Cervera is a Spanish Catalan town with a rich cultural and Jewish past. From the
beginning of the 14th century there was an established Jewish community, which survived
the Black death (1348-49) and various restrictions imposed on it by the nobility
and the Church, but not the Expulsion in 1492. Well-known historians have done interesting
work on specific subjects covering short periods of time of the life of the Jews
in Cervera but until now there has been no extensive study of this important medieval
Jewish community, utilizing primary sources.
The present research project, proposed by Maria Jose
Camps Surribas of Barcelona, will examine the period from the 14th to
the 16th centuries, utilizing the Notarial Archive of Cervera, a new and exciting
source. It will look in depth at the town’s Jewish population from three principal
perspectives:
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Historical Genealogy - all Jewish families referred to in the archive will be traced,
from the earliest documents (14th. century) onwards.
-
Onomastics - the names of the Jews and Conversos appearing in those documents will
be studied.
-
Migration Studies - Cervera was a important crossroad on the routes leading from
France, Barcelona and Girona to Lleida, Zaragoza and the rest of Spain. Many Jews
coming from France and various locations in Spain settled in Cervera – and, conversely,
Jews from the town moved on elsewhere.
Click here
for a progress report on this project