208 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
when the Church sought to claim jurisdiction.6 That claim was often opposed by
the civil authorities, even though the Church wished to exercise it indirectly
through such authorities.7 Canon law barred Jews from acting as witnesses for the
prosecution of Christians in court, while increasingly as the thirteenth century
progressed popes felt the need to protect them against false evidence brought by
Christians.8 Not least of the papacy’s concerns was the issue of conversion.
THe PAPACy AND CONveRSION
In general, as we would expect, popes did everything they could to ensure that
Jewish converts not return to Judaism.9 yet, as we saw in Chapter Two, throughout
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they regularly re-issued the ‘Constitutio pro
Iudaeis’ which declared that Jews must not be coerced into baptism.
Indeed as early as the sixth century Gregory I had ordered the bishop of Arles, and
the bishop of Marseilles to desist from baptizing by force.10 But he had also declared
that inducements should be offered to Jews in Sicily to convert in terms of a reduc-
tion of their land taxes if they were willing to accept baptism,11 and he had ordered
the bishop of Naples to ensure that pagan slaves of Jews who declared a willingness
to be baptized be set free.12 He therefore trod a middle ground, wielding both carrot
and stick, and subsequent popes followed his lead. So in ordering his newly appointed
archbishop of Mainz as papal vicar in Germany to preach the Christian faith to the
Jews, Leo vII (936–939) had stated that if they refused to be baptized he should
expel them but not resort to force.13 Alexander II (1061–1073) also insisted that the
conversion of the Jews was not to be obtained by violence,14 while Clement III
(1097–1100) took pains to prevent Jewish converts reverting to Judaism.15
As we have observed, from the late eleventh century onwards, as a result of
the First Crusade, the baptism of Jews, including Jewish children, became an
important issue for theologians and canon lawyers.16 For Jews, a convert remained
legally Jewish even if he converted, but rabbis in general liked apostates who
returned to Judaism to confess and repent before returning to the community; if
they had been forcibly converted the rabbis were more lenient.17
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries popes issued further letters to individuals
in response to particular queries about the protection of Jews from forced baptism.
This was a difficult issue for a pope as qua pope it was his duty to encourage
6 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, p.102; p.106.
7 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, pp.114–16.
8 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, pp.116–21.
9 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, pp.345–8.
10 Gregory I, ‘Scribendi ad fraternitatem’ (June 591), Simonsohn, pp.4–5.
11 Gregory I, ‘De Manichaeis qui’ (October 594), Simonsohn, pp.11–12.
12 Gregory I, ‘Fraternitati vestrae ante’ (April 596), Simonsohn, pp.12–13.
13 Leo vII, ‘Fraternitiatis amore’ (937–9), Simonsohn, pp.32–3.
14 Alexander II, ‘Licet ex devotionis’ (1065), Simonsohn, p.37.
15 Clement III, ‘Quod contra ecclesiae’ (1097–1098), Simonsohn, p.42.
16 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, pp.253–7.
17 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, p.349.