Court Jew (from German: Hofjude(n), Hoffaktor) is a term for historical Jewish bankers or businessmen who lent money and handled finances of some of the Christian European noble houses. A corresponding historical term is 'Jewish Bailiff'. The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ... A Bailiff in a United States courtroom Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian; cf. ...

The first examples of what would be later called court Jews emerged during the Renaissance when local rulers used services of Jewish bankers for short-term loans. They lent money to nobles and in the process gained social influence. By Region: Italian Renaissance Northern Renaissance -French Renaissance -German Renaissance -English Renaissance The Renaissance was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ...

Noble patron of court Jews employed them as financiers, suppliers, diplomats and trade delegates. Court Jews could use their family connections, and connections between each other, to provision their sponsors with, among others things, food, arms, ammunition and precious metals. Financier (IPA: /ˌfi nãn ˈsjei/) is an elegant term for a person who handles large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. ... This page is about negotiations; for the board game, see Diplomacy (game). ...

In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges - sometimes even titles - and could live outside the Jewish ghettoes. Some nobles wanted to keep their bankers in their own courts. And because they were under noble protection, they were exempted from rabbinical jurisdiction. brendan is gay ...

Some court Jews, unlike majority of the other Jews, amassed large personal fortune and gained political and social influence. Sometimes they were also prominent people in the local Jewish community and could use their influence to protect and influence their brethren. Sometimes they were the only Jews who could interact with the local high society and present petitions of the Jews to the ruler.

However, the court Jew had social connections and influence in the Christian world mainly through his noble patron. Due to precarious social position of Jews, some nobles could just ignore their debts. If the sponsoring noble died, his Jewish financier could face exile or execution. Many debts were also canceled during pogroms when the Jewish creditor could disappear. The Russian word pogrom (погром) refers to a massive violent attack on people with simultaneous destruction of their environment (homes, businesses, religious centers). ...

Position and Duties

Court Jews, called also court factors, and court or chamber agents, played a part at the courts of the Austrian emperors and the German princes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and at the beginning of the nineteenth. Not always on account of their learning or their force of character did these Jews rise to positions close to the rulers: they were mostly wealthy business men, distinguished above their coreligionists by their commercial instincts and their adaptability. Court rulers looked upon them in a personal and, as a rule, selfish light; as being, on the one hand, their favorites, and, on the other, their whipping-boys. Court Jews frequently suffered through the denunciation of their envious rivals and coreligionists, and were often the objects of hatred of the people and the courtiers. They were of service to their fellow-Jews only during the periods, often short, of their influence with the rulers; and as they themselves, being hated parvenus, often came to a tragic end, their coreligionists were in consequence of their fall all the more harassed.

The court Jews, as the agents of the rulers, and in times of war as the purveyors and the treasurers of the state, enjoyed special privileges. They were under the jurisdiction of the court marshal, and were not compelled to wear the Jews' badge. They were permitted to stay wherever the emperor held his court, and to live anywhere in the German empire, even in places where no other Jews were allowed. Wherever they settled they could buy houses, slaughter meat according to the Jewish ritual, and maintain a rabbi. They could sell their goods wholesale and retail, and could not be taxed or assessed higher than the Christians. The term German Empire (Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). Christian is primarily an adjective, describing an object associated...

At the Austrian Court

The Austrian emperors kept a considerable number of court Jews. Among those of Emperor Ferdinand II. are mentioned the following: Solomon and Ber Mayer, who furnished for the wedding of the emperor and Eleonora of Mantua the cloth for four squadrons of cavalry; Joseph Pincherle of Görz; Moses and Joseph Marburger (Morpurgo) of Gradisca; Ventura Pariente of Trieste; the physician Elijah Chalfon of Vienna; Samuel zum Drachen, Samuel zum Straussen, and Samuel zum Weissen Drachen of Frankfort-on-the-Main; and Mordecai Meisel, of Prague. A specially favored court Jew was Jacob Bassevi, the first Jew to be ennobled, with the title "von Treuenfeld". See: Ferdinand II of Leon (1137-1188, king from 1157) Ferdinand II of Portugal (1816-1885, king 1837-1853) Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic (1452-1516, king of Aragon from 1479, of Sicily from 1468) (=Ferdinand V of Castille 1474-1504) (=Ferdinand III of Naples 1504-1516) Ferdinand II... Gorizia (Slovenian Gorica, German Görz, Friulian Gurize) is a small town (pop. ... Gradisca (also Gradisca dIsonzo) is a town in north-eastern Italy in the Friuli region. ... Location within Italy Trieste ( Latin Tergeste, Slovenian and Croatian Trst, German and Friulian Triest) is a city in northeastern Italy, capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and Trieste province, population 211,184 (2001). ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... ... Mordecai Marcus Meisel (Mordechaj Marek or MiÅ¡ka Marek Meisel(Majzel) in Czech : 1528, Prague - March 13, 1601, Prague) was the Philanthropist and communal leader at Prague; son of Samuel Meisel. ... Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ... Jacob Bassevi Schnules von Treuenberg (1580 - May 2, 1634, Mladá Boleslav) was Bohemian Court Jew and financier. ...

Important as court Jews were also Samuel Oppenheimer, who went from Heidelberg to Vienna, and Samson Wertheimer (Wertheimher) from Worms. Oppenheimer, who was appointed chief court factor, together with his two sons Emanuel and Wolf, and Wertheimer, who was at first associated with him, devoted their time and talents to the service of Austria and the House of Hapsburg: during the Rhenish, French, Turkish, and Spanish wars they loanedmillions of florins for provisions, munitions, etc. Wertheimer, who, by title at least, was also chief court factor to the electors of Mayence, the Palatinate, and Treves, received from the emperor a chain of honor with his miniature. Samuel Oppenheimer (1635 - 1703) was a military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor. ... Map of Germany showing Heidelberg Heidelberg (halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... Samson Wertheimer (1658 - 1724) was an Austrian financier, chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt. ... Worms is a city in Germany, situated in Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Wertheimer is a Jewish surname. ... Map of Germany showing Mainz Mainz (French Mayence) is a city in Germany, which is the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... A palatinate is an area administered by a count palatine, originally the direct representative of the sovereign but later the hereditary ruler of the territory subject to the crowns overlordship. ... Trier: The Porta Nigra, viewed from outside Trier (French: Trèves), is Germanys oldest city. ...

Samson Wertheimer was succeeded as court factor by his son Wolf. Contemporaneous with him was Leffmann Behrends, or Liepmann Cohen, of Hanover, court factor and agent of the elector Ernst August of Hanover and of the duke Rudolf August of Brunswick. He had relations also with several other rulers and high dignitaries. Behrends' two sons, Mordecai Gumpel and Isaac, received the same titles as he, chief court factors and agents. Isaac Cohen's father-in-law, Behrend Lehman, called also Bärmann Halberstadt, was a court factor of Saxony, with the title of "Resident"; and his son Lehman Behrend was called to Dresden as court factor by King Augustus the Strong. Moses Bonaventura of Prague was also court Jew of Saxony in 1679. Leffmann Behrends(or Liepmann Cohen, c. ... Leffmann Behrends(or Liepmann Cohen, c. ... Map of Germany showing Hanover Hanover (German: Hannover [haˈnoːfɐ]), on the river Leine, is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... His Royal Highness Ernst August, Prince of Hanover (in English also known as Ernest Augustus of Hanover; born 26 February 1954 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany) is the oldest son of Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover (1914-1987) and his first wife, Ortrud Prinzessin von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gl... Issachar Berend Lehmann, Be(h)rend Lehmann, Jissachar Bermann Segal (born 1661 in Halberstadt, Germany, died 1730 in Dresden) was the Court Jew for August the Strong of Saxony. ... With an area of 18,413 km² and a population of 4. ... Brühls Terrace and the Frauenkirche  Dresden? [ˈdreːsdnÌ©] (Sorbian/Lusatian Drježdźany), the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ... Augustus (plural Augusti) is Latin for majestic or venerable. The greek equivalent is sebastos, or a mere grecization (by changing of the ending) augustos. ... Events January 24 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament August 7 - The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. ...

Intrigues of Court Jews

The Models were court Jews of the margraves of Ansbach about the middle of the seventeenth century. Especially influential was Marx Model, who had the largest business in the whole principality and extensively supplied the court and the army. He fell into disgrace through the intrigues of the court Jew Elkan Fränkel, member of a family that had been driven from Vienna. Fränkel, a circumspect, energetic, and proud man, possessed the confidence of the margrave to such a degree that his advice was sought in the most important affairs of the state. Denounced by a certain Isaiah Fränkel, however, who desired to be baptized, an accusation was brought against Elkan Fränkel; and the latter was pilloried, scourged, and sent to the Würzburg for life imprisonment November 2, 1712. He died there 1720. David Rost, Gabriel Fränkel, and, in 1730, Isaac Nathan (Ischerlein) were court Jews together with Elkan Fränkel; Ischerlein, through the intrigues of the Fränkels, suffered the same fate as Elkan Fränkel. Nevertheless, Nathan's son-in-law, Dessauer, became court Jew. Other court Jews of the princes of Ansbach were Michael Simon and Löw Israel (1743), Meyer Berlin, and Amson Solomon Seligmann (1763). See Ansbach, Austria for the Austrian town of the same name. ... Würzburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. ... November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... Events Treaty of Aargau signed between Catholic and Protestants. ... Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births May 13 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. ... Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The Great Elector

The great elector also kept his court Jew at Berlin, Israel Aaron (1670), who by his influence tried to prevent the influx of foreign Jews into the Prussian capital. Other court Jews of the elector were Gumpertz (died 1672), Berend Wulff (1675), and Solomon Fränkel (1678). More influential than any of these was Jost Liebmann. Through his marriage with the widow of the above-named Israel Aaron, he succeeded to the latter's position, and was highly esteemed by the elector. He had continual quarrels with the court Jew of the crown prince, Markus Magnus. After his death his influential position fell to his widow, the well-known Liebmannin, who was so well received by Frederick III. (from 1701 King Frederick I. of Prussia) that she could go unannounced into his cabinet. 1670 was a common year beginning on a Saturday in countries using the Julian calendar and a Wednesday in countries using the Gregorian calendar. ... Events England, France, Munster and Cologne invade the United Provinces, therefore this name is know as ´het rampjaar´ (the disaster year) in the Netherlands. ... Events January 5 - The Battle of Turckeim August 10 - Building of the Royal Greenwich Observatory began November 11 - Guru Gobind Singh becomes the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs. ... Events August 10 - Treaty of Nijmegen ends the Dutch War. ... There were three rulers known as Frederick (German Friedrich) III of Germany: Frederick the Handsome, Duke of Austria from 1308 to 1330, who was elected as German King in the time of Louis the Bavarian (1326) as the result of a compromise between the Houses of Wittelsbach and Habsburg. ... Events January 18 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia. ... Frederick I was the name of several European monarchs: Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor (1122-1190) Frederick I Babenberg, Duke of Austria (c. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen or Preussen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: PrÅ«sai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of...

There were court Jews at all the petty German courts; e.g., Zacharias Seligmann (1694) in the service of the Prince of Hesse-Homburg, and others in the service of the dukes of Mecklenburg. Others mentioned toward the end of the seventeenth century are: Bendix and Ruben Goldschmidt of Homburg; Michael Hinrichsen of Glückstadt, who soon associated himself with Moses Israel Fürst, and whose son, Reuben Hinrichsen, in 1750 had a fixed salary as court agent. About this time the court agent Wolf lived at the court of Frederick III. of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Disputes with the court Jews often led to protracted lawsuits. Events February 6 - The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. ... The landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg consisted of two parts, the district of Homburg on the right side of the Rhine, and the district of Meisenheim, which was added in 1815, on the left side of the same river. ... Mecklenburg, located in Northern Germany, was a duchy within the Holy Roman Empire, then divided, and after 1815 two Grand Duchies, then a state, and now part of the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. ... Bendix may refer to: Vincent Bendix The Bendix Corporation Bendix Helicopters William Bendix Knuth-Bendix completion algorithm This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Glückstadt, a town of Germany in Schleswig-Holstein, on the right bank of the Elbe, at the confluence of the small river Rhin, and 28 miles NW of Altona, on the railway from Itzehoe to Elmshorn. ... Events March 2 - Small earthquake in London April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella James Gray reveals her sex to...

The last actual court Jews were Israel Jacobson, court agent of Brunswick, and Wolf Breidenbach, factor to the Elector of Hesse, both of whom occupy honorable positions in the history of the Jews. Israel Jacobson (October 17, 1768, Halberstadt - September 14, 1828, Berlin) was a German philanthropist and reformer. ... Braunschweig may also refer to the administrative region of Germany. ...

A history of the various court Jews—still to be written—would be a valuable contribution to the history of the German dynasties.

References

• Bibliography: S. Haenle, Gesch. der Juden im Ehemaligen Fürstenthum Ansbach, Ansbach, 1867;
• Jahrbuch für Gesch. der Jud. 1. 239 et seq.;
• D. Kaufmann, Samson Wertheimer, der Oberhoffactor und Landesrabbiner, Vienna, 1888;
• M. Wiener, Liepmann Cohen und Seine Söhne, in Monatsschrift. xiii 161 et seq.;
• L. Donath, Gesch. der Juden in Mecklenburg, Leipsic, 1874.

See Ansbach, Austria for the Austrian town of the same name. ... 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Samson Wertheimer (1658 - 1724) was an Austrian financier, chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... 1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Leffmann Behrends(or Liepmann Cohen, c. ... Map of Germany showing Leipzig Leipzig [ˈlaiptsɪç] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... 1874 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Article References

• COURT JEWS - JewishEncyclopedia

By : Gotthard Deutsch & Meyer Kayserling

Famous court Jews

• Don Isaac Abravanel (1437 - 1508), financier for Portuguese and Spanish courts [1]

• Abraham Zacuto (c.1450 - c.1510)

• Aron Beer of Frankfurt

• Moises Isaac of Bamberg

• Josel von Rosheim, Josel of Rosheim; de (1476 - 1554) [2]

• Mordecai Meisel(Miška Marek Meisel) (1528 - 1601) [3]

• Jacob Bassevi Schnules von Treuenberg (a noble) (1580 - 1634)[4]

• Leffmann Behrends(Liepmann Cohen) of Hanover (c.1630 - 1714) [5]

• Samuel Oppenheimer (1635 - 1703), military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor. [6]

• Samson Wertheimer (1658 - 1724), Austrian financier, chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt. [7]

• Issachar Berend Lehmann; de (1661 - 1730)

• Joseph Suss Oppenheimer (1698 - 1738), financier for Karl Alexander von Württemberg

• Loew Sinzheim(Löb Sinzheim) (?-1744?), court purveyor of Mainz (?[8] [9])

• Raphael Kaulla & "Madame Kaulla(Karoline Kaulla)"^(de) (Chaille, später Karolin Kaulla) aus Hechingen (1739 – 1809)

• Israel Jacobson(1768 - 1828), philanthropist and reformer, court agent of Brunswick. [10]
• Wolf Breidenbach (1751 - 1829), factor to the Elector of Hesse, father of Moritz Wilhelm August Breidenbach.