PAMPLONA

PAMPLONA (Pomplona, Pampeluna ), city in northen Spain; capital of the former kingdom of Navarre. Pamplona's Jewish community appears to have been founded during the renewed Christian domination of the peninsula after the Muslim conquest. The earliest information, however, on the Jews in the city dates from the tenth century. In 958 *Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut visited Pamplona on a diplomatic mission to confer with Sancho i, king of León, who had found refuge there. At that time there was already a Jewish quarter in the section of the city known as the Navarrería. Even though there is no extant information, there is no doubt that a Jewish community continued to exist in Pamplona throughout the 11^th and 12^th centuries. In 1274 anti-Jewish riots occurred, the Jewish quarter was apparently destroyed, and the community's property confiscated. In 1336 the Jewish quarter was rebuilt in the same place. In 1280 the town was ordered to restitute the property and allocate space for the erection of Jewish homes. Nonetheless, only after the suppression of the French *Pastoureaux (1320) was the community able to start rebuilding the quarter. In the 14^th century there were around 500 Jews in Pamplona.

Numerous accounts and receipts involving the Jews of Pamplona in the 14^th century are extant in the archives of the town. A considerable part of the documents are written in Hebrew and bear the signatures of royal agents, physicians, and merchants who were involved in royal transactions. Among other occupations, the Jews of Pamplona owned vineyards and farms or traded with communities in Navarre, Aragon, and Castile. King Charles ii of Navarre (1349–87) even exempted the Jews of Pamplona from the prohibition of bringing grapes into the town, as they were for private use and the taxes from Jews were based on their incomes from wine. As evidenced from the tax accounts, the community possessed considerable means but, nevertheless, was – like the other communities of Navarre – in a state of crisis and decline. Pamplona was the site of the disputation on Dec. 26, 1375, between R. Shem Tov b. Isaac Shaprut and Pedro de Luna, who later became the anti-pope *Benedict xiii. Toward the close of the 14^th century R. Ḥayyim *Galipapa, the author of Emek Refa'im, was rabbi of Pamplona.

At the beginning of the 15^th century there were over 200 Jewish families living in Pamplona; this increase in the Jewish population was probably due to refugees from the persecutions of 1391 which took place in the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. In 1400 the king gave Isaac Alburji, who was probably a goldsmith in the employ of the court, 345 gold florins from the taxes collected in the community. Other Jews were employed as purveyors to the court. In 1407, however, Charles iii ordered the sale of Jewish property, and notables of the community were imprisoned. During 1410–11 a plague ravaged Pamplona and many members of the community were among the victims; the community, however, appears to have recovered. In 1469 Leonor, the daughter of John ii – in her function as regent of the kingdom – ordered that a strict watch be kept over the Jews to assure that they only lived in their quarter of town. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some of them went to Pamplona. They suffered the same fate as the rest of the community, however, when the Jews of the kingdom of Navarre were expelled in 1498.

The Jewish quarter was in the southeast of the so-called Navarrería district. The juderiía was by the city walls in the south and in the east. After the expulsion in 1498 the quarter was renamed Barrio Nuevo, which is in today's calle de la Merced. The Jewish quarter occupied an area of about 20,000 square meters. In this area there were three different quarters: the first one was the smallest, where there was the Sinagoga Mayor. This quarter occupied the area of the square of Santa María la Real and part of Dormitalería street. The second quarter, which was larger, was in what is today calle de la Merced. The third quarter was in the area that is covered today by the streets Tejería, San Augustin, and Labrit.

bibliography:

Baer, Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929), index; M. Kayserling, Juden in Navarra… (1861), index; J. Ma. Sanz Artibucilla, in: Sefarad, 5 (1945), 339; F. Cantera y Burgos, Sinagogas españolas (1955), 263. add. bibliography: F. Juanto Manrique, in: Ligarzas, 2 (1970), 77–85; J.J. Martinena Ruiz, La Pamplona de los burgos y su evolución urbana (1974), 177–89; J. Carrasco Pérez, in: Minorités et margineaux en France méridionale et dans la péninsule ibérique (vii^e–xviii^e siècles) (1986), 221–63; B.R. Gampel, The Last Jews on Iberian Soil (1989).

[Haim Beinart /

Yom Tov Assis (2^nd ed.)]

Pamplona City in n Spain; capital of Navarre province. Rebuilt by Pompey in 68 bc, Charlemagne conquered the city in ad 778. In the 11th century, it became capital of the Kingdom of Navarre. In 1512, control of Pamplona passed to Ferdinand of Aragon, who united Navarre with Castile. In 1813, during the Peninsular War, the Duke of Wellington (1813) captured Pamplona from the French. Every July, in the fiesta of San Fermin, bulls are driven through the city streets. Industries: rope and pottery manufacture. Pop. (2000) 182,666.

Pamplona a city in northern Spain, capital of the former kingdom and modern region of Navarre, noted for the fiesta of San Fermin, held there in July, which is celebrated with the running of bulls through the streets of the city.