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What to see and do in Castrillo Mota de Judíos

What to see and do in Castrillo Mota de Judíos (Odra-Pisuerga, Burgos): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

Towns near Castrillo Mota de Judíos

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What to see and do in Castrillo Mota de Judíos

Castrillo Mota de Judíos
Village
Castrillo Mota de Judíos lies by the Odra river, near Castrojeriz, in the Burgos comarca of Odra-Pisuerga. Count García Fernández of Castile granted Castrojeriz a fuero in 974 that gave Jews the same rights as Christians, and the town was home to a prosperous aljama; but in 1035, after the death of Sancho III of Navarre, riots accused that community of usury and put an end to the Jewish quarter and to sixty Jewish men. Ferdinand I chose to resettle them, in an orderly manner, on the nearby hill of La Mota, already on the Way of Saint James, the origin of the village. After the expulsion of 1492, Mota de Judíos became Matajudíos, until in 2015 a referendum restored the municipality's current name, to recover the memory of that aljama. It has 48 inhabitants.
The renaming of the municipality
Historical milestone
After a referendum held in May 2014 and won by twenty-nine votes to nineteen, the village stopped being called Castrillo Matajudíos and officially recovered its medieval place name on 22 June 2015.
The resettlement of the Jews of Castrojeriz
Historical milestone
In 1035, after an episode of violence against the Hebrew community of Castrojeriz, Fernando I settled the Jews on this small mound beside the Camino de Santiago, where they prospered for centuries.
The twinning with Kfar Vradim
Curiosity
The municipality, which barely brings together half a hundred households, is twinned with the Israeli town of Kfar Vradim and keeps the star of David on its coat of arms, a sign of the origin it wished to claim when it changed its name.