The Vanished Synagogues of Medieval Spain

Maya Soifer Irish, Rice University

This video discusses the importance of synagogues to Jewish life in medieval Spain and explains why only a few of these buildings have survived to the present day. It shows that despite Christian authorities’ efforts to restrict the construction of new synagogues, many Jewish communities in Spain found ways to circumvent these prohibitions. The video focuses on the synagogues of Seville, where Archdeacon Ferrán Martínez’s campaign to demolish local Jewish places of worship paved the way for the anti-Jewish riots of 1391 and the conversion of Seville’s synagogues into churches. One of these churches, Santa María la Blanca, conceals the remnants of the medieval synagogue underneath its baroque-period plasterwork.   

Video

Primary Source Reading 

Maya Soifer Irish, “Ferrán Martínez’s Speech at the Tribunal del Alcázar in Seville, February
18, 1388,” Open Iberia/América Teaching Anthology, 2020. https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/2021/02/05/ferran-martinezs-speech-at-the-tribunal-del-alcazar-in-seville-19-february-1388/

Further Reading

  • Dwayne Carpenter, Alfonso X and the Jews: An Edition of and Commentary on Siete Partidas 7.24 “De los judíos” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).
  • Jerrilynn D. Dodds, “Mudejar Tradition and the Synagogues of Medieval Spain: Cultural Identity and Cultural Hegemony,” in Vivian B. Mann, Thomas F. Glick, and Jerrilynn D. Dodds, eds., Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain (New York: George Braziller, 1992), 113-131.
  • Jonathan Ray, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023).
  • Maya Soifer Irish, “Landscapes of Salvation, Landscapes of Power: Jews, Christians, and Urban Space in Fourteenth-Century Seville.” Constructing Iberian Identities, 1000-1700. Eds. Thomas Barton, Marie Kelleher, Zrinka Stahuljak, and Antonio Zaldivar. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022, 23-37.

Discussion Questions

  1. Can you think of the reasons why ecclesiastical restrictions on the construction of synagogues were difficult to enforce in medieval Spain?
  2. Based on your reading of Ferrán Martínez’s speech at the Tribunal del Alcázar (see the primary source), what do you think was the end goal of his anti-Jewish campaign in Seville?
  3. In the speech, Ferrán Martínez repeatedly alludes to “the law” (“la ley”) to justify his actions. What kind(s) of law does he have in mind?

Cite

Soifer Irish, Maya. "The Vanished Synagogues of Medieval Spain," Middle Ages for Educators, January 17, 2025. Accessed [date].https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/vanished-synagogues-medieval-spain