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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

with them. In 1484 Christians were also forbidden, on penalty of being fined 2,000 maravedis, to allow the Jews to read the decrees of the ecclesiastical authorities, or to permit

them

to act as lawyers in

lawsuits.

Between 1674 and 1679 Bass traveled through Poland, Germany, and Holland, stopping in such cities as Glogau, Kalisz, Krotoschin, Lissa, Posen, Worms, and Amsterdam, the centers of Jewish scholarship.

Among

Basnage Bass

He

finally settled at

Amsterdam

in 1679,

the richest and most eminent Jews of Vitoria were various members of the family Chacon (Gacon, Gaon), Eleasar Tello, and Moses Balid. The general edict of banishment from Spain naturally affected the Jews of Vitoria. On June 27, 1492, the above-mentioned Moses Balid, Ismael

where he entered into friendly and scholarly relations with the eminent men of the German and the Portuguese-Spanish communities. That city was the center of Jewish printing and publishing, and Bass, becoming thoroughly familiar with the busi-

Moratan (the president of the community), Samuel Benjamin Chacon, his relations. Abiatar and Jacob Tello, and Samuel de Mijaneas came before the councilors of Vitoria, and presented to the city, in the name of the Jewish community and in recognition of the friendly treatment received from After the the city, their cemetery, " Judemendi " Edict (Jews' hill), adjoining the ghetto, toof 1492. gether with all its belongings, on condition that no plow should ever furrow it. The town council accepted the gift, and the con-

Jewish books.

dition has been faithfully observed ever since. Before the end of July", 1492, the Jews left Vitoria;

many went

into the neighboring province of Navarre others, such as members of the family Chacon, took passage for the Orient while a few only re;



nounced their faith. A very clever Jew of Vitoria, Zentolla by name, was baptized by Bernaldez, the priest of Los Palacios, and named by him Tristan Bogado. By the end of 1492 there were no Jews in Vitoria. The synagogue became the property of the town and was converted into a classical school. The Jews' street was called " Calle de la Puente del Rey " (Kingsbridge street) but later on it again received its old name, " Calle Nueva. " On Aug. 20, 1493, the Maranos were ordered to leave this street and to live among the old Christians, in order that they might not continue their Jewish practises. The inhabitants of Guipuzcoa did not suffer any Jews to live among

them. In some places in the Basque Provinces French

Jews have recently Bibliography

settled.

Joaquin Jos. de Landazuri y Romarate, Historia Civil, Eclealastica, Politica y Legislativa de la Ciudad de Vitwia, in Memorias de los Judins y Juderia de Vitoria y de su Expulsion de Ella (Madrid, 1780) contains all documents which are cii£d by J Amador de los Rios, in Historia de los Judios de Espana, 111., as coming from the Archive Municipal de Vitoria see also De los Rios, I. c, iii. 611 et seq.; Kayserling, Qesch. der Juden in Spanien, i. 113-132.

.



M. K.

g.

BASRA. See Bassora. BASS (called Bassista

by Christians; in Hebrew, Meshorer), SHABBETHAI B. JOSEPH Founder of Jewish bibliography born



at Kalisz 1641; died July 21, 1718, at Krotoschin. After the death of his parents, who were victims of

the persecutions at Kalisz in 1655, Bass went to Prague. His teacher there in the Talmud was Me'ir Warters (died 1693) and Loeb Shir ha-Shirim instructed him in singing. He was appointed bass singer in the celebrated Altneuschule of Prague, being called, from his position, "Bass," or "Bassista," or " Meshorer. " His leisure time he devoted to literary pursuits, more especially to improving the instruction of the young.

ness, resolved to

devote himself entirely to issuing

With a keen eye

for the practical,

he perceived that the eastern part of Germany was a suitable place for a Jewish printingAs establishment. The literary producPrinter. tivity of the Lithuanian-Polish Jews was at this time obliged to seek an outlet in Amsterdam or Prague almost exclusively; Bass accordingly fixed upon Breslau as a suitable place for his purposes, on account of its vicinity to the Polish frontier, and of the large

commerce

car-

on between Breslau and Poland. Hence, after a residence of five years, he left Amsterdam going first, it seems, to Vienna, in order to obtain a license from the imperial government. The negotiations between Bass and the magistrates of Breslau occuried



pied nearly four years, and not until 1687 or 1688 did he receive permission to set up a Hebrew printing-press. Thereupon he settled at AtDyhern- Dyhernfurth, a small town near Bresfurth. lau founded shortly before (1663), whose owner, Herr von Glaubitz, glad to have a large establishment on his estate, was very well disposed toward Bass. In order the more easily to obtain Jewish workmen, Bass united into a congregation the small hand of printers, typesetters, and workmen who had followed him to Dyhernfurth, for whose needs he cared, acquiring as early as 1689 a place for a cemetery. The first book from Bass's press appeared in the middle of August, 1689, the first customer being, as he had anticipated, a Polish scholar, Samuel b. Uri of Waydyslav, whose commentary "Bet Shemuel" on Caro's Shulhan 'Aruk, Ebenha-'Ezer, was printed at Dyhernfurth. The books that followed during the next year were either works of Polish scholars or liturgical collections intended for the use Being issued in a correct, neat, and of Polish Jews. pleasing form, they easily found buj'ers, especially at the fairs of Breslau, where Bass himself sold his books. But the ill-will against Jews, apparent since 1697 in Silesia, and especially at Breslau, greatly injured Bass's establishment he was himself forbidden to stay in Breslau (July 20, 1706). Another stroke of misfortune was the partial destruction of To this were added his establishment by fire in 1708. domestic difficulties. When an old man he had married a second time, to the great dissatisfaction of his family and neighbors, his wife being a young girl. He finally transferred his business to his only son, Joseph, in 1711. His trials culminated in his sudden arrest, April 13, 1712, on the charge of having spread abroad incendiary speeches against all divine and civic government. The Jesuits, who looked with an evil eye upon Bass's undertaking, had endeavored, in a letter to the magistrate of