Oviedo´s Ordinances
The most obvious and important document showing us the importance of this Jewish community in the thirteenth century is that of the Ordinances of Oviedo from 1274. The ordinances specify neighborhood in which Jews should live, called the District of Socastiello. In additions, the Ordinances also regulate the business of usury and of stolen objects. Until these Ordinances, Jews lived in the city in the same neighborhoods as Christians, both inside and outside the walls. But from 1274 forward, Jews were required to reside in a particular area, the District of Socastiello. It seems that anti-Jewish guidelines were also followed in the rest of the peninsula, although here the effect seems to have been lower.
The limits of the Jewish quarter were: from the Puerta del Castillo to the New Gate of Socastiello and the Porte to the outside if they wanted. The Royal Castle and Fortress in Oviedo in the thirteenth century were located about the place as the Telefónica building next to Plaza de Porlier is located today. La Puerta del Castillo was left of it, and the New Gate of Socastiello was either at the foot of the ancient street of San Juan, or the end of the street Cimadevilla, since they appear both as "Porta Nuova" in documents of the same dates. If a line was extended from the door at the end of the street of San Juan for about a hundred yards, that would define one side that marked the Jewish quarter. We know neither the breadth nor depth to the interior of the city. If the door was at the end of the street Cimadevilla, it would encompass a much broader area. Keep in mind that in those years in Oviedo houses had already exceeded the wall, and some may also have established outside the walls, as there were estates in the fifteenth century in the west which bore the nickname "of the Jews."
Apart from the provisions of the Ordinances, it is significant to note the fact that in 1286 Sancho IV added provisions for the Council of Oviedo to prohibit Jews from having a separate magistrate, and subjected them to the same magistrates who hear cases of the other residents of the city.
Today nothing is left standing of the ancient Jewish quarter. Just the same narrow streets that Christians and Jews shared in the Old Oviedo for centuries and documentation that allows us to reconstruct and imagine that Jewish Community: Bartolomé Guion, notary; Beneito, changer; Giraldiz Adan, Pedro Giraldiz, changing; Giraldiz Petro, Texedora; Michaeliz Petro, pellitero; Arsar Aben, Ashur Falconis Bartholomew Alfageme, Don Symon, Annai Tanoz and many more who lived, worked, studied, and celebrated Passover and Chanukah ... who lived and died at the XIII century Oviedo.
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