The Jewish Communities in the Social Fabric of Latin Greece 279
state. The ecclesiastical and theological imprint was particularly strong in the
depiction of the Jews as deicides and desecrators of Christian symbols. The
Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela offers a convincing insight into popular
attitudes toward the Jews in Constantinople in the early 1160s: “Their condi-
tion is very low, [.. .] the Greeks hate the Jews, whether good or bad, and sub-
ject them to great oppression and beat them in the streets, and in every way
treat them with rigor.” While not representing Jewish everyday life in the whole
empire, Benjamin’s description as well as Byzantine contemporary sources
point to latent popular anti-semitism.127
The Jews in Latin Greece: Socio-Legal Status and Individual
Discrimination
The Latin conquest of Byzantine territories in the early 13th and in Chios in
the 14th century did not involve any incidents affecting the Jews. The imposi-
tion of Latin rule was not limited to a change in political authority. In its wake
the Latin Church imposed its own authority over the local Greek Orthodox
Church, which was deprived of its dominant position and higher ranks. In
addition, Latin settlers of Roman faith became the third component of the
population, alongside the indigenous Greeks and Jews. Religious allegiance
became an ethnic marker, as well as a basic criterion of social stratification and
individual status. In short, Latin dominion decisively altered the social struc-
ture of the conquered territories and had a direct impact on the status of the
indigenous inhabitants and their respective communities.128
Two terms defining the socio-legal status of the Jew, servus and villanus,
appear in Latin Greece. Servus was generally used for a slave tied to a specific
lord, and villanus for a dependent peasant. However, these and other terms
were not always used in a rigorous legal sense, as illustrated in several instances.
As noted above, in 1311 the lord of Karystos accused a Jewess mentioned as his
serva of theft. The sum of 1200 hyperpyra she allegedly had embezzled sug-
gests involvement in large-scale business ventures, well beyond the reach of
slaves or dependent peasants. In this case serva obviously expressed subjec-
tion to a lord, rather than slavery. The same meaning applies to the villana
127 Adler, The Itinerary, Hebrew text, pp. 16–17; English translation, p. 14, which I have slightly
emended. See also Jacoby, “Jews and Christians,” pp. 255–56. For this entire section, see
above, n. 1.
128 Jacoby, “Jews and Christians,” pp. 244–46.