160 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
rescue the Holy Land after this fresh disaster.160 since the crusade never got off the
ground, the money was probably never required. After 1291, although popes con-
tinued to call for crusades, they were less of a priority; by contrast, papal preoccu-
pation with Jews and usury continued.161
Jews And THe deVeLOPMenT OF THe THeORY
OF UsURY in CAnOn LAw
From the beginning of the twelfth century, as we have seen, popes had increasingly
expressed their concerns about money-lending at interest.162 The Third Lateran
160 nicholas iii, ‘Benigno sunt tibi’ (13 december 1291), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.189–91; Simonsohn,
pp.281–2.
161 Hence in 1297 Boniface Viii granted Marguerite, widow of King Charles of sicily, permission
to choose a confessor who would absolve her from the sin of having extorted money from her subjects
including from Jews suspected of having practised usury. see Boniface Viii, ‘Pium arbitramur’
(3 september 1297), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.201–2; Simonsohn, p.285. in 1300 Boniface also ordered the
rector of the Comtat Venaissin to expel recently arrived usurers including Jews and to prohibit their
admission in the future. see Boniface Viii, ‘Cum sicut’ (5 June 1300), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.207–8;
Simonsohn, p.288. in 1306 Clement V ruled that a landowner might retain money and property taken
from Jews, even though it was possibly derived from usury, as long as he set the money aside for the
poor, and in the same year he allowed Queen Mary of France to retain the money taken from the Jews
of her territory, again possibly usurious, provided she assigned some of it to support the Holy Land.
see Clement V, ‘Grata devotionis obsequia’ (2 January 1306), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.212; Simonsohn,
p.290; ‘devotionis tuae’ (1306), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.212–13; Simonsohn, pp.290–1. Clement also
issued letters in 1306, 1307, and 1308 instructing the dean of Toledo to enforce canons prohibiting
usury. see Clement V (1306–1307), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.213–14. The actual bull is not extant. in 1308
Clement wrote to the Knights Hospitaller to appeal for a new crusade and to declare that crusaders
should be granted the privileges of freedom from the payment of interest owed to Jews who should be
boycotted if they did not remit any usury they had already collected. see Clement V, ‘exurgat deus’
(11 August 1308), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.214–16; Simonsohn, p.291. in 1309 he allowed Blanche of
Brittany to establish four chapels or a hospital in the diocese of Paris and to use half of the money she
had acquired from the Jews, possibly from usury, for this purpose provided that the other half was
given to the Hospitallers for the Holy Land. see Clement V, ‘devotionis tue’ (27 May 1309), Grayzel,
Vol. 2, p.216. in 1311 he decreed that if Jews had charged the monks of the Benedictine monastery of
Paulinzelle high rates of interest they must restore everything above the principal—if necessary under
threat of boycott. see Clement V, ‘Conquesti sunt’ (11 October 1311), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.220–1;
Simonsohn, p.293. during 1311–1312 he condemned all usury outright. see Clement V, ‘ex gravi’
(1311–12), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.227–9. in 1312 he again allowed Queen Mary of France to keep half
the money she had taken from Jews who had acquired it usuriously as long as she sent the other half
to the Holy Land. see Clement V, ‘Consuevit interdum’ (29 december 1312), Grayzel, Vol. 2 ,
pp.229–30; Simonsohn, pp.296–7. He urged the bishop of Lucca to use his ecclesiastical powers
against the civic authorities of the town who were encouraging Jews in their usurious undertakings.
see Clement V, ‘Quamvis reprobanda’ (no date), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.231–2. His successor John XXii
also made a number of pronouncements condemning Jewish usury. see John XXii, ‘exigit tuorum’
(5 June 1318), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.306; Simonsohn, pp.307–8; ‘sua nobis’ (7 April 1320), Grayzel, Vol.
2 , pp.308–9; Simonsohn, pp.312–13; ‘significarunt nobis’ (24 december 1320), Grayzel, Vol. 2,
p.320; Simonsohn, p.324; ‘Ad audientiam nostram’ (7 March 1321), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.323–4;
Simonsohn, pp.330; ‘Ad audientiam nostram’ (6 October 1321), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.324; Simonsohn,
pp.333–4; ‘inter ecclesiasticos ordines’ (23 August 1322), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.327; Simonsohn, pp.335–7;
‘Cum sicut accepimus’ (5 March 1325), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.329–30; Simonsohn, pp.342–3; ‘Cum sicut
accepimus’ (1 August 1326), Grayzel, Vol. 2, p.332; Simonsohn, pp.347–8; ‘significarunt nobis’ (19/18
February 1328), Grayzel, Vol. 2, pp.335–6; Simonsohn, pp.354–5.
162 earlier collectors of legal texts had already for many years been eloquent on the subject of usury.
Popes seem to have become increasingly sophisticated in their statements, as much as more resolutely