity in about the middle of the 13th century, the Vich Jewish community had 40 families. In 1277 some 15 families lived in the Jewish quarter, but there were only ten in 1318 when King James II (1291–1327) imposed an annual tax of 500 sólidos on the community; it also paid the same amount in 1329, during the reign of Alfonso IV (1327–36). The Jews of Vich engaged in activities similar to those of the other communities in Catalonia. They owned houses, vineyards, and gardens, and were moneylenders who had the local bishop and various nobles among their clients. In return for loans received, the latter pledged Moorish slaves of both sexes, and/or movable and immovable property. The community had its own cemetery,   in a place called Colldasens. In 1277 land was acquired by the community for the construction of a synagogue. During the persecutions of 1391 the majority of the Jews of Vich were massacred. The six left alive owed their survival to conversion to Christianity. The intestate Jewish property in the town was seized by the crown. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929), index; M.R. Corbella, La aljama de juheus de Vich (1909); J.M. Millás Vallicrosa, in: Sefarad, 22 (1962), 312–20, 422–3. (Haim Beinart)