The Jews of Santarém are documented not only through the town’s Judiaria and synagogue, but also through named individuals who appear in contracts, debt records, rents, property exchanges, craft activity, and legal instruments. These records show a community integrated into the economic and documentary life of medieval Santarém.

Financial Records and Royal Revenues

In the early fourteenth century, Salomão Arame appears in connection with debt quittances, showing Jewish participation in written financial acts. In 1308, Isaque Azerique was the renter of the royal service of the Jews in Santarém and its territory.

Jewish residents of Santarém also acted as renters of royal and private revenues. In 1405, Josepe Zarco, a Jew living in Santarém, rented lands belonging to Rui Vasques Coutinho for 72,000 libras.

Crafts, Property, and the Judiaria

The documentation also records Jews connected to crafts and specialized work. In 1411, Aizaz Arame, a Jewish dyer, held a vineyard in Ómnia. In 1416, Lázaro Latão is documented with a place in Vale de Rosas.

In 1426, Saltiel, a Jewish goldsmith, and his son Bento were tenants of the church of the Alcáçova in houses located in the Judiaria. This reference is important because it connects a named Jewish artisan, his family, and rented property inside the Jewish quarter.

Jewish Merchants and Legal Transactions

Commercial activity appears clearly in the sources. In 1454, Mousem, described as a cavaleiro and Jewish merchant, and his wife D. Houro, both residents of the Judiaria of Santarém, made an exchange with the Convent of São Francisco.

Through this contract, they received land belonging to the lamp of the sacristy, described as being near the adro and the jazigo dos judeus. In return, they gave the convent an olive grove in Monte de Corvos. Abraão Mota and Jacob Celamim appear as witnesses in the same transaction.

After the expulsion of Jews from Castile in 1492, Santarém also received Castilian Jews within its commune. The rabi David Cheerell, Barzalay Baur, and Judas Carecem appear as witnesses in a legal instrument connected to Cinfam, a Jewish woman married to Samuel de Carvalho, both residents in Santarém.

On 7 July 1496, the Aposentadoria of Santarém made a contract with Cinfam. Under this agreement, she undertook to provide 400 beds, 200 for squires and 200 for footmen, with their bedding and accessories, over a period of ten years, for 120,000 reais.