Papal bull from Boniface VIII to Marguerite, widow of King Charles of Sicily [Present-day Italy]: “In favor of your request, we grant you permission to choose a confessor who will absolve you from the sin of having extorted money from Jews of your territory […], provided that under the advice and guidance of this confessor, you will use the money for sustaining the feeble and the poor. We further absolve you from any decree of excommunication imposed upon you by the late bishop of Le Mans, or by any other ecclesiastical judge.” [Researcher’s note: This bull is Boniface’s reply to a supplication from Marguerite, who felt her conscience weighing heavy on her, on account of her extortionist activities. Despite the detailed “Jew Rolls” of the time, which facilitated such heavy “Jew taxes,” the Pope decides that the money is better put to Christian uses than to return it to the Jews, and in a two-for-one deal of sorts, he even un-excommunicates Marguerite for her troubles.]
Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 201. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 11/4/2019