The French Monarchy and the Jews

From Philip Augustus to the Last Capetians

William Chester Jordan

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Anniversary Collection
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780812281750, 9780812281750
• eBook ISBN: 9781512805321
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

From 1179 to 1328 relations between French Christians and Jews were chronically unstable—exploitation, repression, and expulsion were sanctioned by a government dedicated to a purified Christian state. The French Monarchy and the Jews tells in rich and compelling detail the fate of the Jews in Capetian France.William Chester Jordan assesses the relationship between "Jewish policy" and the development of royal institutions and ide­ ology in the period during which the foundations of the French state were being laid. The royal policy in the early period (the reign of Philip Augustus) was erratic. Official efforts to humiliate the Jews and ruin their businesses were alternated with attempts to provide a climate that encouraged their business while at the same time imposing economic and social disabilities that made other aspects of their lives intolerable. Louis IX, on the other hand, was single-minded in his efforts to induce the Jews to convert. Whatever the policies, Jordan attempts to measure their impact on Jewish and Christian communities.During the reign of Philip the Fair, the Jews were expelled and their property confiscated to the financial benefit of the crown. Jordan comprehensively evaluates the effects of the expulsion of the Jews themselves, especially during the first years of their exile to the principalities bordering the French king's domain.The experience of the Jews during the Middle Ages has been a subject of increasing scholarly interest, and The French Monarchy and the Jews will prove useful to any student or scholar of medieval history.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Maps
• Preface
• I. Philip Augustus and the Jews, 1180-1223
• 1. The Jews of the Royal Domain
• 2. Conflict, Abuse, and Expulsion: “That Wicked King”
• 3. A New Beginning, 1198-1204
• 4. The Machinery and Rhythm of Exploitation, 1204-1210
• 5. The Last Years
• II. By Honest Labor: The Transformation of Royal Policy and Its Application, 1223-1285
• 6. Louis VIII and the Stabilimentum of 1223
• 7. Conquests in the South
• 8. The Regency and the Jews
• 9. The Evolution of Capetian Policy, 1242–1285
• 10. Communities in Flux: Picardy, the Narbonnais, the Toulousain
• III. Journeys to Dark Lands: The Era of the Last Capetians, 1285-1328
• 11. Prelude to the Great Expulsion
• 12. The Confiscations of 1306
• 13. “Every Jew Must Leave My Land”
• 14. Disillusionment
• 15. Conclusion
• Notes
• References
• Index