El crédito judío en las villas navarras del camino de Santiago: Monreal (1357-1384)

Abstract

The development of the town of Monreal and its later urban growth can be observed and, in a certain manner, explained through several of its functions as end of a stage in the Compostelan road, the town being a center of coinage and a military borough. The author analyses the five registers that have been preserved, which embrace the period from 1357 to 1384, nearly coincident with the reign of Charles II of Évreux. The activities of the Jewish "bankers" practically monopolyze the credits of the market, in a direct forro (74,5 %) as well as through their commercial exchanges (10,23 %). The Abolfada family controls nearly 40 % of the total number of credits negotiated in that market; the following families in importance are the Ensabrun, the Açaya and the Macarel. The clientele, estimated in somewhat more than a hundred persons, comes from Monreal and other little towns of the Lumbier-Aoiz valley.