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62 Aragon

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

'Arakin were they at

change the city of their abode. of the king was also necessary to build synagogues, establish cemeteries, open schools, purchase or export wheat, and even to bake Passover bread. Besides the poll-tax, Jews were required to liberty to

The permission

pay special taxes and to contribute toward the repair of walls and fortifications, as well as to the equipment of the fleet and the general expenses of war. Whenever the king visited a city, the Jews there had to provide beds for him and his retinue. The assessment of individual taxes was made by the representatives of the Jews, chosen by themselves and confirmed by the king. The division of the taxes among the various congregations was determined by the king, upon consultation with these representatives of the synagogue. Sometimes the king remitted these taxes for a time, as in the cases of Uncastillo and Montcluz, to which a respite was given by Jaime I. Some Jews received special privileges from the king. They were permitted to take four denarii per pound as weekly interest (about 86 per cent, per annum). But they were forbidden to lend to students. Frequently the king released all debtors of the Jews from their obligations, and declared the Jewish claims void. There existed for the Jews of Aragon two special forms of oath one, upon the law of Moses the other, much more formidable, called "the oath of curses." All such oaths had to be taken in the synagogue or other



places of worship.

In their social relations a sharp line of demarca-

was drawn between Jews and Christians. Jews were forbidden to keep Christian slaves and servants, or to have Christian women in their houses in any capacity whatever. Christians and Jews were not permitted to dwell together; even Jewish prisoners were separated from Christians. Jaime I., whose tion

confessor was the zealous missionary Enforced Raymundo de Pefiaforte, ardently faSocial Iso- vored the conversion of the Jews to lation of Christianity conversion to Islam was Jews. prohibited and gave his assistance to the work in every way. In 1249 he repealed an ordinance, then operative in many provinces, to the effect that Jews embracing Christianity must surrender their property, or most of it, to the treasury. The law protected those who had embraced Christianity from insult at the hands of their former coreligionists; and it was forbidden to call them renegades, turncoats, or any such disparaging names. Whenever a prelate, or a brother of one of the orders, announced a missionary sermon in a place where Jews resided, the latter were compelled by the king's officers to listen to it and no excuse for absence was accepted, save a special royal dispensation, such as was granted to the Jews of Lerida. Baptized children of Jews could not reside with their parents. In 1263, in order further to facilitate the Religious conversion of the Jews, Jaime I. arDisputa- ranged a public debate at the royal palace in Barcelona, under the presition at Barcelona. dency of Pefiaforte, between the missionary Pra Paolo (or Pablo Christiani), a baptized Jew, and the eminent Spanish rabbi, Moses ben Nahman (Bonastruc de Porta). Aside from these clerical annoyances, the position

— —



of the Aragonian

Jews under Jaime

I.

was not an

62

They owned houses and estates, were one. permitted to farm the royal grist-mills, and to follow agriculture and trades, and, though they could not occupy judicial positions, other honorable posts were open to them. When Jaime conquered Majorca he was attended by Don Bahyel as his private secretary and when he besieged Murcia he employed Don Astruc Bonsentor as his interpreter of Arabic to negotiate with the inhabitants of the town. Jehudano de Cavalleria, the wealthiest and most influential Jew of Aragon, was head bailiff and royal treasunhappy



urer Bondia and a certain Abraham were bailiffs in Saragossa, and Vidal Solomon was bailiff of Barcelona. Maestros David and Solomon were the king's body-physicians and Maestro Samson was physician Pope Clement IV. in vain requested to the queen. Jaime to remove Jews from all public offices; but his son, Pedro III. yielding to the stormy demands of the Cortes in Saragossa, decreed that no Jews in Jew should thenceforth occupy the



,

High Pub-

position of bailiff. Pedro and his successors took the Jews under their protection possibly for their own interests. In the wars of Africa and Sicily the material aid of the Jews was indispensable, and large sums were exacted from them for the equipment of the fleet lic Offices,

,

and the conduct of the war. Although Jaime II., like his grandfather, earnestly desired the conversion of the Jews, he showed himHe permitted a certain self tolerant toward them. number of Jewish refugees from Prance to settle in Barcelona and other places and, in recognition of their liberal contributions toward the equipment of the fleet, he released the Jewish congregations for several years from all taxes, according at the same

time special privileges to the congregations of Barcelona, Saragossa, and Huesca. The king protected them, but the populace, repeatedly aroused by the clergy, continually annoyed them. In Barcelona in 1285, one Berenguer Oiler, supported by several other ordinary citizens, instigated a serious riot against the Jews. On a certain day of Passover he announced that he would kill all the barons and the Jews and plunder their houses; but he was prevented from carrying out his plans through the timely intervention of the king.

The Jews and

of

Aragon proved themselves generous

self-sacrificing in

every emergency.

When

in

1323 the Infante Alfonso (afterward Alfonso IV.) embarked upon the conquest of Sardinia, they placed large sums of money at his disposal and the congregation of Tortosa hired sailors to man the galleys furnished by the city. Alfonso IV. in return showed himself favorably inclined toward his

He accorded special privileges to of Fraga, Barcelona, and Gerona, and put down the insurrection of the shepherds, which had extended to parts of Aragon. When a large number of Jews desired to leave the country, he attempted to retain them by reducing their taxes. Under his sucJewish subjects. the

Jews

Don Pedro IV. who was devoted to astrology, which he studied under his body-physician Don Rabbi Menahem, the condition of the Jews was a very painful one, owing to the contest between the Aragonian Unionists and the king, and to the war between Aragon and Castile. The congregations of

cessor

,