The Papacy and the Place of Jews in Christian Society 213
the king confiscated their property, and when Muslim slaves of Jews agreed to
baptism they were forced back into their former state of servitude.55 In 1288, fol-
lowing a riot in the County of La Marche (France) in which a number of Jews had
been baptized in fear of their lives, Nicholas Iv issued a stern letter to these inquisi-
tors who had seized and imprisoned converts who had reverted to Judaism and
persisted in their refusal to return to Christianity. He argued that, despite the cir-
cumstances of their baptism, these Jews could not be considered ‘strictly forced’
(‘precise coacti’) because, driven by fear, they had consented to the baptism of their
infant children. He concluded in no uncertain terms that the apostates must be
treated like heretics.56 yet in 1291 he instructed the bishop of Beauvais to make
proper provision for Jewish converts.57
THe PAPACy, INQUISITION, AND JeWS
As we saw in Chapter Five, following the lead of Innocent Iv, subsequent thir-
teenth-century popes went out of their way to show that they classified Jews as
‘internal’ rather than ‘external’ to Christian society and therefore subject to papal
authority, not least in relation to the Talmud. Such ideas became particularly
apparent during a second disputation, the Barcelona Disputation of 1263.58 Held
during the pontificate of Urban Iv between the Dominican Paul Christian and
Nachmanides, the debate was organized by Raymond of Peñafort in the presence
of James I of Aragon and his court, after Paul Christian claimed he could prove the
truth of Christianity from the Talmud and other rabbinical writings.59 Like Donin,
Paul Christian was one of a number of Jewish converts who sought to dispute their
former religious beliefs and convert their once fellow-Jews.60 Unlike the Paris
55 Martin Iv, ‘Isti sunt articuli’ (1 April 1284), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.152–4; Simonsohn, pp.257–9.
56 Nicholas Iv, ‘Sicut nobis significare’ (7 May 1288), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.165–7; Simonsohn, p.266.
For the Latin phrase ‘precise coacti’, see Nicholas Iv, ‘Sicut nobis significare’, Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.165;
Simonsohn, p.266.
57 Nicholas Iv (1291), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.191. See Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.191, footnote 1: A short description
of the letter is all that survives. Such letters continued into the fourteenth century. Thus, for example,
in 1320 John XXII ordered every rector and official of the Comtat venaissin and of the other counties
and territories belonging to the Apostolic See to ensure that no converts were harmed in their property
and goods which they had at the time of their conversion or might obtain in the future, nor permit
such harm to be caused them by others, but that they must be well disposed towards them and protect
them so that they should not be impoverished, which would make them return to their former faith;
John XXII, ‘Dignum arbitrantes’ (22 and 31 July 1320), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.315; Simonsohn, p.320. He
also wrote in 1320 to the rectors and officials of the Comtat venaissin and of other countries and ter-
ritories dependent upon the bishopric of Avignon spiritually or temporally, with the same message but
with particular reference to a certain Peter Arnaldi of Sarrians who was a recent convert to Catholicism;
John XXII, ‘Dignum arbitrantes / arbitramur’ (31 July 1320), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.316; Simonsohn,
pp.320–1. And in 1322 in a letter to the bishop of viterbo he empowered him to grant a forty-day
indulgence to Christians who supported through charitable donations certain Jews who had been
converted by a citizen of the town called Fardus Hugolini as well as repentant women; John XXII,
‘Inter opera laudanda’ (4 July 1322), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.326; Simonsohn, pp.334–5.
58 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, pp.307–13.
59 Jeremy Cohen, The Friars and the Jews. The Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism (Ithaca, London,
1982), pp.108–23.
60 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, p.279.