Jews and Money 159
property of any Jew who continued to practise usury.152 in 1258 he instructed the
archbishops and bishops of France never to pledge vestments, ornaments, and ves-
sels as security with Jews who must be warned that if they received them they
would not only lose the gain accruing from the debt but would also incur loss of
the principal.153 in letters of 1263 Alexander’s successor Urban iV issued the usual
regulations about Jewish usury and crusading as stipulated at Lateran iV.154 On a
more personal level he also wrote in 1263 to the Cistercian abbot of Aulne in the
diocese of Liège, assuring him that a certain Girard of Marbais who had received
money from Jews gained by usury while a counsellor of the duke of Brabant, should
not be unduly exercised about the sum. Rather the abbot should impose a penance
on Girard for the good of his soul; and a hundred pounds of the money should be
given to charity.155 Urban also requested the help of the prior and canon of Troyes
in collecting debts which the archbishop of sens owed Jewish merchants in Rome.156
we also possess letters concerned with Jewish usury from the correspondence of
Gregory X. in 1274 the second Council of Lyons made provision for a new cru-
sade to the Holy Land. Although Jews were not mentioned specifically in the
legislation, since Canons 26 and 27 called generally for the severe control and
punishment of all usurers, this must have included Jewish usurers.157 in the same
context Gregory declared that crusaders were to be offered the traditional crusade
privileges, including the remission of interest on all debts.158 As usual Jews were to
be compelled by the secular authorities to remit any interest to crusaders that they had
already collected. From then on we have no further record of letters concerned spe-
cifically with Jewish usury until the pontificate of nicholas iii. in 1279 he requested
the bishop of Rieti to investigate reports that the king of Castile and León was
permitting the practice of usury. Although again Jews were not specifically men-
tioned, traditionally many moneylenders in those parts were Jewish. indeed
nicholas’s enquiry as to whether the king allowed Jews to be appointed to public
office strongly suggests that he was concerned about Jewish usury in particular.159
One further letter of nicholas iV was concerned specifically with usury and the
fall of the crusader stronghold of Acre in 1290. writing to Queen Marguerite of
France in 1291, he reassured her that she should not concern herself that money
she had acquired from Jews might be usurious, even allowing her to keep the sum
in question as long as a third was sent to finance the proposed new crusade to
152 Alexander iV ‘ex parte tua’ (13 October 1257), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.58–60; Simonsohn,
pp.213–14.
153 Alexander iV, ‘si olim in’ (23 August 1258), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.62–4; Simonsohn, pp.214–15.
154 Urban iV, ‘Cum praedicationem crucis’ (20 February 1263), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.77–8;
Simonsohn, pp.220–1; ‘Cum negotium crucis’ (23 October 1263), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.79–80;
Simonsohn, pp.222–3.
155 Urban iV, ‘Oblata nobis’ (8 February 1263), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.75–7; Simonsohn, pp.219–20.
156 Urban iV, ‘dilecti(s) filii(s)’ (27 March–2 April 1264), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.81–2; Simonsohn,
pp.223–4.
157 Tanner, Vol. 1, pp.328–30; Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.131–2.
158 Gregory X, ‘si mentes fidelium’ (17 september 1274), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.126–7; Simonsohn,
pp.246–7.
159 nicholas iii, ‘istud est memoriale secretum’ (23 March 1279), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.145–6;
Simonsohn, p.253.