Jewish history of communities in major cities of Spain.

Jewish communities were an integral part of the medieval Crown of Aragon, with documented presence as early as the ninth century. They lived in major cities such as Zaragoza, Jaca, Huesca, Barbastro, Daroca, Tarazona, Calatayud, Monzón, and Lleida, where they were governed by special fueros—local laws that granted them protections and a degree of communal autonomy. After the union with Catalonia in 1150, the kingdom became home to numerous and vibrant Jewish communities that interacted with both Christian and Muslim populations.

The 13th and early 14th centuries are often described as a “Golden Age” of Aragonese Jewry, marked by cultural achievement, active participation in administration and finance, and well‑developed systems of Jewish self‑government. Yet this flourishing coexistence was also punctuated by moments of tension, including religious disputations and, later, violent persecutions such as the 1391 massacres that devastated many Jewish quarters across the regionJewishEncyclopedia.com. Despite these upheavals, the legacy of Aragon’s Jewish communities remains deeply woven into the region’s cultural and historical fabric.