Una elecció de secretaris de l'aljama de jueus de Cervera en 1485

While documentation related to the Jews who inhabited Cervera for centuries\nis in abundant supply, texts that shed light on the internal running of the\nJewish aljama are rather scarce. Recently, however, such a text has been unearthed. Written in Catalan on Saturday 23 July 1485, it consists of the minutes\nof a meeting and records the election of the two secretaries of the aljama, \nplus that of another person, referred to as the «third party», who would be required\nto intervene in the process of choosing councillors in the event of any\ndisagreement between the two secretaries.\nAccording to the document, a transcript of which is provided at the end of\nthe article, the electoral procedure was as described below.\nOn the aforementioned date, a meeting took place in the school in Cervera’s\nupper Jewish quarter (the usual venue for such activities). The Jews in attendance\nwere Mossé de Quercí and Benvenist Sullam, in their capacity as secretaries;\nthe doctor Cresques Adret, the doctor Issac de Quercí, the doctor Jucef\nCavaller, Jucef Baró Creixent, Bonjuà Adret, Bonet Bellshom and Issac Samuel\nSullam, in their capacity as councillors; and the doctor Samuel Cavaller, Jafudà\nde Quercí and the doctor Jacob de Quercí, in their capacity as three of the largest\nlandowners and, consequently, three of the highest taxpayers. \nFirst of all, they swore an oath, one after another, whilst touching a text containing\nthe Ten Commandments, in the hope that they would choose wisely\nwhen electing two secretaries from among the Jews of Cervera’s aljama. Voting \nwas conducted in secret. Jucef Cavaller was elected as one of the secretaries by\nvirtue of receiving the greatest number of votes, while there was a tie between\nIssac de Quercí and Bonjuà Adret for the second secretary’s post. Votes were\ncast again to decide between the two. At this time of asking, Issac de Quercí\nreceived the most votes and was thus elected secretary.\nThe two elected secretaries, Jucef Cavaller and Issac de Quercí, subsequently\nswore an oath, whilst touching the scroll, to govern the aljama in a fitting manner,\nto act in its best interests and to protect the privileges it had been granted\nby various monarchs over the course of time.\nWith the two new secretaries having been elected and sworn in, the outgoing\nsecretaries, Mossé de Quercí and Benvenist Sullam, designated five Jews\nfrom among the largest landowners and highest taxpayers, specifically the three\nmentioned earlier (Jafudà de Quercí, Samuel Cavaller and Jacob de Quercí)\nplus Mossé de Quercí and Mossé Sullam de Saporta.\nNext, the two secretaries (presumably the outgoing secretaries), the seven\ncouncillors and five of the largest landowners swore the usual oath and elected\nthe «third party», i.e. the person who would intervene in the councillor selection\nprocess in the event of the two secretaries failing to reach an agreement. Jafudà\nde Quercí received the greatest number of votes and was elected to the post.\nThe content of the document ends at this point. It appears that the councillors\nwere chosen at a later date. By way of conclusion, it can be said that the text described herein (a transcript of which is provided) is of great interest in that it\nreveals how the secretaries of Cervera’s Jewish aljama were elected in the final\nperiod of its existence. A mere seven years later, royal orders would lead to the\naljama vanishing forever, along with all the others on the Iberian peninsula.

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