Som servidores d’El Rey e do Concelho: the Jewish presence in the Livro das Posturas Antigas de Évora

Abstract

The present article tries to emphasize the elements related to the Jewish presence inserted in the Livro das Posturas Antigas da Cidade de Évora, being structured on three points. In the first, we try to characterize the Livro das Posturas Antigas de Évora, highlighting its uniqueness in the national context, as well as its extraordinary documentary richness. In the second, we intend, with necessarily broad strokes, to present some elements that characterize the Evora Jewry, which, as has been emphasized in several studies, was one of the most important and populous of the Kingdom. In the third, the true center of this work, the elements related to the Jewish presence found in the Livro das Posturas stand out. The emphasis lies on issues of a socio-professional nature, for reasons derived from the content of the book itself and the municipal positions that consolidate it.