Jews In Sardinia 169
This colony was also structurally organized according to the customs of
Barcelona, just like the colonies in Cagliari’s Castello and in the nearby town
of Sassari. The members of this community who carried the most political
and economic authority were the rich merchants and coral dealers, together
with the capable surgeons and other experts in the art of medicine. Just as in
Cagliari’s aljama, these town elders held the most important social positions
in the colony, followed by the craftsmen and small merchants who exported
their goods to the main centers of the Logudoro area in the north of the island.
Apart from a few minor disputes, such as quarrels or reciprocal abuse—a
common occurrence in the other Sardinian aljamas—the Alghero Jews man-
aged to maintain friendly relations and live in mutual respect with the Christian
community. In fact, in 1432 they received recognition in two important matters:
they were granted the same privileges and exemptions as the Christians living
in the city, and they were no longer obliged to listen to proselytizing sermons.14
However, the most important concession that the Alghero Jews received was
the approval of a number of items brought before the Viceroy Goffredo de
Ortaffa in 1451. On this occasion, they acquired the right to display the wheel or
other distinctive symbols as well as to retain, for one year and one day, servants
who had converted to Christianity.15 The exemptions, freedoms, and privileges
of the Alghero community were eventually granted to all the residents of the
aljamas in any town or village in the Logudoro area—that is, to any Jews who
presumably resided in Alghero itself or nearby Sassari and traveled around the
northern part of the island trading their goods.
The presence of a certain number of Jews from the fourteenth century on-
wards was also recorded in the town of Oristano, even though it was not under
Catalan domination. Evidence shows that the Catalans had already started
trading within the Arborea area in the late fourteenth century and that some of
these merchants were certainly Jews, especially those from Cagliari and Sicily,
who had benefited from new tax exemptions passed towards the end of the
century. The most popular goods were hides from the giudicato towns, silk,
iron, jams, and arbutus berries; however, saffron and rosaries were imported
from mainland Italy and Catalonia. Lastly, wine was transported to the quarter
of Cagliari’s Castello, where it was selected and subdivided to meet the grow-
ing demands of both the local and mainland markets. Given the extent of their
14 Antonio Era, La raccolta di carte dell’Archivio del Comune di Alghero (Sassari, 1927), p. 153,
n. 78; Tasca, “Ebrei e società,” doc. 246.
15 Tasca, “Ebrei e società,” doc. 394.