The history of the Jews: From the war with Rome to the present time

The Mahometan invaders of Spain having accomplished the conquest of that country, again turned their arms northwards, and passed the Pyrenees, but only to encounter, on the plains of Tours, decisive and disastrous defeat.[95] We learn that the Jews were suspected of having invited, or at least encouraged, the attempt. To repeat the remark made in a previous chapter—when we call to mind the treatment they had received at the hands of some of the Frankish kings, and contrast it with the toleration exhibited by the Moslem conquerors of Spain, such an accusation does not seem to us a very improbable one, though no certain evidence of it has been produced. Similarly, some sixty years afterwards,[96] when the Moors again burst into Aquitaine, and were repelled by the Count of Toulouse, the Jews are charged with having betrayed that city into the hands of the invaders. After the retreat of the enemy, and recapture of the town, it is said that the emperor had resolved to punish severely the treachery of the Jewish conspirators, but was persuaded to limit the retribution he exacted to their leaders. Basnage disputes altogether the accuracy of the allegation. But some truth in the story there must be. It is an unquestioned fact that for a considerable period after the Saracen irruption—as late indeed as the twelfth century—it was the custom at Toulouse for a Jew, acting as the representative of the whole of his co-religionists in the city, to appear three times in every year at the gate of one of the churches in Toulouse, and there receive a box (or, as some report, three boxes) on the ear,[97] and at the same time pay over a fine in the shape of thirteen pounds of wax. It would be difficult to understand what could have been the origin of a custom like this,—which reminds us of the penalty imposed on the citizens of Oxford, for their alleged participation in the bloodshed of St. Scholastica’s day, and which was exacted up to the commencement of the present century,—unless it was the story of their betrayal of the city, as above related.

But if Charlemagne was cognisant of the disaffection of his Jewish subjects, he took the wisest, and, as the sequel proved, the most effectual mode of curing the evil. A study of this great man’s life will convince us that he regarded his sovereignty, not merely as a trust committed to him by the Divine Ruler of the Universe—for that many sovereigns have done—but as a trust held on behalf of the Catholic Church of Christ, which was, in his view, identical with the State.[98] It followed therefore that, in his eyes, whosoever refused obedience to the Church was a rebel to the State; and the Jews, according to this view of the matter, must be the most inveterate of all rebels. It is creditable to him, therefore, that he not only abstained from religious persecution, but awarded the most even-handed justice to his Hebrew subjects. He required of them no more than simple obedience to the laws of the land in matters which did not put any constraint on the conscience. Thus, in the instance of nuptial contracts, he did not allow them to marry within the degree prohibited to his other subjects, nor to dispose of their property after a manner contrary to his laws. But these are requirements to which citizens of any country might be reasonably expected to conform. So again, the edicts which forbade them to keep Christian slaves, or to purchase or keep in pawn the sacerdotal vestments, or the sacred vessels used in churches, were obviously made, not for the injury of the Jews, but for the benefit of the Christian community. Had such practices indeed been permitted, they could have had no other effect than that of exciting prejudice and disgust against the Jews. But there was no restriction imposed on their commerce, no special fines levied on their effects. They dwelt in ease and luxury, in houses as handsome and well furnished as their inclination prompted and their purses would allow. The most splendid quarter in the rich town of Lyons was that inhabited by the Jews. In Narbonne, of the two prefects of the city, one was always a Jew.

The same state of things continued through the reign of the son and successor of Charlemagne, Louis le Debonnaire. At his court we are told the Jews possessed so much influence, that nobles and envoys of foreign princes paid court to them, and offered bribes to secure their favour. An officer known as the ‘Master of the Jews,’ whose business it was to take special care of their interests, resided in the precincts of the palace. They were permitted to enjoy, not only all rights possessed by their Christian fellow-subjects, but even more. The day on which markets were wont to be held, if it chanced to be a Saturday, was sometimes altered for their convenience. Charters are still extant, in which special privileges, such as exemptions from tolls and taxes, or permission to hire Christian slaves, are granted to Jews. In criminal and civil actions, their rights were as much respected, their evidence was accounted as good, as that of the other citizens of the country. Their lives were protected by a heavy penalty imposed on any one who slew them. They were exempted from ordeal by fire or water. Their slaves could not be baptized without their consent. They were free to build their synagogues where they pleased, and carry on their peculiar form of worship within them.

A condition of things like this could hardly fail, sooner or later, to provoke the anger and jealousy of the clergy. Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, saw with indignation the growth of their wealth and importance. It was not only that the ports were crowded with their merchantmen, the quays piled with their bales, the streets thronged with their slaves; that while Christian men walked afoot, clad in mean apparel, and lodged in humble cottages, the Jew reclined in his chariot arrayed in gorgeous attire, or feasted in a splendid palace. This might be borne. But their synagogues vied in magnificence with the stateliest Christian churches, and their preachers drew away crowds who ought to worship at Catholic altars. It was even said that they sold Christians as slaves to the Moors. Agobard exerted his episcopal power to remedy the mischief, so far as he was able. He forbade under pain of spiritual censure, his flock to sell Christian slaves to the Jews,[99] or to work for them on Sundays or holidays, or to buy wine of them, or deal with them at all during the season of Lent.

It is a marked sign of the times, that the Jews ventured to appeal to the king against this exercise of the bishop’s authority. Louis sent three commissioners to Lyons to inquire into the matter, who decided against the bishop. Mortified and astonished, he preferred fresh charges against the Jews, and when these also failed of their effect, himself repaired to Paris, and demanded a personal interview with the emperor; it was all in vain. He was refused an audience, informed that the emperor had dismissed his appeal, and was ordered to return to his diocese! We can hardly believe that this took place in a country which, two centuries before, had seen Jews forcibly dragged to the font for baptism, and, three centuries afterwards, witnessed their forcible expulsion from the country, for no other offence than that of their national existence.

Under Louis’s successor, Charles the Bald, the Jews still continued to enjoy immunity from the persecution; but signs were not wanting that this state of things was not long to endure. Remegius, Bishop of Lyons, following up with more success the efforts of Agobard, caused—we are not told by what means—so many Jewish boys and girls to be brought to baptism, that the parents were fain to send their children to be educated in Arles and other cities. Following up his advantage, Remegius petitioned the emperor that the Bishop of Arles might be admonished to pursue the same course as himself. It would appear that Charles granted this request, for we are informed that great numbers of Jewish children were now baptized. Not long afterwards he is said to have been poisoned by his Jewish physician, Zedekias, who was believed to have been incited to the murder by his countrymen. Whether this is true or not must be regarded as a doubtful matter. It was certainly a most fatal as well as a most wicked policy, if it was really adopted. The effect of the death of Charles was to break up the existing authority in France. The strong hand which upheld the law was withdrawn. Disorder and anarchy ensued, from which none suffered so much as the Jews. Popular rumours accused them of secretly abetting the inroads of the Normans, from which the country now began seriously to suffer. It was urged that when the invaders overran districts and sacked cities, the Jews alone escaped injury. This was possibly due to the same causes which had exempted them from suffering during the incursions of the Goths and Huns and other Northern nations, and which have been adverted to in a previous chapter. But, however that may be, it was believed that they were secretly in league with the Northmen, and they became in consequence everywhere the objects of popular execration and attack. At Beziers, in Languedoc, it became the practice every year to drive them about with volleys of stone, from Palm Sunday to Tuesday in Easter Week. During the feeble reigns of Louis II., III., and IV., Lothair, Charles II., and III., scarcely any mention is made of them. But what little is told goes to prove that their position was continually growing worse. As the power of the kings diminished, the protection they were able to extend to the Jews diminished also. The great feudatories dealt with them as they pleased, disregarding the royal authority, or employing it for the oppression of the Jews. During the reign of Charles III., called the Simple, we find the Archbishop of Narbonne demanding (A.D. 897) and obtaining from the king a grant of all the landed property in the possession of the Jews throughout his diocese. Whether this was the effect of an act forbidding the Jews to hold landed property, or mere lawless pillage, makes little difference. Similarly, in 889, the Archbishop of Sens, without any cause assigned or reference to the royal authority, expels the whole of the Jews from the bounds of his episcopate.

In Spain, however, the interval of peace and goodwill lasted long beyond the times of which we are now writing. From the foundation of the Moorish kingdom of Cordova by Abderachman I., A.D. 755, to the close of the tenth century, whatever civilization and learning still existed in Europe found its most congenial home in his dominions. Under him and his successors, the Jews appear to have enjoyed, not only the impartial protection of the laws, but free participation in all public offices and distinctions. They were eminent as ministers of state, ambassadors, and financiers. Under him and his successors, the schools at Toledo, Granada, and Cordova became famous throughout the world, and it was said that there was not a Jew to be found through the whole of Spain who could not read his Bible.

Hitherto the great centres of learning had been in the East, and the most promising scholars, even from Spain itself, had resorted thither. But the Persian Caliphate had, for a century or two, been undergoing a gradual but total change. The sovereigns were enervated by ease and luxury; usurpers rent away large portions of their dominions; and the great Emirs grew ever more independent, grasping at last nearly the whole power of the Crown. It was probably these new rulers who set on foot the persecution of their Jewish fellow-subjects. Indifferent as Omar himself could have been to the high repute which the Oriental Academies had attained, they shut up the Jewish Colleges, exiled their learned doctors, and in fine, A.D. 980, drove the Jews altogether from Babylon. Four of the most renowned of the Rabbins were captured, on their outward voyage, by one of the corsairs belonging to the Caliph of Cordova, whom he had sent to cruise in the Greek Archipelago. These four were Rabbi Shemariah, Rabbi Hoshiel, Rabbi Moses, and his son, Rabbi Hanoch. The fate of these four was remarkable. Utterly ignorant of the high value which men of culture and refinement would set upon his prisoners, the corsair sold Shemariah at Alexandria, and the slave rose to be the chief man among the Alexandrian Jews. Rabbi Hoshiel he similarly disposed of to a purchaser on the coast of Africa; and Hoshiel was thence conveyed to Alkihoran, where he attained the rank of Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Moses and his son he conveyed to Cordova. It chanced that the wife of the former was a beautiful woman, and the brutal corsair, captivated by her charms, assailed her with his importunities. Finding herself wholly in his power, she inquired of her husband whether, at the Day of Judgment, the sea would give up its dead. He answered her from the 68th Psalm, ‘The Lord said, Mine own will I bring again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the sea;’ on receiving which reply, seeing no other way of escaping violence, she plunged into the sea and was drowned. A similar tale is told of Esther Cohen in the sixteenth century.

On the arrival of the captives at Cordova, the two Rabbins were ransomed by their countrymen, though the latter knew nothing of their ability and learning. Their condition was so miserable that they had no clothes, but only some rags of sackcloth to cover their nakedness. In this sordid guise they entered the schools, over which Rabbi Nathan presided. The discussion in progress was on the subject of the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Moses took part in it, and expounded it with such learning and clearness that Rabbi Nathan rose from his seat and said, ‘The stranger in sackcloth is my master, and I am his pupil. Make ye him judge of the Congregation of Cordova.’ All present assented. Riches and honours became immediately his portion, and he allied himself with one of the wealthiest families in Cordova. The captain of the vessel, learning the value of the captive, for whom he asked no more than the ordinary price of a slave, wished to cancel the sale; but when the matter was referred to the Caliph, he would not allow it. By one of the disciples of Moses, Rabbi Joseph, the Talmud was translated into Arabic, and gained the translator great repute, though he was afterwards disgraced and driven into exile. Rabbi Hanoch, the fourth of the captives, succeeded to his father’s office at his death. By him the fame of the College of Cordova was raised to the highest pitch it attained.

The decay of the Babylonian schools had been in progress throughout the tenth century, learning and ability alike, as the reader has heard, being transferred to the flourishing Rabbinical establishment in Cordova. The quarrels between David ben Zacchai, the Prince of the Captivity, and the celebrated Saadi ben Joseph, the Geon, did much towards bringing this about. There was a temporary rally, when the renowned Scherira, and after him, his scarcely less distinguished son, Hai, held the office of Geon. But the former was deposed and put to death by the Caliph Ahmed Kader; and though Hai escaped and transferred his office to Hiskiah, the great-grandson of David Zacchai, yet the respite was for two years only. At the end of that time the Caliph Abdalla deposed Hiskiah, and finally closed the schools. With Hiskiah, A.D. 1038, the line of the Resch Glutha is generally considered to have become extinct.