Jews In Sardinia 175
at the first signs of the “storm” on the horizon, as well as the other larger group
who had preferred conversion to exile, are taken into account.32 The actual
date when Cagliari’s Jews left the island still needs to be determined. Despite
the evidence of a previous doctrine, it was certainly not on 31 July 1492. Instead,
their departure occurred in a period between October of that year, when they
requested a further extension of the terms of the Edict, and 16 December, the
date on which the viceroy informed the sovereign that he had sold their houses
and converted the synagogue into a Christian church.33
New documents from the early fifteenth century have provided a consid-
erable amount of new information regarding Alghero’s aljama. There is very
little mention of this colony in fourteenth-century documentation, especially
concerning the constant improvements carried out on the homes in the kahal,
which was symptomatic of the expansion of the quarter and the growing
population. It is certainly not by mere chance that this particular area was de-
signed to house the most prestigious figures, who, thanks to their trade in coral
and slaves, had become extremely wealthy, and who benefited from a series
of particular privileges and special protection from the Crown, to whom they
were always ready to lend or furnish with substantial sums of money.34 In the
fifteenth century, the colony from Alghero was also politically and economi-
cally influenced by a small number of families—de Bellcayre, de Borria, de
Carcassona, Cohen, Lunell, Marna, Natan, Rochamartì, Vinelles, and Soffer.
However, unlike those from Cagliari’s Castello aljama, some of these families
are recorded long after the Edict, which, on 30 March 1492, decreed the expul-
sion of the Jews from all the territories of the Spanish kingdom.35
8 I Conversos
Most scholars used to agree that the conversos problem affected Sardinia only
in a marginal way, as almost all the Jews had opted for exile rather than forced
conversion on account of the permanent Edict of 1492. However, in-depth
32 After 1492, there is evidence of surnames, such as Bonfill, Comprat, Lunell, Muntells,
Natan, etc. in Cagliari. See Carlo Pillai, “Presenze ebraiche nella Sardegna moderna e con-
temporanea,” Orientalia Kalaritana 3 (1998), pp. 265–276; Carlo Pillai, Dall’espulsione del
1492 al XX secolo, Immagini da un passato perduto (Cagliari, 1996), pp. 39–43.
33 Tasca, “Ebrei e società,” doc. 958.
34 Ibid., docs. 253, 277, 299, 527, 742, 744, and 790.
35 Pilar León Tello, “Documento de Fernando el Católico sobre la expulsión de los judios en
el señorio del conde de Aranda,” in Homenaje a Federico Navarro: miscelánea de estudios
dedicados a su memoria (Madrid, 1973), pp. 233–248.