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316 Augustus II.

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Au spitz

During Ms reign the discipline in the Polish army became very lax, and the Jews suffered much from the violence and robbery of the soldiers. The Catholic clergy

ordered the enforcement of the decree of the Council of Basel instituting conversionist sermons in the synagogues, which decree had hitherto remained a dead letter. In vain did the Jews ask to be relieved from such sermons, pointing out their futility. Often this preaching could be maintained only with the aid of military force, as, for instance,

Lemberg in 1721. The land-owners, synods, and courts took energetic measures against the renting of inns by Jews. The poll-tax was collected from the Jews through their " kahals " with more energy than ever before, even after the long wars with Charles XII. of Sweden had ruined the Jews. At the Diet of 1717 in Warsaw, the JewMeasures ish poll-tax was still more increased. Against The gentry (shlyakhta), the merchants, the Jews, and the gilds soon observed that the Jews no longer enjoyed the favor of the throne, and their attitude toward them became more and more hostile. The ordinances of the Catholic Church exceeded in hostility to the Jews those passed in the seventeenth century. The animosity between the Jews and the Christians at this period was more of a religious than of an economico-social nature, as had been the case in the preceding period. The persecution of the adherents of non-Catholic creeds, of dissident Christians and Jews, was the predominating policy of Poland in the time of AugusThe Catholic synod of 1720, held at Lovich, tus II. passed an edict, "that the Jews shall not dare to build new synagogues or to repair the old ones," threatening them with the courts of the Church. At the end of his reign Augustus II. abandoned himself to a life of pleasure, and his last years, characterized as they were by boundless luxury and corruption of morals, hastened the downfall of Poland. at

E. Vehse, Ge.sc/i. der Wife dcs Hausrs Sachsen, vt 137-138, Hamburg, 1854: Grelscliel, Gcsch. dcs Sdclisischeu Volltes unci Stautes, ii. 575 Sidori, Gcsch. derjudcn in Sachsen, pp. 55, 56; Emil Lehmann, Der Pulnischc Resident Bcrend Lehmann. p. 13; Alphonse Levy, Gcsch. dcr Juden in Sachsen, pp. 50-63, Berlin, 1901 S. Dubnow, Yevrcisliaya Istoriya (Back and Brann), 11. 360-361.

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II.

R.

on every Jew passing through Dresden (Codex Augustus, iii. 10). Only on a petition of the jews of Dresden, presented by their delegate, Elias Berend Lehmann, children under ten years of age were exempted by virtue of an edict issued Sept. 24, In Poland, in the same year, the synod of 1733. Plotzk endorsed the medieval dictum, " that the Jews ought to be tolerated in Christian countries only to remind us of the torments of Christ, and with their wretched position of slaves to serve as an example of God's just chastisement of the unbelievers." The reign of Augustus was very unfortunate for Blood -accusations and destructhe Jews of Poland. tion of Jewish propertjr, synagogues, and cemeteries were of frequent occurrence; and in the courts the cunning lawyers of the Catholic Church always succeeded in convicting the innocent victims of the Jesuits. In vain Baruch Yavan, agent of Count Bruhl, appealed to that obdurate statesman for aid The minin behalf of the unfortunate Polish Jews. ister made liberal promises, but referred Yavan to Prom 1758 to 1760 the ponthe nuncio of the pope. tiff repeatedly instructed his representatives in Poland to prevent the spread of these accusations (the falsehood of similar ones had been stated as early as the thirteenth century by a bull of Innocent IV.); but it proved easier to inculcate such prejudices in the masses than to root them out. During this reign the Frankists appeared in Poland, and caused great disturbances among the Jews, enjoying the protection of the clergy, and even of the king himself. At the same time Dembovski, archbishop of Lemberg, with the aid of the clergy, police, and the Frankists, began to confiscate copies of the Talmud and works of rabbinical literature, which were gathered in Kamenetz-Podolsk, and burned by the thousands. This hostility to the Talmud, which extended throughout the country as far as Lemberg, lasted till Dembovski's death (Nov. In Dresden an order was issued Aug. 16, 17, 1757). 1746, restricting their right to trade in that city and prohibiting them from building S3 nagogues and from meeting in any place for prayer. See Frankists. Bibliography Alphonse Levy, Gcsch. der Juden in Sachsen, pp. 63-66, Berlin, 1901 Sidori, GescU. dcr Juden in Sachsen, (Leibzoll)

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E. Vehse, Gcsch. der HOfe des Hauses Sachsen. vl. Hamburg, 1854; S. M. Dubnow, Yevreiskaya Istoriiia (after Biick and Brann) ii. 360 et sec/., Odessa, 1897; Gratz, Gesch. derjudcn, x. «8, Leipsic, 1883. p.

AUGUSTUS III. Elector of Saxony, and as such Frederick Augustus II., king of Poland; son of Augustus II. " the Strong " born at Dresden Oct. Like his father, 17, 1696; died there Oct. 5, 1763. he was brought up in the Protestant religion, but secretly embraced Catholicism in 1712, although he did not formally announce his conversion until 1717. Without the abilities of his sire, he inherited his passions, and, following his example, distinguished

,

himself by the splendor of his feasts and the extravLike his predecessors, he continued the privileges of the Jews in Poland; but under him they became but a dead letter. Neither he nor his favorite, Count Bruhl who was the actual ruler of both countries did anything to protect the Jews from the attacks of the Catholic clergy and the Christian merchants. Soon after Augustus had ascended the throne (April 4, 1733), he issued an edict, levying, almost without distinction of age, sex, or state, a special tax

—

—

73;

H. R.

AURANITIS.



agance of his court.

316

See Hatjean.

AURUM CORONARIUM A

tax paid to the provinces. Originally it was a voluntary contribution toward the golden crown to be offered to those to whom a "triumph" was given, and to tlie emperors (compare Cicero, "In Pisonem," xxxvii.); but later it became a statutory tax. The emperors who displayed moderation

emperor by

all

the

Roman

— Augustus (compare

Dio Cassius, book 51, p. Hanover, 1606), Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius— were much praised on that account by the in

it

458,

ed.

Augustan

historians.

The Romans narium"

also applied the

term

"

Aurum

by

Coro-

the Jews of Rome for the maintenance of the patriarchate. The name of the tribute was of itself objectionable to the Roman emperors, as implying regal rights in the to the yearly tribute paid