CASTROJERIZ

CASTROJERIZ, town in N. Castile, Spain. Castrojeriz had one of the earliest Jewish communities in Spain. In 974 the count of Castile ruled that the fine imposed for killing a Jew   should not exceed that for a Christian peasant. On the death of King Sancho the Great in 1035, the inhabitants of Castrojeriz broke into one of the king's residences near Burgos, killing four of the king's officials and 60 Jews. The survivors were compelled to settle in Castrojeriz. The inhabitants of Castrojeriz were exempted from the fines imposed on them for taking part in anti-Jewish riots after the death of Alfonso VI in 1109. In 1118 Alfonso VII extended the privileges granted to the city of toledo to Castrojeriz. These prohibited a Jew or new convert to Christianity from holding a position of authority over Christians, and established legal procedures for cases involving Jews and Christians. In 1240 Ferdinand III ordered the Jews in Castrojeriz to continue to pay 30 dinars annually to the local church. Nothing is known about the fate of the community during the anti-Jewish riots that occurred in Spain in 1391. The community subsequently declined and in 1485 the small sum of 23 castilianos was levied as tax for the war against Granada. After the decree of expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, instructions about the payment of Jewish debts were issued to the mayor. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), index; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 43, 384; Huidobro, in: Sefarad, 7 (1947), 137–45; Suárez-Fernández, Documentos, index; León Tello, in: Instituto Tello Téllez de Meneses, 25 (1966), 62ff., 165ff., 258; Cantera Burgos, in: Roth, Dark Ages, 364, 366ff. (Haim Beinart)