Canons issued by the Council of Beziers [Present-day France]: “§23.— Moreover, we command that the ordinances with regard to the Jews shall be observed most carefully. These are as follows: Jews shall desist from usury, blasphemy, and magic. The Talmud, as well as other books in which blasphemies are found, shall be burned. The Jews who refuse to obey this shall be expelled, and transgressors shall suffer punishment according to law. All Jews shall live from the labor of their own hands, or from commerce without contracts and usury. §27.— Moreover, we command that the decrees issued by us with the advice of our nobles at Melun, shall be adhered to and observed, viz. that none of our barons, bailiffs, or other persons shall contract a debt to a Jew. Nor shall anyone in our whole Kingdom retain the Jew of another. Nor shall anyone hinder another to recapture his Jew, as if he were his own slave, no matter how long the Jew shall have resided under the jurisdiction of someone else. §28.— Moreover, as far as Christians are concerned, in accordance with the contents of the above-named decree, we strictly forbid our barons, bailiffs, or other persons to let the Jews obtain any usury. By usury we mean anything above the principal.”
Grayzel, Solomon. Church And the Jews In the XIIIth Century: a Study of Their Relations During the Years 1198-1254, Based On the Papal Letters And the Conciliar Decrees of the Periods. The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning: Philadelphia PA, 1933. P.337. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 8/6/2019