Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/393

345 -

THE

345

JKWI.SII

nf forcpfl conversions and to the edict proliibitiiig tlicin which had been issued by Gregor_v the Great. Hiiii.iouRAPiiY Vogeislcin and Rleger, Uench. il. Juilen in.

Hum,


 * iii.

1.

n. G. E.

ALEXANDER rrn i>K ALEXANDER

III.,

POPE.

IV.,

POPE

See Popes.

At

in-

Count

prior

(

12.-..1-01):

Was

elevation to the poiililiial llirone in fj.")4. al a liuie of threat turbu leiice; he ruled until his death, at Viterbo, Italy. .May -'."). 1~1 He attempted to luiitethe (ireeU and Latin churches. and to aiuie. the kiiiffiloni of Sicily to tlu' papal domain heestalilisliedthe Inquisition in France in 12.")."), and encouraged the orders of men<licant Owing to the factional struggles in Home and friars. llie undisputed sway of Ihc senator IJranealeone, the pope's position was exceedingly weak, but non<' the less his inlluence did not remain nnfelt in .Jewish history. .Vn edict which .Vlc.vander issued throws light on the contemporary position of the .lews in Home. It is iu this dociunent that, for the first time in about M years, the names of Uoman .h'ws (.Vngelus, Sabbatorius, Museus, Salamon, Consiliolus) appear in a papal manifesto. number of prominent .Jewish merchants seem to have stood in connnercial ri'lations to the pa|)al court, as. indeed, the .Jewish tradesmen almost always appear to have done. On February 1. ViT>T>, the pope relieved these merehautsof all road ta.ves throughout the papal pos.sessions. sindlar franchise was granted on March ^1 to the Roman citizens and merchants iu general, and on April to several Ifoman citizens nu'nlioned by name. While it is true that this ilocuinent bears wiliu'ss to the distinction which e.visteil i)et ween the .Jews and the other Honian citizens and merchants, the former, no iloubt, having been excluded from the Common connnercial gilds.it proves, also that the .Jiwish merchants conducted their business in common with their Christian fellows, and that.asarnle. they were granted the .same rights by the i)apal government. Nor was the granting of such privileges necessjirily inspired by a real friendliness toward the .Jews; it was due rather to the commercial indispeiisiibility of the latter. That .Mexamler IV. was swayed in his concessions by no motive of love for till' .Jews is eviilenced by history. On .Sept. H. Vi'u. he reissued the edict concerning the .Jewish badge, which, though it eventually fell into abeyance, seems at the outset to have been enforced throughout Italy and to have been the cause of a great deal of dejiression among the people, as is depicted in a liturgic elegy of a contemporary. Benjamin b. .bniham. av. .VIexander. likew i.se, ina bull n<l(Iressed to lh<' duke of liurgiuidy an<l Ihc count of .ii jou and Provence, onleri'd the contiscation of the Talmud, as containing "errors against the Catholic faith, and horrible and intolenible blasphemies." KiMiildii

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VoKclstcln.and UleRcr, ficuch. d. Juilen in Ucr. Et.Juivtu. i. lltlefwf/.: Kohef'al-

Mil.: I). i(

w

II.

G. E.

ALEXANDER VI., POPE. Sep PopF.s. At Till ALEXANDER VII., POPE. See Popes. At OK TITI ALEXANDER VIII., POPE. See Popes. .Vt Tin Hi oi ALEXANDER I., PAVLOVICH, Emperor 1>I.

o).

111

of Russia: Itorri at St I'ltersbuig, Dee ITTT; died at Taganrog. Dec. I, IM'J.'). Iluring his reign IS(ll-'J,")) niore measures for internal reform were inuuguruted tlian underany of his p redcccs-sors, from '.';!,

(

ENCYCLOPEDIA

Alexander, Son of Herod Alexandor I., Pavlovich

the days of Peter the Great (died 172.")). lie pre pared the way for the emancipation of the serfs, and promoted education, agriculture, commerce and manufactures, literature and the line arts. C.VTiiEinxK II. (died ITlHil ha<l already e.vhibited a certain degree of liberality toward the Jews; and when Alexander succeeded to the throne, on the assa.ssination of his father. Paul, in IHOl. the liberal or, rather, radical disp((sition of the young ruler and of his advisers soon permeated all depart Attitude mentsof the government an<l extended toward the even to llie public at large. Such a

—

Jews.

—

sjiirit could not fail to prove benclicial to the .lews (Orshanski. " Iz Noveishei Islorii Vevreyev v Kossii." iu "Yevreiskaya liiblioteka." 1872, ii". 218). At that time .Michael Uerr. the first French privy coinuilor of .Jewish ori.irin. issued an appeal to all sovereigns an<l nations, in

liberal

the nanu' of the " Kurojiean inhabitantsof the.Jewish faith." urging that full justice l)e shown to the .Jews,

which appeal probably inducedAlexander to attempt to ameliorate the condition of liis .Jewish subjects. For this purpose a special commission was summoned, byaukase issuedOet. !), 1X02, todraftaset of reguwhich resulted in the"Knactinent concerning the.Jews"or Dec. !». 1S(M. Under thisenactment the Uussian .Jews obtained the right to buy and rent land in all the western and southern provinces (this led to the foundation of the tirst .Jewish AoRicii.TfK.M. Colonies in Hrssi.); to enter all the elementary and high schools ami universities: to establish factories in all the provinces in which they were pernutted to dwell; and to visit all other provincesof Hussiaon business, upon llie condition that they and their families adopted the Genuan style of dri'ss. in order that they might nol differ from the natives in outward appeanmce. They were pronnsed all the rights of citizens as soon as they should have shown diligence and skill in agriculture and handicrafts. .VIexander even offered the .Jews land in the neighborhood of St. Petersburg and .Moscow, provided they were willing to conline tluni.selves to agricullations,

tural pursuits. In 180.") Alexander

showed his friendly disposition toward the Jews by contributing 8.000 rubles (about -SI. .WO. or £300) toward the erection of Eleemosy- aJewish hospital in Wilna: and in 1806

nary Donations.

he ordered 2..")00 rubles (about S1.2.")0. or t'2"iO) to be annually contributed from the public treasury to the .sjime In 180!) the scheme of a forcible concen-

hospital. trillion of the Jews from rund districts into cities was referred to a siieeial commission under the chairmanship of Popov. In the following year |>ermission was grante<l them to live in Kiev; and al the same time the government establislu-d in Kremenchug a factory for carpet making in order to promote that industry among thiin. In ISl.'i a census of the Jews was tjikcn, and surnames were given lo all Jewish families. .Mex nnd(T issued a ukase (1818) directing the ileilion of three deputies from among the .lews, who should H'side in Si Petersburg, and be empowered to bring all .lewish affaii-s before the governnient. At the general meeting <'alled for the election of deputies, al Wilna. the following persons wen' elect<il: .Sundel •Sonnenberg. of Groihio: Reinasli Itanitz. of Vitebsk, ami Michael Kisenslailt. of Mohilev on the Dnieper .s vice di-pnti<'S. Samuel Kalzencllenbogen of

Wilna: Mordicai l.ipler. of Vinbsk. and ICleazar Dillion. of Minsk. weR' eh-cleil. To cover the expenses of the ilepiilies in St. Petersburg, estimaled at U.nno ducats (about §8,2:1.'). or £1.047) per annum, it was re.solveil lo take the silver ornnments from