Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE JEWS IN MALLORCA
The first Jews appear to have arrived in Mallorca in AD 70, the same year the Ro-
mans largely destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Under Muslim rule, a small Jew-
ish minority thrived in Medina Mayurka (the name the Moors gave to Mallorca).
Christian Mallorca, after the 1229 conquest, was not so kind.
Although barred from most professions and public office, Mallorca's Jews were
esteemed for their learning and business sense. Jewish doctors, astronomers,
bankers and traders, generally fluent in Catalan and/or Spanish, Latin, Hebrew and
Arabic, often played key roles.
By the end of the century, there were perhaps 2000 to 3000 Jews in Ciutat
(Palma). They were evicted from the area around the Palau de l'Almudaina and
moved to the Call (Catalan equivalent of a ghetto) in the eastern part of Sa Calat-
rava, in the streets around Carrer de Monti-Sion. They were locked in at night and
obliged to wear a red and yellow circular patch during the day. In 1315 their syn-
agogue was converted into the Església de Monti-Sion and they would not have an-
other until 1373. In 1391, rioting farmers killed some 300 Jews in an anti-Semitic
pogrom.
In 1435 the bulk of the island's Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and
their synagogues were converted into churches. At the beginning of the 16th cen-
tury they were forced to move from the Call Major to the Call Menor, centred on
Carrer de Colom. They were now Christians but were under suspicion of secretly
practising Jewish rites; they were a particular target for the Inquisition and the last
auto-da-fé (trial by fire) of such so-calledjudaizantestook place in 1691, when
three citizens were burned at the stake.
Known asxuetes(fromxua,a derogatory term referring to pork meat), they
were shunned by the rest of the Christian populace much as they had been before
and it was not until the 19th century that they were finally able to breathe easier. A
veritable flurry of 19th-century writers and poets came fromxuetafamilies. During
WWII, when the Nazis asked Mallorca to surrender its Jewish population, the reli-
gious authorities purportedly refused the Nazi request. Today the descendants of
these families (who even in the mid-20th century were shunned by many other
Mallorquins) are estimated to number between 15,000 and 20,000.
The Islamic Centuries
An Arab noble from Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), Isam al-Jaulani, was forced by bad
weather to take shelter in the port of Palma in 902. During his stay he became convinced
that the town could and should be taken, along with Mallorca and the rest of the Balearic
Islands, and incorporated into the Caliphate of Córdoba. On his return to Córdoba the
