Ecija ( ):

By: Richard Gottheil , Meyer Kayserling

Spanish city in the province of Seville. A charge of ritual murder occurred in the time of the "great king" Alfonso (Alfonso X., or Alfonso XI.). The Jew charged with the crime was imprisoned on the eve of the Passover. At the mere report the populace rose. Many Jews saved their lives by taking refuge in the houses of the nobles. In Ecija, his birthplace, the fanaticism of the archdeacon Ferrand Martinez found a fruitful soil. At his bidding the synagogue was destroyed (Dec., 1390, not 1395 as in Jacobs, "Sources," No. 1318). The great Jewish massacre in 1391 spread from Seville to Ecija, where most of the Jews joined the Church. With no less cruelty were the Maranos treated in 1473, until a few knights came to their rescue.