The Papal Promise of Protection 67
Jewish communities over usury. Such crackdowns were always carefully justified on
biblical—and therefore religious—grounds.4
in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries europe witnessed a series of
expulsions of Jewish communities by both secular and religious authorities. About
1010 rumours began to circulate in the West that Jews had encouraged Muslims to
destroy the holy Sepulchre: that led to pogroms in a number of cities including
orleans, rouen, Limoges, and rome, and throughout the rhineland.5 in 1026
Jews were expelled from Limoges, with its bishop ordering them to be baptized or
leave. When only a few converted the rest were forced to flee to neighbouring cities. 6
in 1143 one hundred and fifty Jews were killed in the french town of ham.
The plight of Jewish communities in france worsened substantially during the
reign of Philip ii Augustus. only four months into his reign he imprisoned all Jews
in his kingdom and demanded a loan for their release. Then in 1181 he annulled
all loans made by Jews to christians in order to garner a percentage of the profits,
and the following year he confiscated Jewish property and expelled Jews from the
royal domain.7 Subsequently synagogues were converted into churches.8 Sixteen
years later, in 1198, the king re-admitted Jews to his kingdom, but only in return
for a substantial ransom and as part of a wider initiative to impose a taxation system
which would generate income for the crown.9 in 1223 Louis Viii (1223–1226)
expelled Jews from Normandy and in 1253 his son Louis iX (1226–1270) once
again expelled them altogether from the royal domains. So that the taint of usury
should not tarnish the crown’s reputation, in 1230 Louis iX had promulgated the
ordinances of Mélun which stipulated that christians ought not to pay interest
on loans. Then in 1235 he ordered Jews to live from their own labours or from
commerce without usury, repeating these injunctions in 1254, and declaring that
those who continued to practice usury must leave the kingdom.10 in other parts of
france nobles ejected Jews from Brittany, Poitou, Saintonge, Anjou, and Maine.
Although those evicted subsequently returned to the royal domains, they were
expelled yet again in 1306 and 1321.11
4 for example, as i have already noticed, in 1146 Louis Vii issued a stern edict releasing crusaders
from their obligations to Jewish lenders beyond the repayment of the principal, and forbade Jews from
recovering interest lost through profits generated by pledges, especially on land. See robert Stacey,
‘c rusades, Martyrdom and the Jews of Norman england 1096–1190’ in Juden und Christen zur Zeit
der Kreuzzüge, Vorträge und Forschungen 47, Konstanzer Arbeitskreis für mittelalterliche Geschichte, ed.
A. haverkamp (Sigmaringen, 1999), p.241; Stow, Alienated Minority, pp.113–14.
5 Jeffrey richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minority Groups in the Middle Ages (London,
1991), p.90.
6 Jonathan elukin, ‘The discovery of the Self: Jews and conversion in the Twelfth century’, in
Jews and Christians in Twelfth-Century Europe, ed. M. A. Signer, J. Van engen (indiana, 2001), p.66.
7 Stacey, ‘crusades, Martyrdom and the Jews of Norman england 1096–1190’, p.245; Abulafia,
Christian–Jewish Relations 1000– 1300 , pp.63–4.
8 Shlomo Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History (Toronto, 1991), p.46.
9 William chester Jordan, The French Monarchy and the Jews: from Philip Augustus to the Last of the
Capetians (Philadelphia, 1989), p.44; Gavin Langmuir, Toward a Definition of Anti-Semitism (Berkeley,
oxford, 1990), pp.142–3; Abulafia, Christian–Jewish Relations 1000– 1300 , p.65.
10 Jean richard, Saint Louis. Roi d’une France féodale, soutien de la Terre sainte (Paris, 1983),
pp.288–9; Abulafia, Christian–Jewish Relations 1000– 1300 , pp.78–9.
11 Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews. History, p.57.