Castrillo Mota de Judíos

Castrillo Mota de Judíos municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Burgos
Comarca :	Odra-Pisuerga
Coordinates	42 ° 19 ′  N , 4 ° 10 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 19 ′  N , 4 ° 10 ′  W
Height :	791  msnm
Area :	22.05 km²
Residents :	51 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	2.31 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	09107
Municipality number  ( INE ):	09090
administration
Address of the municipal administration:	Lorenzo Rodríguez Pérez (AECMJ)
Website :	Ayuntamiento de Castrillo Mota de Judíos

Castrillo Mota de Judíos from the south

Castrillo Mota de Judíos (formerly Castrillo Matajudíos ) is a village in the west of the province of Burgos within the autonomous community of Castile and León in Spain .

location

Burgos is about 30 kilometers to the east as the crow flies. It is located on the orographic right bank of the south-facing river Odra , which belongs to the river system of the Ebro . The place is served by the regional road BU-400 that connects Castrojeriz with Melgar de Fernamental . In Castrillo Mota de Judíos, the BU-403 regional road branches off to the west, which is part of the Camino de Santiago and connects to Itero del Castillo and the P-4311, which is even further to the west. The houses of the village are grouped around a small Gothic church, which is dedicated to St. Stephen .

history

A place called Virovesca was mentioned as the capital of the Autrigonians by Pliny the Elder in AD 77; two important Roman roads crossed here . After the invasion of Germanic peoples and the advance of Islam , the importance of the place, which only flourished again in the late Middle Ages, is lost.

Place name

The city was originally called Castrillo Motajudíos (the hamlet was founded in 1035). The name was later changed to Castrillo Matajudíos ("Slayer of Jews"), the name, which is perceived as inglorious at present, probably came from the late 15th century, the height of the Inquisition . The origin of this name is not clear. According to "old sources" there was a massacre in the area in the 11th century that was linked to the place. Surviving Jews were banished to the nearby hill, which was given the name Motajudíos , or Jewish hill . A linguistic blurring made “Mata” out of “Mota”. Whether this change was due to a typo or intentional is a matter of debate. The oldest evidence for the current spelling can be found for the year 1623, many generations after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 .

On May 25, 2014, a referendum took place among the 56 residents who were entitled to vote, which propagated the renaming of the place. A change in the municipal coat of arms , which contains a star of David , was not voted on. Here, 29 of 56 inhabitants spoke out in favor of a renaming to Mota de Judíos ("Jewish hill"), 19 against. The vote parallel to the 2014 European elections resulted in the desire to change the place name with the same numerical ratio. In spring 2015, following the referendum, the name of the village was changed back to Castrillo Mota de Judíos.

economy

Traditionally, the residents live from agriculture. Also is on the slopes of the southern ridge Prado Camicero viticulture operated. The Valdehierro wind farm with 30 wind turbines and an output of 50 MW, which was built by the company of the same name, Valdehierro SL, stands today on the border with the neighboring municipality of Castrojeriz . Because of the Camino de Santiago that passes here, no further installation of wind turbines was made, as this would not have complied with the Bien de Interés Cultural code for intangible cultural heritage .

Personalities

• Antonio de Cabezón (1510–1566), organist and composer. The portative in the municipal coat of arms symbolizes Cabezón's activity.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ Le Monde: Espagne: le village "Tuez les juifs" veut changer de nom . April 18, 2014
3. ↑ Cornelia Derichsweiler: Inglorious place name: A Spanish village no longer wants to be called «Jew slayer» , NZZ , Zurich April 24, 2014, p. 24
4. ^ The Guardian: Spanish village of Castrillo Kill the Jews votes on name change , April 14, 2014
5. ↑ on burgosconecta.es , Spanish, accessed on August 19, 2014
6. ↑ Martin Dahms: A village called Judentöter ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in Sächsische Zeitung from April 16, 2014
7. ↑ Spanish village votes for name change , T-Online, accessed May 26, 2014
8. ^ The Guardian - Spanish village drops 'kill Jews' name