The Papacy and the Place of Jews in Christian Society 217
a truly Christian society remained paramount and the friars’ investigation of the
affairs of Jewish communities was but a natural corollary of that vision. even so,
Martin Iv’s second re-issue of the ‘Sicut Iudaeis’ contained an additional clause
which limited the freedom of action of the Inquisition with regard to Jews, pre-
venting inquisitors or indeed anyone else from employing force against them in
their investigations.78 So from ‘Turbato corde’ onwards the old idea of protection
and the new idea of enquiry into the activities of Jewish communities theoretically
operated side by side. However, as we shall see, the influence of the friars would
have an overall negative affect on papal–Jewish relations.
THe PAPACy, FRIARS, AND CONveRSIONARy
SeRMONSAlthough only a tiny proportion of Gregory IX’s correspondence directly con-
cerned the Jews, historians have argued that his support of the mendicant orders,
first recognized by his predecessors Innocent III and Honorius III, his establish-
ment of the Inquisition in the 1230s, and his condemnation of the Talmud, all had
a profound effect on the well-being of Jewish communities.79
We have seen the important role that the friars played in the implementation of
the Inquisition. The friars, particularly the Dominicans, were also highly successful
in preaching missionary and conversionary sermons, especially in France and parts
of Spain, and we know that Jews were increasingly ordered to attend these sermons
by kings and princes eager to support such initiatives.80 Laws were enacted to force
Jews to attend such sermons by James I of Aragon in 1242, Louis IX of France in
1263, and edward I of england in 1280. So, for example, following Paul Christian’s
arrival in France, in 1269 Louis IX commanded his officials to ensure that Jews
listen to Paul’s missionary sermons and show him whatever of their books he
wished to examine. Friar Paul, as he became known, stirred up further missionary
controversy in Provence and problems soon arose.81 At times the friars carried out
their mission fervently, burning Jewish books and forcibly entering synagogues.82
Hence Philip Iv of France (1285–1314) warned his officials on a number of occa-
sions not to co-operate with mendicant inquisitors, while later in the fourteenth
century Peter Iv of Aragon (1336–1387) would deem it necessary to censure friars
for delivering such virulent sermons against Jews that they resulted in murder and
the destruction of Jewish property.
spirit of Turbato had replaced it.’ See Solomon Grayzel, ‘Popes, Jews and Inquisition from “Sicut” to
“Turbato”’, in Essays on the Occasion of the Seventieth Anniversary of the Dropsie University, ed. A.I.
Katsh, L. Nemoy (Philadelphia, 1979), p.188.
78 Martin Iv ‘Sicut Iudaeis’ (2 August 1281), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.147–50; Simonsohn, pp.254–5.
79 Only approximately thirty out of almost 2,000 of Gregory IX’s decretals directly concerned the
Jews. See The Church in the Medieval Town, ed. Slater, Rosser, p.50.
80 Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.145, footnote 2.
81 Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.96, footnote 5.
82 Jeffrey Richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minority Groups in the Middle Ages (London,
1991), p.96.