Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The medieval houses of Draguignan, located in the historical district of the Juiverie, date mainly from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They formed a set of 50 houses between the Orange Gate and the Rue du Portalet, integrated into the urban enclosure. These houses, probably occupied by merchants or artisans, were modified in the sixteenth century, with internal divisions. Some preserve frescoes, although their attribution to a synagogue is contested: they are rather Romanesque houses with decorations prohibited by the Israelite cult.

The Jewry of Draguignan housed an active Jewish community, with up to 225 members in the Middle Ages. The neighbourhood included collective infrastructure such as a well (1380), an oven (1412), a butcher shop (1374), and a secret passage (Courroua Trouca, 1430) leading to the Jewish cemetery in Blancon. A gallows reserved for Jews, Las forcas dels Jusieus, was mentioned as early as 1383 on the northwest side of the Col de l'Ange. These elements illustrate both community autonomy and segregation.

The history of this area is marked by periods of restrictions and expulsions. As early as 1313, the bishopric of Fréjus imposed professional limits on the Jews, followed in 1363 by the obligation to wear the wheel. In 1489–1501 Charles VIII's edict led to their permanent expulsion, although some, such as Trans's doctor Boniface, were able to remain after conversion. The houses, now partially protected (registered in 1996), recall this complex past, between economic integration and social marginalization.

Among the notable figures, Isaac Ben Abraham ha-Gorni, a 13th century traveling poet, strongly criticized the community in his writings, while Salomon Bendes, a doctor, was rewarded for his role in an epidemic. Régine Abram, converted under the name of Catherine Silolle, illustrates the strategies of adapting Jews to persecution. These individual accounts shed light on the cultural and religious dynamics of the neighbourhood, between tradition and forced assimilation.

The archaeological and textual sources underline the importance of Jewry in the urban history of Draguignan. The houses, though transformed, retain traces of their original function, such as frescoes or collective structures. Their study makes it possible to partially reconstruct the daily life of a Provençal Jewish community, between economic prosperity and increasing legal constraints until its decline at the turn of the sixteenth century.

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