Acts – Page 17 – OAJA.org

1. Full Date of Act	1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Blood libel
3. Geography of Act	England
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) "Life was incredibly hard for England’s Jews at the time. The first instance of a blood libel - where Jews were accused of killing a Christian child in order to use his blood in Jewish rituals - occurred in 1144 in the English town of Norwich. A second blood libel took place in 1255 - during Licoricia’s lifetime - when the body of a young child was found in a well in the town of Lincoln. The boy’s friends accused local Jews of kidnapping, torturing and murdering the child. Lincoln’s sheriff arrested over 90 Jews; 18 were executed. Both of the children at the centers of these blood libels were made into saints (St. William of Norwich and St. Hugh of Lincoln), stoking Christian hatred of local Jews still further." Dr. Yvette Alt Miller, "The Most Famous Jewish Woman in Medieval England," aish.com
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Mar. 15, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Writ of King William II of Holland
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	William (‘Wilhelm’) loans/grants (‘verleiht’) ten Mark annually to the Speyer citizen Evelinus ante Monasterium for this loyalty as hereditary fief from the Jews in Speyer which he instructs them to give.
5. Source	Urkunden zur Geschichte der Stadt Speyer. Mit Historischen Verein der Pfalz zu Speyer gewidmet von Heinrich Hilgard-Villard. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von Alfred Hilgard. (Strassburg; 1885); (Official documents regarding the history of the city Speyer. With the Historical Society of the Palatine of Speyer, dedicated by Heinrich Hilgard-Willard. Collected and published by Alfred Hilgard. (Strasbourg; 1885);
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2020
8. Notes	Researcher The above is a translation of a German summary of the original Latin text both of which can be found in the cited source.

1. Full Date of Act	May 6, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by the Council of Beziers
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	§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.
5. Source	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.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 29, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Law on maximum interest rate charged by Jews, passed by the City Council of Mainz
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	Under penalty of 10 Cologne marks […], no Jew shall take more than two cents weekly per pound.
5. Source	Schaab, K.A. Geschichte des großen rheinischen Städtebundes, gestiftet zu Mainz im Jahre 1254 durch Arnold Walpod, Volume 2. Kupferberg: Mainz (Germany), 1845. Pp. 26f.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Oct. 19, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Constitution of the Synod of Valencia
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Spain
4. Text of Act	No cleric shall serve as a guarantor to a Jew or pledge chalices, vestments, altar cloths or books to Jews.
5. Source	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 276.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jan. 10, 1256
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	The Regulations of the Church of Nicosia
3. Geography of Act	Cyprus
4. Text of Act	XIV. That no one should have recourse to an infidel physician. We also strictly prohibit any Christian, healthy or ill, from summoning an infidel physician, namely Jew or Saracen, nor shall [the Christian] receive any medicine from [the infidel] or by his counsel, because the holy canons prohibit this, after pious consideration. For from this it happens that our faith comes to be viewed with contempt, since the Jews or Saracens themselves scorn the use of the Christians' ministration of this sort, and consider it therefore an offense to their law.
5. Source	Christopher Schabel, “The Synodicum Nicosiense and Other Documents of the Latin Church of Cyprus, 1196-1373,” Cyprus Research Center, 2001, p. 97, available at archive.org.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2024
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Nov. 16, 1256
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Market Ordinance (“Marktordnung”), issued by Henry, Duke of Lower Bavaria, for the City of Landshut
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	12. Diseased meat and meat from sows may only be sold at least 7 feet [apart] from the meat market; the same applies to meat sold by Jews.
5. Source	Heil, B. Die deutsche Stadt im Mittelalter [The German City in the Middle Ages]. Teubner: Leipzig, 1919. Page 23.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2020
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1257 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Episcopal constitution of the Diocese of Salisbury
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“Jews of our diocese may not employ any Christian women as wet-nurses, midwives, or damnably venture to retain them in other servile occupations; or have sexual relations with a Christian woman, thus scandalizing our faith. Any Jew who confesses to such a crime or is convicted of it, shall be cut off from all intercourse with the Christian community by ecclesiastical censure.”
5. Source	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 241.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 22, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by the Provincial Council of Canterbury, held in London
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom
4. Text of Act	XXXII. Jews guilty of offenses against Church property or clerics, as well as sacrilege, and, in particular, the use of violence against a cleric, are to be tried by Courts Christian. The same applies to the case of adultery with a Christian woman. The king has tried to prevent this by claiming the Jews have their own judge and justiciars. Yet, these judges have no cognizance in the above matters; furthermore, anyone convened by them may purge himself of wrongdoing without an oath.
5. Source	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 284.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Sep. 3, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal decree requiring Jews to wear a yellow badge, issued by Pope Alexander IV for Burgundy
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	TO THE NOBLE DUKE of Burgundy: In the sacred general assembly, through careful deliberations, it was decreed that the Jews be distinguished from Christians by the quality of their garb, lest those of the former might be damnably confused with those of the latter. In the same council it was also decreed that Jews not be preferred for public office, since under such pretext they are often dangerous to Christians. However, as we understand, the Jews of your land do not observe this edict, as a result of which an excess of damnable confusion can be presumed under the guise of error. Also, the same Jews are preferred for offices contrary to that edict. Since it is fitting that you provide properly for these matters, we request and exhort your nobility, through apostolic writs addressed to you, ordering that, since power has been transmitted to you by God, you compel the aforesaid Jews to wear a badge by means of which they can be distinguished from Christians by the quality of their garb and that they not be preferred for the aforesaid offices. Moreover, you must cause those books which are popularly called Talmud, in which are contained errors against the Catholic faith and horrible and intolerable blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Virgin Mary, His mother, to be surrendered by all the Jews of the aforesaid land. Your sincerity should provide in these matters in such a way that the mercy of the eternal King manifest for you that which it bestows for pious acts and that we extend for this full appreciation to your devotions. – Given at Viterbo, September 3, in the fourth year of our pontificate [1257].
5. Source	Birnbaum, David, The Crucifixion Book 2. Millenium Education Foundation: New York, 2010.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Oct. 13, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Bull, issued by Pope Alexander IV to the King of Navarre, Count Palatine of Champagne and Brie
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	From your parts reaches us credible knowledge that in spite of your prohibition thereof, the Jews among your subjects continue to practice usury, a crime condemned by the pages of both Testaments. You will instruct your judiciary to apprehend those Jews and seize their usurious gains, and restore to various persons what has been extorted in that way, and if those persons cannot be found, put that property to pious uses.
5. Source	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 58.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 6, 1258
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Statutes issued by the Church of England at the Council of Merton
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom
4. Text of Act	Jews who commit offenses against Church property or ecclesiastical persons are to appear before ecclesiastical judges. All contact with Christians is denied them if they refuse to comply.
5. Source	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 285.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 23, 1258
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Bull, issued by Pope Alexander IV to the archbishops and bishops of France
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	If the Isrealites of the Old Testament, living under the shadow of the Law, used the vestments and vessels employed in the performance of animal sacrifices solely for that purpose, how much more then, in the time of the New Testament, ought the Christian clergy—who have seen the grace and humaneness of the Savior and at the same time have experienced the mystery of God’s Kingdom—treat with reverence and guard with solicitude those vestments of their ministry, the sacred ornaments, the chalices, and the ecclesiastical vessels with and through which they perform the unique and ever lifegiving sacrifice of the son of God. […] Yet we have heard—and we speak of it not without bitterness of heart—that some clergy make no distinction between the sacred and the profane, that they dare leave such vestments, ornaments, and vessels as loan pledges with Jews. And these very Jews, like ingrate enemies of the Cross and Christian Faith—for Christian piety through mercy alone accepts them to dwell in our midst—treat these pledges with irreverence, to the disgrace of the Christian religion, and act so nefariously toward them as is shameful to speak of and horrible to hear. […] We request Your Fraternity and order you to command each one of the clergy of your dioceses never hereafter to dare, under pain of excommunication and the loss of office and benefice, to pledge vestments, ornaments, and vessels with Jews. […] In our behalf, you shall take good care to warn these Jews that if, […] after this warning, they continue to accept these articles, […] they will lose not only the gain accruing from the debt, but also incur the loss of the principal.
5. Source	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 62.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Sep. 6, 1258
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by the Synod of Montpellier
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	V. To restrain unbridled Jewish avarice, it is ordered that Jews may be permitted to take back from borrowers only the principal with no interest. No one is to aid Jews in the collection of debts, unless they go into court and swear the loans bear no interest.
5. Source	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 277.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1259 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 8, issued by the Provincial Council of Mainz (formerly called Mayence)
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“[…] Should any of the afore-mentioned [Jewish] people be seen on Good Friday, in the street, in the doorway of his house, or in the windows, to which two Christians will testify, he shall be compelled to give a silver mark to the local diocese by way of punishment.”
5. Source	Mansi, G. Domenico., Baluze, E., Petit, L., Cossart, G., Martin, J. Baptiste., Labbe, P. Sacrorum conciliorum, nova et amplissima collectio (Holy Councils, New and Improved Collection). Paris: H. Welter, 1903. Vol. 23, Col.1000.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1259
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Expulsion of Jews” by Henry III
3. Geography of Act	France
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) "Expulsion of all Jews from Brabant under the order of Henry III - except those living by trade." Emil G. Hirsch, Jules Oppert, J. Frederic McCurdy, Richard Gottheil, Joseph Jacobs etc: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day; The Jewish Encyclopedia
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Sep. 17, 1259
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal bull “Justis Petentium,” issued by Alexander IV to the Cathedral Chapter of Pamplona
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Spain
4. Text of Act	From the possessions which the Jews have outside of Pamplona, they shall pay tithes to the parish churches in which their possessions are located.
5. Source	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 66.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1260 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon law by the Council of Arles, issued to the Republic of Florence
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France; Present-day Italy [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“Jews are to wear a special habit, which must be distinguishable from the round capes of clerics.”
5. Source	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 243.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1261 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Writ” issued by Duke Henry III of Brabant, year 1261
3. Geography of Act	Duchy of Brabant [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“[…] all Jews [… must] be expelled from […] Brabat. They are to be totally extirpated (rooted out, destroyed completely) until not even one remains, unless they […] engage in commerce after the fashion of other merchants and agree to cease their practice of money-lending and usury.”
5. Source	Jewish Virtual Library. Belgium. West European kingdom. The Medieval Community. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org; Accessed online
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2018
8. Notes	Researcher This order is stated in Duke Henry’s will.

1. Full Date of Act	Nov. 24, 1262
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal bull “Ea Que Judicio,” issued by Urban IV to the Abbott and Convent of St. Anthony in Pamiers
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	The Abbot shall receive a feudal census, or tribute, which the Jews of Pamiers have to remit annually.
5. Source	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 74.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1263
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Jews Expelled from Derby
3. Geography of Act	England
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) "Simon de Montfort ... issued an edict expelling the Jews from his home city of Leicester. This proved to be the start of a host of expulsions from various cities and towns - ..." Langham, Raphael: The Jews in Britain: A chronology, p. 18
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Feb. 20, 1263
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal bull “Cum Predicationem Crucis,” issued by Urban IV to Albertus Magnus, Papal Legate to the German-Speaking Lands of Central Europe
3. Geography of Act	Europe (multi-countries)
4. Text of Act	Jews are to be compelled to restore usury to the crusaders, and, until they do so, they are to be denied contact with the faithful.
5. Source	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 77.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	Editor Present-day Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland

1. Full Date of Act	May 1, 1263
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Writ of King Richard of Cornwall
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	King Richard gifts the Jews of Worms again to Bishop Henry (‘Heinrich’) II of Speyer.
5. Source	Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden im Fränkischen und Deutschen Reiche bis zum Jahre 1273. Herausgegeben im Auftrage der Historischen Commission für Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland. Bearbeitet unter Mitwirkung von Albert Dresdner und Ludwig Lewinski and Julius Aronius. (Regesta of the history of Jews in the Frankish and German empires until the year 1273. Commissioned and published by the Historical Commission for History of Jews in Germany. Edited together by Albert Dresdner und Ludwig Lewinski and Julius Aronius.); (Berlin; 1902);
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2020
8. Notes	Researcher The above is a translation of a German summary of the original Latin text both of which can be found in the cited source. At the time of the transfer, Jews were required to pay 220 Pfund Heller to the citizens of Speyer.

1. Full Date of Act	Oct. 23, 1263
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal bull “Cum Negotium Crucis,” issued by Urban IV to members of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders, and to all now appointed or to be appointed for matters pertaining to the Holy Land
3. Geography of Act	Europe (multi-countries)
4. Text of Act	To those [crusaders] who owe [money] to Jews and cannot presently pay off their debt, the secular kings shall be helpful, such that after their journey, upon certain knowledge of their return or death, they shall not incur the disadvantages of usury, or forced to give collateral to the Jews, as their kind shall not have the benefit of such losses, but release the crusaders from their debts, so that [the crusaders] may not be consumed by them.
5. Source	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 79.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1264
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Papal Bull” of Pope Clement IV
3. Geography of Act	Papal States
4. Text of Act	Commentary from Other Sources: 1) Pope Clement IV assigns Talmud censorship committee. Avraham, Yerachmiel Ben: All in the Name of Jesus: The Murder of Millions (2016)
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None