The tragic event in Écija
635 years ago, in Écija (then part of the Castilian-Leonese crown and currently in Andalusia), the Jewish community suffered an atrocious assault that left an indelible impact on the history of the Iberian Peninsula. The mob stormed the city’s Jewish quarter, carrying out a massacre that resulted in the deaths of approximately 200 people. This act of violence was instigated by the clergyman Fernando Martínez, archdeacon of the cathedral of Seville, who, from the pulpit of the parish church of Écija, spread apocalyptic messages pointing out the Jews as responsible for the serious economic crisis that affected society in that moment .
The brutal expansion of violence
This tragic episode in Écija marked the beginning of a wave of violence that spread through several cities in the Castilian-Leonese and Catalan-Aragonese crowns. After the assault in Écija, the mob attacked the Jewish quarter of Seville, claiming the lives of around 4,000 people. The violence later spread to Córdoba and Toledo, where Jewish communities suffered similar massacres. The Jewish quarters of Seville and Toledo, the largest in the Castilian-Leonese crown, were completely destroyed. This brutal explosion of violence not only affected these cities, but also spread to the Catalan-Aragonese crown, where massacres occurred in Valencia, Palma and Barcelona.
The impact on Jewish communities
The tragedy of 1391 left a deep mark on the Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula. In Barcelona, for example, it is estimated that 300 people, approximately 5% of the Jewish population, lost their lives. Furthermore, during that month of August, several Catalan Jewish quarters were attacked, resulting in thousands of deaths and the disappearance of many of these communities. The Jewish quarter of Barcelona never recovered, and the same happened with that of Tàrrega, which disappeared forever after the murder of all 250 inhabitants.
