252 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
PAPAl rhETorIC: ‘PErFIdIA’, ‘durITIA’, ‘CAECITIA’
Papal letters concerned with the treatment of Jews varied considerably in style and
mode of expression. Thus, for example, whereas Innocent III, Gregory IX, and
Innocent IV regularly quote Scripture, honorius III’s letters were less rhetorical and
more practical.33 hence variegated expression can be found in papal correspondence,
depending on content and context. So, while the language of letters or sections of
letters concerned with Jewish usury was very plain, often formulaic, and varied little
from pope to pope,34 letters about protection were more varied, often citing biblical
texts such as Psalms 59: 12, Psalms 89: 14, Psalms 94: 14, Isaiah 58: 6, and romans
9: 27–8.35 The wickedness of the Jews (Psalms 59: 12) meant that only a number of
them would be saved (romans 9: 27–8), yet the lord would not forever forsake his
people (Psalms 94: 14) but would act with righteousness and justice towards them
(Psalms 89: 14) and would save those who were oppressed (Isaiah 58: 6).
Particular themes recur in papal correspondence concerned with Jews. one of
the most frequent was the theme of Jewish ‘perfidy’ (‘Perfidia’). damasus I (366–384)
appears to be the first pope to have used the term ‘Perfidia’ to refer to the Jews. leo
I (440–461) had repeated it, reiterating that the Jews’ rejection of Jesus was the
cause of the destruction of the Temple and of their dispersion. The word is
also common to the correspondence of Gregory the Great, as in a letter of 599 in
which he praised the Visigothic king of Spain for refusing a bribe from Jews
in return for the mitigation of a law directed against their ‘Perfidia’.36 In the twelfth
century Innocent II described the usurpation of the papal throne by Anacletus II,
the antipope of Jewish descent, as ‘an insane Jewish perfidy’, while Alexander III
also referred to Jewish ‘perfidy’ and ordered stringent precautions against its conta
gious effects.37 The theme persisted in the correspondence of thirteenthcentury
popes.38 hence at the beginning of Innocent III’s reissue of the ‘Constitutio pro
Iudaeis’ we read ‘licet perfidia Judeorum sit multipliciter improbanda’—‘Although
33 For example, honorius III, ‘Ineffabilis providentia dei’ (11 december 1225), Grayzel, Vol. 1,
pp.172–4.
34 For example, the ‘template’ was Innocent III, ‘Post miserabile(m) hierusolymitanae’ (17/15
August 1198), Grayzel, Vol. 1, p.86; Simonsohn, p.71.
35 Innocent III, ‘licet perfidia Judeorum’, Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.92–4; Simonsohn, pp.74–5; Gregory
IX, ‘lachrymabilem Judeorum in’, Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.226–8; Simonsohn, pp.163–4; ‘lachrymabilem
Judeorum in’, Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.228–30; Simonsohn, p.165; Innocent IV, ‘lachrymabilem Judeorum
Alemannie’, Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.268–70; Simonsohn, pp.194–5.
36 Gregory I, ‘Explere verbis’ (August 599), Simonsohn, pp.21–2, especially p.21: ‘contra Iudaeorum
perfidiam’.
37 Innocent II, ‘Apostolicae sedis consueta’ (6 october 1131), PL 179, cols 102–4. See louis
newman, Jewish Influence on Christian Reform Movements, (new York, 1925), pp.251–2; Mary Stroll,
The Jewish Pope: Ideology and Politics in the Papal Schism of 1130 (leiden, 1987), p.163. The phrase
used by Alexander III was ‘Iudaismi perfidiam’. See Alexander III, ‘Quia super his’ (1159–1179),
Simonsohn, p.50. See richard dobson, The Jews of Medieval York and the Massacre of 1190 (York,
1974), p.19.
38 For example, honorius III, ‘Sedes Apostolica pia’ (26 August 1220), Grayzel, Vol. 1, pp.152–4;
Simonsohn, pp.108–9; Gregory IX, ‘Sufficere debuerat perfidie’ (5/4 March 1233), Grayzel, Vol. 1,
pp.198–200; Simonsohn, pp.141–3; Innocent IV, ‘Impia Judeorum perfidia’ (9 May 1244), Grayzel,
Vol. 1, pp.250–2; Simonsohn, pp.180–2.