Exchequer of the Jews
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The Exchequer of the Jews (Latin: ''Scaccarium Judaeorum'') was a division of the Court of Exchequer at Westminster, which recorded and regulated the taxes and the law-cases of the
Jews in England The history of the Jews in England goes back to the reign of William the Conqueror. Although it is likely that there had been some Jewish presence in the Roman period, there is no definitive evidence, and no reason to suppose that there was any ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It operated from the late 1190s until the eventual
expulsion of the Jews This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...
in 1290.


Background

Jews began to settle in England soon after the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
in 1066. For the most part they escaped the massacres during the
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(1096–1099) and
Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
(1145–1149) Crusades, and despite occasional imposition of fines and special levies, their numbers and prosperity increased under the protection of the king. There was a reason Jews were protected by the Crown. Surviving records of the Exchequer Pipe Roll of the reign of
Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...
show that the Jews of England constituted a major source of royal revenue to the Crown early in the twelfth century. "The intent was to use the Jewry as a reservoir equally open to receive and closed to retain the surplus wealth of the surrounding population, so that the Crown will never lack a fund on which to draw in an hour of need".''Selected Pleas, Starrs, and Other Records from the Rule of the Exchequer of the Jews A.D 1220–1284'', pp. xii–xx (J. M. Rigg, editor for the Selden Society, 1920). Jews were allowed to charge
usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
providing tax revenues to the Crown. With the further advance of commerce and industry under Henry I and Henry II, the Jews of England continued to increase their royal revenues; and the demand grew for the creation of a distinct department of the Great Exchequer for the management of Jewish capital.


Origins

The first special exchequer appears to have been created to manage the large estate left by
Aaron of Lincoln Aaron of Lincoln (born at Lincoln, England, about 1125, died 1186) was an English Jewish financier. He is believed to have been the wealthiest man in Norman England; it is estimated that his wealth exceeded that of the King. He is first mention ...
(died 1186), which needed a treasurer and clerk to look after it. The institution was called "
Aaron's Exchequer Aaron of Lincoln (born at Lincoln, England, about 1125, died 1186) was an English Jewish financier. He is believed to have been the wealthiest man in Norman England; it is estimated that his wealth exceeded that of the King. He is first mentione ...
." The
riots A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...
following
Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
's accession showed the danger such property was liable to if no record was kept of the debts owed to the Jews. Accordingly, Richard in 1194 ordered that duplicates should be taken of all Jewish debt records and kept in this or in other central repositories:
Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacob ...
(1906)
Exchequer, of the Jews
''
Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
''.
"All the debts, pledges, mortgages, lands, houses, rents, and possessions of the Jews shall be registered ... no contract shall be made with, nor payment, made to, the Jews, nor any alteration made in the charters, except before the said persons".The Ordinances of the Jews, 1194
Roger de Hoveden, iii. 266, in Joseph Jacobs,
The Jews of Angevin England: Documents and Records
' (London, 1893), pp. 156–59; via Internet Medieval Source Book
It was soon afterward found necessary to have a centre for the whole of Jewish business, and this was attached to the Exchequer of Westminster and called the "Exchequer of the Jews". The first recorded mention of this is in 1200, when four "justices of the Jews" were named, two of them being Jews, Benjamin de Talemunt and
Joseph Aaron Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
. These justices had the status of barons of the Exchequer, and were under the
treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...
and chief justice. They were assisted by a clerk and
escheator Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...
; Jews might hold these offices, but, excepting the two mentioned above, none ever became justice of the Jews. The justices were aided in their deliberations by the '' presbyter judaeorum'', who doubtless assisted them in deciding questions of
Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...
which may have come before them.


Definition and description

The details of the institution are clearly stated in the 1194 orders of Richard I, stating as follows:
All the debts, pledges, mortgages, lands, houses, rents, and possessions of the Jews shall be registered. The Jew who shall conceal any of these shall forfeit to the King his body and the thing concealed, and likewise all his possessions and chattels, neither shall it be lawful to the Jew to recover the thing concealed. Likewise six or seven places shall be provided in which they shall make all their contracts, and there shall be appointed two lawyers that are Christians and two lawyers that are Jews, and two legal registrars, and before them and the clerks of William of the Church of St. Mary's and , shall their contracts be made.
And charters shall be made of their contracts by way of indenture. And one part of the indenture shall remain with the Jew, sealed with the seal of him, to whom the money is lent, and the other part shall remain in the common chest: wherein there shall be three locks and keys, whereof the two Christians shall keep one key, and the two Jews another, and the clerks of William of the Church of St Mary and of William of Chimilli shall keep the third. And moreover, there shall be three seals to it, and those who keep the seals shall put the seals thereto.
Moreover the clerks of the said William and William shall keep a roll of the transcripts of all the charters, and as the charters shall be altered so let the roll be likewise. For every charter there shall be three pence paid, one moiety thereof by the Jews and the other moiety by him to whom the money is lent; whereof the two writers shall have two pence and the keeper of the roll the third.
And from henceforth no contract shall be made with, nor payment, made to, the Jews, nor any alteration made in the charters, except before the said persons or the greater part of them, if all of them cannot be present. And the aforesaid two Christians shall have one roll of the debts or receipts of the payments which from henceforth are to be made to the Jews, and the two Jews one and the keeper of the roll one.
Moreover every Jew shall swear on his Roll, that all his debts and pledges and rents, and all his goods and his possessions, he shall cause to be enrolled, and that he shall conceal nothing as is aforesaid. And if he shall know that anyone shall conceal anything he shall secretly reveal it to the justices sent to them, and that they shall detect, and shew unto them all falsifiers or forgers of the charters and clippers of money, where or when they shall know them, and likewise all false charters ...
The creation of a separate institution to deal with the monies of the Jews was not wholly unique for those times. The Jews of England enjoyed a qualified autonomy by the hands of the king in several additional matters. For example, they had latitude in rate of the interest for loans they gave (though some records show a maximum limit), as well as in juridical matters. Also, cases where Jews alone were concerned were given leeway to be left to the cognizance of the Jews' own tribunals.


Functions

The Exchequer of the Jews dealt with the lawcases arising between Jews and Christians, mainly with reference to the debts due the former. It claimed exclusive jurisdiction in these matters, but many exceptions occurred. In 1250, pleas of
disseizin In English law, the assize of novel disseisin ("recent dispossession"; ) was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been disseised, or dispossessed. It was one of the so-called "petty (possessory) assizes" established by Henry II i ...
of tenements in the City of London were handed over to the mayor's court, and at times cases of this kind were brought before the ordinary justices in eyre or the hundred-court. It was before this court of the Jewish Exchequer that in 1257 the trial of Chief Rabbi
Elyas of London Elias of London also known as Elijah ben Moses or Elias le Evesque, was Presbyter Judaeorum in 13th-century England. He is not to be confused with Eliyahu Menachem of London, one of the Rishonim who lived from 1220-1284. Some of the below detail ...
took place. Moreover, the court assessed the contributions of the Jews to the royal treasury in
reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
(comprising one-third of the estate of a deceased Jew),
escheat Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...
s (forfeited to the king for capital offenses),
fines Fines may refer to: *Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality *Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term *Fines, ore or other products with a sma ...
(for licenses and concessions), and
tallage Tallage or talliage (from the French ''tailler, i.e. '' a part cut out of the whole) may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the ...
s, or general taxes applied for arbitrarily by the king. In connection with the tallage, the justices periodically ordered a "scrutiny" of the lists of the debts contained in the '' archae'' or chests in which Jewish
chirograph A chirograph is a medieval document, which has been written in duplicate, triplicate or very occasionally quadruplicate (four copies) on a single piece of parchment, with the Latin word ''chirographum'' (occasionally replaced by some other term) ...
s and starrs were preserved in each regional centre. Each chest had three locks, with one set of keys held by two designated Jews, one set by two designated Christians, and the third by two royal clerks; so they could only be opened if all three acted together. The chests themselves, or more frequently the lists held by the royal clerks of the debts contained in them, were sent up for "scrutiny" to Westminster, where the justices would report to the king as to the capability of the Jewry to bear further tallage. In the middle of the thirteenth century the number of such ''archae'' was reduced to twenty-five. Arrears of tallage were continually applied for, and if not paid the Jew's wife and children were often imprisoned as hostages, or he himself was sent to the Tower and his lands and chattels were
distrain Distraint or distress is "the seizure of someone’s property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed", especially in common law countries. Distraint is the act or process "whereby a person (the ''distrainor''), traditionally even ...
ed. The Exchequer of the Jews was one of the means which enabled the kings to bring pressure upon the lesser baronage, who therefore claimed in 1251 the right to elect one of the justices of the Jews. These were at first men of some distinction, like Hugh Bigod,
Philip Basset Philip Basset (c. 1185 – 19 October 1271) was the Justiciar of England. Philip was the son of Alan Basset of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. His elder brothers were Gilbert, a baronial leader, and Fulk, who became bishop of London. He inherit ...
, and Henry de Bath. During the early reign of Henry III the justices were mainly appointed by
Hubert de Burgh Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent (; ; ; c.1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Justiciar, Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John, King of England, John and of his son and successor Kin ...
, but later on they were creatures of the king's favorites, as in the case of
Robert Passelewe Robert Passelewe (or Robert Papelew; died 1252) was a medieval Bishop of Chichester elect as well as being a royal clerk and Archdeacon of Lewes.Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 5: Chichester: Bishops' Life Passelewe was ...
. During
Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
's rule justices held their posts for a very short time, and in 1272 and 1287 they were dismissed for corruption, handsome presents having been made to them, nominally for the use of the king, in order to expedite the legal proceedings. The court did not survive the
expulsion Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Persona non ...
, though cases with references to the debts of the Jews occurred in the year-books up to the reign of
Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
.


Deeds and cases

The deeds entered in the Jewish Exchequer were mainly the
chirograph A chirograph is a medieval document, which has been written in duplicate, triplicate or very occasionally quadruplicate (four copies) on a single piece of parchment, with the Latin word ''chirographum'' (occasionally replaced by some other term) ...
s recording and the starrs annulling indebtedness to the Jews. It was suggested by
William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Born into a middle-class family i ...
in 1769 that the notorious
Star Chamber The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judic ...
received its name from being the depository for the latter class of deeds, but this etymology is refuted by modern scholarship. The tax-lists for the tallages were made out by the Jewish assistants of the Exchequer, who were acquainted with the financial condition of each Jew on the list; many of these lists still exist. Various pleas entered by Jew or Christian dealt with the rate of interest, its lapse during the minority of an heir, the alleged forgeries of chirographs, and the like, and were recorded on the plea rolls of the Exchequer. A volume of the more important of these was published in 1902 jointly by the
Selden Society The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its sphere ...
and the
Jewish Historical Society of England The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) was founded in 1893 by several Anglo-Jewish scholars, including Lucien Wolf, who became the society's first president. Early presidents of the JHSE included Hermann Adler, Michael Adler, Joseph Jacobs ...
.


The end of the institution

The office of the Exchequer of the Jews survived for almost a century. The expulsion of England's Jewry in 1290 signaled the end of the office of Exchequer of the Jews, though some cases with reference to the debts of the Jews can be found in some year-books through the reign of Edward II (1284–1327).Gross (1887), pp. 45–47.


Historical perspective: medieval culture and views of minorities

At first glance it could seem as if what drove the persecution of Jews were unique acts of pure anti-Semitism directed towards the Jewish population of medieval England. However, a close comparative reading sheds light to the reality that such persecution was not unique to the treatment of Jews but reflected a historical "system" of blaming "aliens" or various minority groups for daily misfortunes and difficulties (e.g. sudden diseases, poverty and famine, wars, or forces of nature etc.)See in detailed: Carlo Ginzburg, ''Ecstasies: deciphering the witches' Sabbath'', trans. Raymond Rosenthal (1991) Much of the time mass accusations and persecution of minority groups were justified in the name of God (and/or attributed the evil doings of the 'designated minority group' in the name of the devil). Similar justification was used in the persecution of the Jews during England's crusade mania. As mentioned in Ginzburg's book, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath: "The lepers' extermination was the first time in the history of Europe that such huge programme of segregation was undertaken". "In succeeding centuries other protagonists would take the lepers' place, the mad, the poor, the criminal and Jews. The lepers led the way." Ginzburg describes "the casual chain of conspiracy", which was fed by hostilities towards the least protected groups. In his view there was almost always a Muslim sovereign at the head of the chain: "Directly or indirectly these Muslim characters conspire with isolated figures or with groups, marginal from a geographical or ethnic-religious point of view (e.g. Jews), promising them money in exchange of execution of the plot". The plot is materially executed by other groups (e.g. lepers), who because of their age, their social inferiority or both of these reasons, are readily susceptible to false promises of wealth and power. Conspiracies often included fiscal segregation in ghettoes for both Jews and lepers, and an additional obligation to wear a symbol on clothes to be recognized by, or to be subjected to a certain dress code. Jews and lepers were both vulnerable to persecution. However, the most noticeable difference between Jews and other minorities was the Jews' wealth. As Ginzburg puts it: "We would doubtless have been exterminated, had not our great wealth made the Christians greedy enough to demand ransom". Several times during pogroms against minorities, following one conspiracy or another, the Jews ended up subjected to less killing or damage. The main source of punishment pointed at them was usually a requisition of all the wealth the Jews were holding.


Medieval sources and possible bias

Information about the Exchequer of the Jews, its development, background, purpose, and use, was found exclusively in the Christian chronicles' records of those centuries. Although known for their remarkable accuracy and their credibility, these historians nonetheless had little sympathy or charity to spare for the Jews, and some might have been outright hostile to them. Since the secular accounts of English Jewry from the time period are very scanty, one can only present the Christian viewpoint. * Rigg, J.M., ed. (1902),
Select pleas, starrs, and other records from the Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews, A. D. 1220–1284
' The
Jewish Historical Society of England The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) was founded in 1893 by several Anglo-Jewish scholars, including Lucien Wolf, who became the society's first president. Early presidents of the JHSE included Hermann Adler, Michael Adler, Joseph Jacobs ...
has subsequently undertaken publication of a full
calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
(English-language summary) of the rolls, so far to 1281: * Rigg, J.M., ed. (1905/1971), ''Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews'
Vol. I, ''Henry III, 1218–1272''
* Rigg, J.M., ed. (1910/1971), – Vol. II, ''Edward I, 1273–1275''. * Jenkinson, H., ed. (1929), – Vol. III, ''Edward I, 1275–1277''. * Richardson, H.G., ed. (/1972), – Vol. IV, ''Henry II, 1272; and Edward I, 1275–77''. * Cohen, S., ed. (1992), – Vol. V, ''Edward I, 1277–1279''. * Brand, Paul, ed. (2005), – Vol. VI, ''Edward I, 1279–1281''. The
Selden Society The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its sphere ...
has also produced a volume of contemporary case-summaries in their series ''The Earliest English Law Reports'', * Brand, Paul (2007), ''Eyre reports 1286-9 and undated Eyre reports, Exchequer of the Jews reports, pre-1290 assize reports, pre-1290 reports from unidentified courts and additional pre-1290 Common Bench reports''


See also

*
History of the Jews in England The history of the Jews in England goes back to the reign of William the Conqueror. Although it is likely that there had been some Jewish presence in the Roman period, there is no definitive evidence, and no reason to suppose that there was any ...
*
History of the English fiscal system The history of the English fiscal system affords the best known example of continuous financial development in terms of both institutions and methods. Although periods of great upheaval occurred from the time of the Norman Conquest to the beginni ...


References


Further reading

(reverse chronological order) * Brand, Paul (2005) "Introduction", in ''Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews'', Vol. VI: ''Edward I, 1279–81'' * Brown, Reva Berman & McCartney, Sean (2005) "The Exchequer of the Jews Revisited", in: ''The Medieval History Journal'', 8(2), 303–322 * Brand, Paul (2003),
The Jewish Community of England in the Records of the English Royal Government
, in Patricia Skinner, ed., ''The Jews in Medieval Britain: historical, literary, and archaeological perspectives'', pp. 73–96. Woodbridge: Boydell Press * Bartlett, Robert (2002), ''England under the Norman and Angevin kings, 1075–1225''
351–354
Oxford: Oxford University Press * Mundill, R. R. (1998), ''England's Jewish Solution: experiment and expulsion, 1262–1290''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press *Richardson, H. G. (1960 / 1983), ''The English Jewry Under Angevin Kings''. London: Methuen (original); Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press (reprint) * Meekings, C. A. F. (1955) "Justices of the Jews 1218–1268: a provisional list", in: ''Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research'' 28 173–88. *Scott, K. (1950) "The Jewish Arcae", in: ''The Cambridge Law Journal'', 10:446–455. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press . * Cramer, A. (1941) "The Origins and Functions of the Jewish Exchequer", in: ''Speculum'' 16 226–29. * Stokes, H. P. & Abrahams, I., eds. (1930–32), ''Starrs and Jewish Charters preserved in the British Museum''. 3 vols. Cambridge: Printed for the (Jewish Historical Society of England) at the University Press (I. Introduction. Notes on the transliteration of Hebrew proper names. Latin, French, Hebrew texts, translations and notes.—II. Tables. List of abbreviations and bibliography. Vocabulary, by F. A. Lincoln. Excurses: The legal background of the starrs, by F. A. Lincoln; On Sir Adam de Stratton, by W. Page: On Westmill, by Archibald Jackson; On usury, by
Herbert Loewe Herbert Martin James Loewe (1882–1940) was a noted scholar of Semitic languages and Jewish culture. His grandfather, Louis Loewe (1809–1880), had been Sir Moses Montefiore's secretary and the first Principal of the Judith Lady Montefiore Col ...
; "signed and sealed", by Herbert Loewe. Notes on the starrs, by Herbert Loewe.—III. Indexes, by Herbert Loewe.) * Gross, Charles (1887),
The Exchequer of the Jews of England in the Middle Ages
'. London: Office of the Jewish Chronicle; reprinted from ''Papers of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exposition'', pp. 170–230.


''Jewish Encyclopedia'' additional bibliography

*
Thomas Madox Thomas Madox (1666 – 13 January 1727) was a legal antiquary and historian, known for his publication and discussion of medieval records and charters; and in particular for his ''History of the Exchequer'', tracing the administration and record ...
(1711/1769),
History of the Exchequer
', i. 221–259.


External links



JCR-UK. * ttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1194ordjews.html English Jewry is Organised: The Ordinances of the Jews, 1194 Internet Medieval Source Book * {{Taxation in medieval England Jewish English history 1190s establishments in England 1290 disestablishments in England 13th century in England Taxation in medieval England Exchequer offices Exchequer of Pleas Former courts and tribunals in England and Wales Medieval English court system Courts and tribunals established in the 1190s Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1290