The Judiaria de Monsaraz was the Jewish quarter of the medieval walled village. References to Jews in Monsaraz appear from at least 1276, when the foral of King Afonso III ordered that Moors and Jews who suffered physical aggression should present complaints to the alcaide, the local military or castle governor, or to the alvazis, royal-appointed judges or municipal magistrates of the town.

Jewish Presence in Monsaraz

In 1382, Abraão Alfarime, a Jew living in Monsaraz, took on the collection of the royal revenues of the almoxarifados of Monsaraz and Mourão for two years. An almoxarifado was a royal fiscal and administrative district. The contract, made under King Fernando I, covered revenues from bread, wine, customs, tolls, fines, butchery and other royal rights. It involved an annual payment of 5,000 libras.

The Jewish community of Monsaraz grew during the fifteenth century, especially after the expulsion of the Jews from Castile in 1492. The documentation places Jewish houses between Rua de Santiago, Travessa da Cisterna and Rua Direita, inside the walls of the village.

The Judiaria de Monsaraz in Later Records

In 1502, King Manuel I granted D. Jaime, Duke of Braganza, a tença, a royal pension or allowance, connected to the lost revenues of several former judiarias after the prohibition of Jews and Moors in Portugal. Monsaraz appears in this document with an annual value of 5,000 reais, the Portuguese monetary unit of the period.

A document from the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Monsaraz, dated 1601, states that the Judiaria de Monsaraz was located inside the walls, near the azinhaga, a narrow lane or passageway, that went from Porta de Évora to Rua de Santiago.