THE CROWN AND THE JEWS

THE status of the Jews in the Crown of Aragon did not remain constant through the period under consideration since the Jewish policy of the monarchs in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was not entirely consistent. Nevertheless, certain principles continued to be valid until the massacres of 1391. One major principle was the concept that ‘the Jew belongs to the lord king’. This concept is described in terms related to property and wealth, such as ‘the treasure of the lord king', ‘our treasure and property', and ‘our special royal serfs'. Being the king's property, the Jews enjoyed royal protection. This was a fundamental principle that was retained by all the king-counts going back to Ramon Berenguer IV who united Aragon and Catalonia in 1137. Without it, the existence of Aragonese Jewry would have been in jeopardy. While in the course of time new conditions brought about changes in the Crown's Jewish policy and consequently in the status of the Jews, the Crown never relinquished its claim to proprietorship over the Jews. This contributed to the relative stability enjoyed by the Jews of the realm until 1391.

The Jews’ own conception of their status is noteworthy although it had no bearing on their actual legal position. The declaration by a spiritual leader of Catalan Jewry in the mid-fourteenth century that ‘the Jews are free men’ cannot be ignored. It reflected not only the Jews’ view of their own position, but also their respectable standing in society at large. In fact, the Jews’ position during this period was far from that of serfs, even royal serfs. Completely free men, however, they were not. The Jews were conscious that ‘in the countries in which the entire land belongs to him’ the king can ‘decree laws as he pleases … and the king has power to confiscate property'.

From the Crown's point of view the Jews constituted a major source of income. It follows that in periods when the king's coffers were almost empty the Jews' position generally grew stronger. They were a valuable asset to the king which it was in his interest to keep, and, better still, to increase. Jaime I's famous invitation to the Jews to settle in his realm is clear evidence of the value he attached to his Jewish subjects.