Еврейският квартал в Търновград през XIV в. – опит за локализация
The Jewish Quarter in Turnovgrad in the 14th Century – An Attempt to Locate

Summary/Abstract: An attempt is made in the article to pinpoint the place of the Jewish quarter in mediaeval Turnovgrad. Since in the Middle Ages persons of a different faith were not allowed to settle in the quarters of Orthodox Christians, Jews were compelled to look for busy places, outside the confines of the fortified Tsarevets and Trapezitsa to settle and develop their commercial activity there. On the basis of archaeological excavations in the Jewish necropolis in the “Chernichaka” locality and available written sources, the authors locate the Jewish quarter north-west of the Trapezitsa hill. The place was well chosen since it was situated at important crossroads, and here ran one of the principal roads to the stronghold of Trapezitsa. Studying the extant written sources and the donor activity of Theodora, the second wife of John Alexander, a Jewess by birth, who later was converted to the Eastern Orthodox faith, the authors claim that in medieval Turnovgrad loyal and amicable relations existed between the Jewish community and the central power, as well as between Jews and Christians. Chokoev and Totev conclude that the assertions of some older and more recent authors about the existence of strong antisemitic moods in Bulgaria’s mediaeval capital city and strongly exaggerated.

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