Astorga
ASTORGA
ASTORGA , city in the province of Leon, N.W. Spain. Jews were living in the fortified section of Astorga as early as the 11th century. Later they inhabited two quarters in the city. A street called the Garden (Paseo) of the Synagogue formerly ran beside the old city wall. Many Jews in Astorga were forcibly converted to Christianity in 1230–31. Although there is no record of the fate of the Jews of Astorga during the 1391 massacres, they suffered in the persecutions of 1412. At the synod held in *Valladolid in 1432, the Astorga community claimed privileges exempting them from payment of crown taxes. The community existed until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
bibliography:
Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), index; Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), index; M. Rodríguez Díez, Historia de Astorga (1909); F. Cantera, Sinagogas Españolas (1955), 166–7; Suárez Fernández, Documentos, index.