By the 13th century, the Call was the largest in Catalonia. Medieval Barcelona was approximately 15% Jewish during its golden age, with most living of the 4,000 Jews living in the Jewish quarter. Barcelona earned the reputation as a "city of sages" among the Jews. The Jews worked as doctors, scientists, merchants, and money lenders for Catalan aristocracy. As only Jews could legally lend money, Jews became the official financiers of Catalonia's sovereigns. Jews were officially property of the crown, and at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, papal instructions called for Jews to wear hoods and a red button sewn into their clothes to identify them. By 1268, King James I removed the requirement that the Jews in aljama had to wear the badge.
