Paris

Capital city of France. There were Jews in Paris prior to the date of the Frankish invasion. The councils of Varennes in 465 and of Orleans in 533, 538, and 541 adopted certain measures against the Jews, from which it would appear that there must have been Jews in Paris and in the north of France at that time. From the days of the first Frankish kings there was in Paris a Rue de la Juiverie (Street of the Jews), leading to the palace; in 582 a synagogue was erected in this street.

Until the sixth century the Jews who lived in Paris did so under favorable conditions. They enjoyed perfect freedom in the exercise of their religion, they maintained friendly relations with the Christians, and some of them even occupied public offices, as receivers of taxes. However, it was not long before the influence of the Church began to affect the king and nobles. Chilperic (561-584) endeavored to proselytize the Jews; among them was one named Priscus. When this unfortunate refused to "acknowledge the faith" he was thrown into prison. Under the last of the Merovingian kings the situation grew worse. Clotaire II. forbade the Jews to exercise any seigniorial functions or to serve in the army (615). His son Dagobert gave them the choice of conversion or exile (629). Many went into exile, and others suffered martyrdom. A deed of gift signed by King Dagobert in favor of the Abbey of St.-Denis alludes to one Solomon, collector of taxes at the Porte Glaucin, now the Quai aux Fleurs.

With the advent of the Carlovingian kings (687) there came a great change. Charlemagne (768-814), Louis le Débonnaire (814-840), and Charles the Bald (843-877) treated the Jews with great kindness.During the struggles that disturbed the kingdom for the two centuries that followed, the Jews remained unnoticed.

In the Twelfth Century.

Of the Capetian kings Louis VI. (1108-37) and Louis VII. (1137-80) were favorably disposed toward the Jews. Under their rule the Jewish community in Paris largely increased. Many Jews dwelt also in the environs of the city and owned real estate there. According to certain chroniclers, they owned the greater part of Villejuif. In Paris itself they occupied Les Champeaux, a quarter consisting of a certain number of dark and narrow streets closed by gates at each end. Within this district were to be found the potters, the shoemakers, and the dealers in old clothes and rags. At that time there were two synagogues there; one in the Rue de la Juiverie, the other in the Rue de la Tacherie, formerly called also "Rue de la Juiverie." The community owned two cemeteries, one situated in the Rue de la Galande, the other toward the end of the Rue de la Harpe. Near-by, but on the opposite bank of the Seine, stood a mill which also belonged to the Jews. But their thrift and their wealth excited hatred and jealousy. All sorts of accusations were brought against them; they were charged with having arrested many Christians for debt, and of having accepted as pledges the sacred vessels used in church service. When, with much solemnity, Pope Innocent II. entered Paris, in 1139, the representatives of the Jewish community were permitted to present themselves with those of the city corporations. Wishing to honor the pope, the Jews, carrying the scrolls of the Law, greeted him with an address, to which he replied: "May the Lord God Almighty tear away the veil that conceals your hearts!"

Then, too, the odious calumny of ritual murder was circulated freely. In 1179 the Parisian Jews were accused of having murdered at Easter a Christian named "William."

Banished by Philip Augustus.

Philip Augustus (1180-1223), who succeeded Louis VII., displayed a hostile spirit toward the Jews, and had scarcely ascended the throne when, on a certain Sabbath-day in 1180, he ordered the imprisonment of all the Jews in his kingdom, their release being conditioned on the payment of the sum of 15,000 silver marks. In the spring of 1181 he banished them all, confiscated their lands and dwellings, and annulled four-fifths of their claims against the Christians, exacting the remainder for himself. The synagogues were turned into churches, that situated on the Ruede la Juiverie, within the city limits, Philip presented to Maurice, the Archbishop of Paris, in 1183, and it became the Church of Sainte-Madeleine-en-la-Cité. To the cloth-makers' gild the king leased twenty-four Jewish houses which were situated in the "Judearia Pannificorum" or ghetto, now the Rue de la Vieille Draperie, for the yearly payment of a tax of 100 livres.

The Jews Return.

In 1198 Philip, being hard pressed for money, permitted the Jews to return to France. They flocked back to Paris, where they repaired their synagogue in the Rue de la Tacherie, and established another in an old tower on the ramparts, La Tour du Pot-au-Diable, near the convent of St.-Jean-en-Grève. They settled near the Church of Petit-St.-Antoine, in the cul-de-sac or blind alley of St.-Faron, in the Rue de la Tissanderie, known later as the "Cul-de-sac des Juifs," in the vicinity of Mont Ste.-Geneviève, in the Rue de Judas, in the Rue Quincampoix, and in the Rue des Lombards, then inhabited by Italian usurers and therefore the financial center of Paris.

From this time the Jews enjoyed a certain degree of liberty and toleration. Some of them were compelled to pledge themselves not to leave the kingdom for a term of years. A bond given about the year 1204 by several Jews as a security for their continued residence contains the names of these Jews, the amount paid annually into the royal treasury, and the oath taken on the "roole" or scroll of the Law. One of these Jews, in a document dated 1209, is called "le Juif du roi," or the king's Jew. This appears to have been the designation of the Jews attached to the royal treasury (see See KAMMERKNECHTSCHAFT). In order that he might extort from them greater sums of money, the king permitted them to charge a high rate of interest, which, however, was subjected to certain restrictions by a decree issued in the year 1218. At this time Paris contained some very rich Jews. In 1212 the chevalier Etienne de Sancerre pawned all his property to the Jew Elijah de Braie of Paris and his son Merote as security for the sum of 80 livres which he had borrowed from them, and for which he was obliged to pay two deniers per livre each week as interest. In 1217 Philip presented the grain-market in the Juiverie to his cupbearer Rinaldo.

Under Louis VIII. and Louis IX.

Under Louis VIII. (1223-26) the Jews were again molested. In Nov., 1223, the king, instigated by the clergy, annulled all Jewish loans of more than five years' standing, exempted Christian debtors from the payment of all interest even on debts contracted later, and decreed that all bonds for debts to Jews must thereafter be signed before the royal bailiff. If any Jews left the domain of their lord they must be returned to him by the owner of the land on which they had settled. By such means many of the wealthiest of Jewish families were reduced to misery.

Louis IX. (1226-70) did not show himself particularly friendly toward the Jews. He spared no efforts to convert them to Christianity. Gregory IX., acting under the influence of the apostate Jew Nicholas Donin, ordered an examination of the Talmud, and a controversy took place June 25, 1240, at the king's court in Paris between Nicholas Donin and four noted rabbis of the day, among whom were Jehiel de Paris and Moses de Coucy. As a result all the copies of the Talmud and of other Hebrew books that had been seized by order on March 3 were consigned to the flames. For several years thereafter Louis IX. stayed his hand, although the edicts against rabbinical works continued to be enforced strictly. But on his return from a crusade in 1254 he renewed his hostile attitude toward the Talmud and toward usury. As an outcome many Jews received severe punishments, and in 1257 all the landed property they held, excepting cemeteries and synagogues, was confiscated by the king. The community of Paris was compelled to solicit the help of the Jews of the surrounding country for the support of its school, formerly so active and noted. Among the numerous emigrants of that time was Jehiel himself, the illustrious head of the school, who set out for Palestine about 1259. By a decree dated June 12, 1269, St. Louis imposed upon the Jews in addition the wearing of the badge.

Under the Philips.

Philip III. the Bold (1270-85), while retaining all the decrees of his father against the Jews, enforced them only passively. In 1271 the council of St.-Quentin reproached him for allowing Jews to sue Christians for debt in a court of justice. Philip even allowed the Jews of Paris to open a new cemetery in a garden bought from a certain canon named Maître Gilbert. Although forbidden by law to reside in the neighborhood of Mont Ste.-Geneviève, they established their quarters in the interior of the city.

Under Philip the Fair (1285-1314) the condition of the Jews became almost intolerable. In 1288 he subjected the Jews of Paris to a fine for chanting too loudly in their synagogues. About the year 1299 he imposed upon them a tax of 244 livres and 12 sous, Tours currency, called the "recepta" (revenue), and 50 livres for exemption from the wearing of the badge. To the tyranny of the king were added the persecutions of the people. In 1290 a Jew of Paris, named Jonathas, was accused of having desecrated the host. He was burned at the stake, his house was razed, and a chapel built on its site which in 1685 bore this inscription: "Upon this spot the Jews defiled the Sacred Host." But notwithstanding their sufferings, the Jews still remained in Paris. At the close of the thirteenth century they inhabited the Rue du Trave-Mourier (now the Rue de Moussy), the Rue Neuve, the Court Robert de Paris (now the Rue Renard St.-Merry), the Tacherie (now the Rue de la Tacherie), and the Petit-Pont. The Jews bore French surnames and first names, such as "Copin le Mire" (the physician), "Mosse le Mire," "Sarre le Mirgesse," etc.

Decree of Exile.

But a terrible blow fell upon them when Philip pronounced his decree of exile against them on July 22, 1306. Then the king appropriated all their property for the royal treasury. In Dec., 1307, he gave to his coachman the synagogue in the Rue de la Tacherie. A number of the Parisian Jews pretended to adopt Christianity, but being unablewholly to conceal their Jewish feelings, they suffered martyrdom. The exile, however, was not of long duration, and the Jews were recalled in 1315 by Louis X. (1314-16). This monarch took them under his protection, and directed that they should be "defended from attacks, injuries, violence, and all oppression." Their synagogues, cemeteries, and other sacred places were restored to them.

But they were not allowed to enjoy royal protection for a great length of time. In 1320 Philip V., the Tall (1316-1322), imposed a tax of 100,000 livres upon the Jews of his kingdom, and of this amount 5,300 livres were payable by the Jews of Paris. In 1321 the accusation of poisoning the wells was made. Many of the Paris Jews were burned, others were exiled, and their property, to the amount of 150,000 livres, confiscated. Then followed a half-century during which the Jews of Paris, under the administration of Rabbi Mattithiah Troyes, seem to have been left unmolested. In 1360 Manecier de Vesoul entered into negotiations for the return of the exiles to France. He settled in Paris, and was appointed by the king collector of the imposts laid upon the Jews in the provinces of the North; he had as an assistant Jacob de Pont-Sainte-Maxence, also a resident of Paris. The Jews were for a time harassed by the king's agent, who threatened to procure their expulsion from the city (1370); but Charles V. (1364-80) ordered that they should be left in peace. The harsh measures against them were canceled, and they became amenable only to the king or their guardian-general, the Comte d'Etampes. Their testimony was accepted as evidence in court; they were exempted from the gabel, or tax on salt, and from fines and servitude, and were subjected only to a special tax for entry and residence in the city.

This lenience toward the Jews soon excited the anger of both the clergy and the people. With the sanction of Charles VI. (1380-1422) the people assembled in the town hall and demanded that "the Jews and usurers should be driven out of the city." Without waiting further action, the mob rushed through the city, crying "Aux Juifs!" attacked and pillaged about forty houses, and maltreated several Jews. For four days they plundered, burned, and murdered at will. Some of the victims, barely escaping with their lives, took refuge in the prison of the Châtelet, and little children were torn from the arms of their mothers and baptized (1380).

Uprising Against the Jews 1380.

Hugues Aubriot, the provost of Paris, in spite of his disposition to protect the Jews, was unable to check the uprising; but he obtained from the king the restoration of children to their parents and the restitution of some of the plunder. This intervention in their favor drew down upon Aubriot the wrath of the Church. He was accused of being secretly a convert to Judaism, and all sorts of abominable crimes were imputed to him. He was compelled to do public penance, and was then thrown into a dungeon. Shortly after, the insurrection of the Maillotins (1381) broke out, and the Jews again suffered severely. They were seized in broad daylight in the open streets, half-strangled, beaten, and stabbed. In 1394 a wealthy baptized Jew, Denis Machault, disappeared from Paris. Seven of the principal members of the Jewish community were at once arrested on the charge of having murdered him. They were at first condemned to be burned alive; but the Parliament of Paris modified this sentence by condemning them to remain in prison until Denis Machault had been returned; in the meantime they were to be beaten "for three successive Saturdays in three different places"—in the market-place, in the Place de Grève, and in the Place Maubert. They were compelled also to pay a fine of 10,000 livres. At length Charles VI., wearied by the incessant clamor of their enemies, expelled the Jews from France in 1394. Escorted by the provost, they left Paris (Nov. 3), and what property they could not take with them was confiscated.

Rabbinical Learning.

From the eleventh century Paris was an important center of religious and Talmudic education. A manuscript relating to the ancient religious customs of Worms mentions a certain Elijah the Elder, who must have lived about the middle of the eleventh century ("Shem ha-Gedolim," s.). This manuscript seems to confuse Elijah the Elder of Mons with Elijah ben Judah, who lived more than a century later. In a manuscript containing responsa of Geonim (formerly in the possession of Halberstam) is one addressed by the "sages" of Rome to the "sages" of Paris (Luzzatto, "Bet ha-Oẓer," 1:57). None of the latter is mentioned by name, but their colleagues of Rome commend their piety and learning. The responsum containing this is dated at the beginning of the twelfth century.

Twenty years later the rabbis of Paris took part in a synod convoked by RaSHBaM and R. Tam. RaSHBaM remained some time in Paris, and was in friendly intercourse with the learned men of that city. In a responsum ("Or Zarua'," 1:138b) he speaks of Mattithiah Gaon, who is identical with Mattithiah b. Moses, the disciple of Rashi and head of the Talmudic school of Paris; of Judah b. Abraham, who, in collaboration with his colleague Shemaiah, revised some of the works of his master Rashi, and edited a Passover Haggadah; of Jehiel, the son of Mattithiah Gaon; of Judah ben Yom-Ṭob (the tosafist), probably the son of the celebrated tosafist Judah ben Nathan (RIBaN), son-in-law of Rashi. Samuel of Paris consulted R. Tam on the question of a bill of divorce; Moses of Paris, who was at the head of the community of Paris about the middle of the twelfth century, wrote a commentary on the Bible, after the manner of RaSHBaM. Jacob ben Samson, who lived in the first part of the twelfth century, wrote a work on the Hebrew calendar, a commentary on the Seder 'Olam Rabba, and another on Abot, and notes on the prayer-book.

Elijah ben Judah is noted for the controversy which he sustained against R. Tam on the question of phylacteries; Talmudic authors of that age often quote his opinions. Ḥayyim b. Hananeel ha-Kohen was one of the chief disciples of R. Tam; his tosafot are frequently quoted, and Eliezer of Metz was among his disciples.

Sir Leon of Paris.

Judah ben Isaac, called Sir Leon of Paris, was one of the most illustrious French rabbis of the MiddleAges. He was born in 1166 and died in 1224. He was probably the grandson of Judah ben Yom-Ṭob of Paris, and a descendant of Rashi. About 1198 he was appointed head of the Talmudic school of Paris, then attended by a great number of students, among whom were Moses de Coucy, Isaac ben Moses of Vienne, Samuel Sir Morel de Falaise, and Jehiel ben Joseph. Many of his responsa and decisions have been preserved. Judah Sir Leon compiled most of the tosafot found in the Talmud editions, and is mentioned as a commentator on the Bible and as a writer of various liturgical works. Among the most illustrious pupils of Judah Sir Leon, Jehiel ben Joseph, called Sir Vives, undoubtedly ranks first. He succeeded his master as head of the Talmudic school of Paris about 1224. He had about 300 scholars, including Isaac de Corbeil (his son-in-law), Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil, and probably also the German tosafist Judah ha-Kohen, the teacher of Meïr of Rothenburg. Jehiel bore a high reputation, even among non-Jews, as well as with the great St. Louis. He refuted the argument of the Chancellor of Paris, who attempted to prove from Numbers 23:24 that the Jews made use of Christian blood in their religious rites (comp. Zadoc Kahn in "R. E. J." 1:232).

Jehiel was also the principal champion of the Jewish cause in the disputation of 1240. Owing to the state of affairs ensuing upon the great controversy of 1240, Jehiel was obliged to send a delegate to Palestine to obtain funds for the support of the school of Paris. In 1260 he departed with his son for the Holy Land, where he died in 1268. Numerous ritual decisions and tosafot by Jehiel still exist; he is quoted also as a commentator on the Bible. After his departure the school of Paris lost all its former prestige, and for a long period there is no record of any Jewish scholars of Paris. Nevertheless, in the tax-book of Paris for the years 1296-1297 ("R. E. J." 1:61 et seq.) there occur the names of "Abraham le Mestre" and "Baru le Mestre," or "Mestrè" (= "rabbi").

Mattithiah ben Joseph.

On the return of the Jews to France, Mattithiah ben Joseph held the office of chief rabbi of Paris and of all France (1360-85). He was the son of Joseph ben Johanan Treves, who had been rabbi of Marseilles in 1343. Charles V. officially appointed Mattithiah the religious head of all the communities of France, and exempted him and Manecier de Vesoul, with their families, from wearing the badge. When Mattithiah was raised to the dignity of chief rabbi there were only four or five Talmudic scholars in the whole of France. He accordingly established a new school at Paris and gathered around him a great number of disciples. Many of his opinions and his treatise on the methodology of the Talmud are quoted by other writers.

About 1385 Johanan succeeded his father Mattithiah as chief rabbi of France and head of the Talmudic school of Paris. Johanan came into conflict with a former pupil