96 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
XXii (1316–1334).172 So what was the papacy’s stance on Jewish physicians and
in particular on their alleged interest in magic? certainly popes and the clergy at
large were interested in medicine. John XXi (1276–1277) had himself studied in
Siena and Paris and wrote the well-known medical treatise, Tesaurus pauperum,
while his contemporaries Andreas Abalat, bishop of Valencia and Theoderic,
bishop of Bari and later of ravenna, wrote seminal works on surgery.173
Yet, since there was often a presumed connection between magic and heresy,
from the thirteenth century onwards the inquisition—which after the pontificate
of Gregory iX exercised jurisdiction over heresy—also had jurisdiction over Jews
charged with practising sorcery. As we have noted and shall discuss further in
chapter five, in 1240 Gregory iX ordered the Paris disputation which put the
Talmud under intense scrutiny for blasphemy and heresy. his successor innocent
iV claimed that qua pope he had a special duty to protect the souls of all Jews as
well as all christians. Then in 1267 clement iV declared in ‘Turbato corde’ that
inquisitors had the right to investigate any aspect of Jewish life which might invite
charges of magic.174 despite these initiatives, however, popes were surprisingly
reticent in making pronouncements accusing Jews of practising magic. in ‘Sane
mirantes’, a letter of 1262, Urban iV withdrew from a certain Gratianus Belmonte
a privilege which his predecessor Alexander iV had granted—namely to allow him
to collect a substantial portion of the money which the people of Guarcino in italy
paid annually to the church.175 Urban recounted how Gratianus had abused his
position and:
in contempt of our Saviour, he (Gratianus Belmonte) had no qualms about bringing
along a Jewish ‘magician’ who sinfully boasted that he knew everything the men and
women (of Guarcino) were doing in secret... 176172 Shatzmiller, Jews, Medicine, and Medieval, Society, pp.9–10.
173 Shatzmiller, Jews, Medicine, and Medieval, Society, p.9.
174 it was not, however, during our period but rather in the fourteenth century that the papacy
became more generally exercised about magic. in a letter ‘Successor Petri’ of 1318 John XXii asked
churchmen to enquire into the activities of a certain robert, bishop of Aix. he was accused of blas-
phemous acts including believing in and practising magic and fraternizing with both christians and
Jews who practiced it. See John XXii, ‘Successor Petri’ (7 January 1318), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.305–6 and
footnote 2; Simonsohn, pp.304–7. This letter was written only a few months after the sensational trial
of hugh Géraud, bishop of cahors, accused of trying to murder the pope and members of the curia
not only with poison but by spells and wax images. And a certain Bernard Jourdain of Toulouse was
supposed to have manufactured images of the pope and two of his cardinals. Then two years later, in
1320, John XXii instructed the archbishop and his suffragans, alongside the franciscans and dominicans
to enquire into the Talmud which supposedly contained not just blasphemies, errors, and falsehoods,
but also curses. See John XXii, ‘dudum felicis recordationis’ (4 September 1320), Grayzel, Vol. 2,
pp.316–19; Simonsohn, pp.321–3. in 1321 Jews were accused of poisoning wells by simultaneously
throwing powder into the water and uttering strange prayers. See Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.73–4, especially
footnote 145. And in another letter of 1324 to the king of france, about a man who was tried for
practising magic, John XXii named a convert from Judaism—a certain Johannes de foresio (Jean de
forez)—as a witness. See Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.305–6, footnote 2.
175 Urban iV, ‘Sane mirantes’ (29 June 1262), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.73–4.
176 Urban iV, ‘Sane mirantes’, Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.74: ‘Quendam autem Judeum sortilegum illuc
ducere non est veritus in nostri contumelia redemptoris, qui se nequiter jactando cognoscere asserit
universa occulta que ab hominibus et mulieribus committuntur... ’.