The aljama leonesa, as the government of the Jewish community was known, was concentrated around thePlaza de San Martín, but its history begins at the gates of the city of León, in the district of Puente Castro, on the southern slope of the hill of La Mota, an importantJewish nucleus was erected in the tenth century, which developed its culture and its life in the following two centuries. This first settlement, which developed insplendour thanks, among other reasons, to the transit of pilgrims, was destroyed at the end of the 12th century during the war between León and the neighbouring Christian kingdoms, when the armies ofPedro II of Aragon and Alfonso VIII of Castile besieged the castro. It is at this point when the survivors are moved to the city centre, when they settle in the intramural district of Santa Ana.
In the heart of the Barrio Húmedo a Jewish districtdeveloped the practice of commerce, crafts and evenlivestock. Throughout the 13th century, Leonese Jewslived relatively freely in their new location, until their expulsion decreed in 1492 by the Catholic Kings. Conversion was the only way to continue in the city, although the suspicion of Judaizers never ceased.
