A New Account of Anti-Jewish Violence in Seville in March of 1391

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Medieval manuscript illustration of the Crucifixion: a small nude figure of Christ on a cross stands at the center beneath Gothic arches, surrounded by several figures—some attacking or handling bodies—rendered in bright reds, blues, and greens within an architectural frame.
Panel 6 of Cantiga 12 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X, “The Image of Christ Reviled by the Jews of Toledo,” Folio 20 verso of codex MS T. I. 1 – Códice Rico [Detail of panel showing section in which “The jews were killed.”]. 13th century, Alfonso X of Castile the Wise (1221–1284), Collection of the Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial, Madrid Spain. Image hosted on web courtesy of the Centre for the Study of the Cantigas de Santa Maria at Oxford.

Maya Soifer Irish

Associate Professor, Department of History, Rice University

Kingdon Fellow (2025–2026)

A New Account of Anti-Jewish Violence in Seville in March of 1391

According to the official royal chronicle completed around 1395 by Pero López de Ayala, a Castilian aristocrat and statesman, starting in early June of 1391, Christians in dozens of Spanish cities attacked Jewish communities, massacring and forcibly converting thousands of Jews. The first outbreak of violence occurred in Seville, where for over a decade, Ferrán Martínez, Archdeacon of Écija and a canon at the Cathedral Chapter of Seville, had been preaching antisemitic sermons and fomenting anti-Jewish violence. This talk will focus on an alternative account of the 1391 events, contained in the recently discovered Anonymous Chronicle of Enrique III of Castile. Described by its modern editor as a redaction of Ayala’s Chronicle, this account offers many striking details lacking in Ayala’s narrative. Most significantly, the Anonymous Chronicle suggests that Ayala likely conflated two separate uprisings in Seville, one in March and the other in June of 1391. If the Anonymous Chronicle is to be believed, the March attack was much more destructive than Ayala’s version would indicate, leaving the Jewish Quarter of Seville plundered and emptied of its inhabitants, and many Jews seeking conversion. Furthermore, the anonymous redactor intimates that the violence that began in Seville briefly engulfed other cities in Andalusia, then temporarily subsided and flared up again in early June.

Dr. Maya Soifer Irish’s research focuses on religious violence and toleration, and investigates the legal, social, and economic situation of religious minorities in Iberian Christian societies. She is the author of Jews and Christians in Medieval Castile: Tradition, Coexistence, and Change (The Catholic University of America Press, 2016). Her articles have appeared in The Journal of Medieval History, Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, Medieval Encounters, Sefarad, and many edited volumes. In 2019, she held a Fellowship at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of Michigan). She has served as President of the Fourteenth Century Society, President of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain, and President of the Texas Medieval Association.

*Events currently open only to 2025-26 fellows due to space concerns; please contact IRH at info@irh.wisc.edu to be added to a cancellation list for in-person events.*