THE JEWISH POET who assimilated Christian norms with the greatest precision was Sem Tob Ibn Ardutiel ben Isaac—better known as Sem Tob de Carrión—who composed his only Castilian cuaderna vía poem, Proverbios morales (Moral Proverbs), in the early 1350s. Sem Tob offers a wealth of guidance in Proverbios morales, whose 725 stanzas comprise almost entirely two fourteen-syllable alexandrine verses divided into two seven-syllable hemistiches. Sem Tob lived in the town of Carrión de los Condes, whose ten thousand inhabitants during the fourteenth century included between three hundred and six hundred Jewish families. Jews had been granted the right to reside in Carrión de los Condes in a royal charter issued during the late eleventh century, and documents reveal that Jews lived in communities situated next to several pilgrimage churches in Carrión de los Condes, including the Benedictine monastery of San Zoilo.

This monastery acquired its advocation in the eleventh century after securing the relics of Zoilus (Zoilo), a Cordovan martyr executed at the beginning of the fourth century. The arrival of these relics to the monastery that adopted his name contributed to its growth as a pilgrimage centre for pilgrims travelling on the Camino de Santiago, which was a common phenomenon as I explain elsewhere with respect to the arrival of the relics of Millán to San Millán de la Cogolla. The possession of objects linked to venerated figures enhanced the status of the monasteries where those objects were housed and increased the chances that pilgrims would choose to visit and leave donations. As such, the procurement of relics was a monastic activity that, like the recitation of cuaderna vía poetry, was conducted with the aim of producing economic benefits. San Zoilo also acquired assets after officially becoming a Cluniac daughter monastery in 1076, when it began to receive royal donations, including properties in several surrounding villages.

In 1220, in gratitude for services rendered to San Zoilo, King Fernando III granted an exemption from an annual royal tax of one hundred maravedís to Christian, Jewish, and Muslim residents of the “barrio Sancti Zoili” (San Zoilo neighbourhood).