Urban and historical context
In 1235, led by Ferdinand III the saint, Christians took the control of the city of Cordoba, governed by different Muslim establishments since 711. As it is known, in the territory of Al-Andalus, Muslims respected the Christian and the Jewish population, being both Abrahamic religions, that gave them a determined status, and they could maintain customs and judges.
With the Christians taking the power, this situation of coexistence remains the same; they govern over a Muslim majority of population that, for a long time, will maintain their religion, jobs and customs. The mudejares, term deriving from the Arabic word “muddayyan”, who has been permitted to stay, will create a unique and singular form of art of all the medieval Spain.
the saint in 1236 by M. Ocaña Jiménez
For what concerns the Jewish population, they live principally inside the Jewish district, surrounded by the walls between the door of the Judería and the Malburguete one, but that without being a ghetto: they can go out and enter freely and there are many families who live in other areas of the city, more and more frequently, approaching the most commercial areas, such as Corredera Square and San Fernando street.
In the second half of the 14th century, the Spanish population suffers from important mortalities due not only to bad harvests and diseases, but also for a complex historical situation: in 1390 the king of Castilla, John I, and the archbishop of Seville, cardinal Barroso, die. In 1392, without a strong political power at the throne, since the infant Henry III is ruling, and with the archbishopric empty, the archdeacon of Ecija, Ferrand Martinez, leads the revolts against the Jews. Starting from the assault to the Jewish district in Seville, this revolts spread quickly in cities like Carmona, Cordoba and Toledo. The large period of tolerance and coexistence is put to an end.
In Cordoba, after the assault to the Jewish district, the Jews are expelled, many of them go to Granada, or are obliged to convert into Christianity. The Judería is incorporated as a new Christian district to the city: the "collación" of saint Bartholomew, the last of the Christian districts that divide the city. In that moments, it was needed to built its parish: this little and modest church where we were now, for a district that had remained depopulated and without an economic importance in the city.
