MUHBA - El Call

At first, relations between the Christian and Jewish communities were good: they owned joint businesses, and the count-kings granted Jews a number of important public positions, such as Royal bailiff, tax collector and ambassador. But then in 1215, the 4th Council of the Lateran adopted a number of measures against the Jews: their money-lending activities were restricted, they were prohibited from occupying positions of authority over Christians, and they were forced to wear identifying insignia. However, despite this pressure from the new ecclesiastical orders (and especially the Dominicans), the monarchy resisted fully applying these regulations, and the Jews continued to be an essential part of city life. But as the 14th century progressed, social coexistence deteriorated until in August 1391, an attack took place on the Call which led to the death of 300 of its inhabitants. The Call never recovered from that terrible episode, even though Jews continued to live in Barcelona, albeit in lesser numbers and with many of them having converted to Christianity. Even so, 100 years later they were all expelled from the lands of the Spanish monarchy.