244 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
Rome is the head of the kingdoms of Christendom, and contains about 200 Jews who
occupy an honourable position and pay no tribute, and amongst them are officials of
the Pope Alexander, the spiritual head of all Christendom. Great scholars reside here,
at the head of them being R. Daniel, the Chief Rabbi, and R. Jechiel, an official of the
pope. He is a handsome young man of intelligence and wisdom, and he has the entry
of the pope’s palace; for he is the steward of his house and of all that he has.138Alexander enjoyed a trusting relationship with Jechiel, himself a grandson of Rabbi
nathan, a renowned scholar.139 some historians have suggested that this Jechiel
was a financial officer, others a papal attendant. We know that the office of steward
or ‘dapifer’ involved food preparation and that during Alexander’s reign this
position became known as ‘senescalcus’. Jechiel’s origins from a widely respected
family of scholars may have helped him acquire such an important post.140
How should we interpret Jehiel’s employment by Alexander? Perhaps it is not so
surprising given that his Christian employer and the other Christians in the papal
household far outnumbered a single Jewish servant whom they might even have
hoped to convert.141 nevertheless, the fact that Jechiel lived in Alexander’s resi-
dence and held a position of power and honour in his household at a time when
popes were deliberately emphasizing Rome’s connection with its Jewish heritage,
reveals how close papal–Jewish relations in the city had become by the second half
of the twelfth century.
Yet this was the very period when in general Jewish communities were increas-
ingly suffering from the onset of the crusades, from increasing civil and ecclesias-
tical restrictions on their occupations, and from charges of ritual murder and blood
libel.142 in c.1179 Alexander himself had to issue an injunction forbidding the
pelting of Jews with missiles during religious processions and the desecrating of
their cemeteries, though that may point to increased exposure to casual hostility
specifically in Germany.143 As we explored in Chapter one, we also know from a
letter of the Jewish community in Paris that Louis Vii refused to believe accusa-
tions of ritual murder and in response drew up a charter of protection for Jews
which circulated throughout his realm. Despite the decrees of the Third Lateran
Council, he requested in 1180 that Alexander allow Jews to employ Christian ser-
vants and be permitted to build new synagogues—which reveals how different his
attitude to the Jews was from that of his successor Philip ii Augustus. Yet despite
his closeness to Jechiel the pope refused this latter request.144
Certainly Alexander’s convening of the Third Lateran Council in 1179 had a
profound effect on Jewish life since, as we have seen, Canon 27 decreed that to
prevent any danger of conversions to Judaism, Christians should not be allowed to
138 The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela; Text, Translation and Commentary, ed. M. n. Adler (new
York, 1907), pp.5–6, translated from the Hebrew on p.63.
139 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome, p.95.
140 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome, pp.96–7.
141 Champagne, The Relationship between the Papacy and the Jews in Twelfth-Century Rome, pp.186–7.
142 Champagne, ‘“Treasures of the Temple” and Claims to Authority in Twelfth-Century Rome’,
pp.114–15.
143 Champagne, ‘Celestine iii and the Jews’, p.277.
144 Champagne, ‘Celestine iii and the Jews’, p.276.