Court Jew

Court Jew (from German: Hofjude(n), Hoffaktor) is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility.

Examples of what would be later called court Jews emerged in the early medieval period, when the royalty, the nobility and the church borrowed money from Jewish bankers, or employed them as financiers. Jewish financiers could use their family connections, and connections between each other, to provision their sponsors with, among other things, finance, food, arms, ammunition, gold and precious metals. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including being granted noble status for themselves.

By the high medieval period, the majority of the European Jewish community were engaged in financial occupations, and the community was a financially highly successful part of the medieval economy (Arkin, 1975; Ben-Sasson, 1976). Ben-Sasson (p. 401) writes: "Western Europe suffered virtual famine for many years in the tenth and eleventh centuries, there is no hint or echo of this in the Jewish sources of the region in this period." They "lived at an aristocratic level, as befitted international merchants and honored local financiers." In the first half of the high medieval period, by most parameters, the standard of living of the Jewish community was at least equal to that of the lower nobility (Roth, 2002). However, despite this economic prosperity, the community was not safe. In the second half of the high medieval period, religious hostility increased to the extent that it manifested itself in the form of massacres and expulsions, culminating in the eventual expulsion of all Jews from most of Western Europe in the late medieval period.

From early medieval times, Jewish financiers could amass personal fortunes and gain political and social influence. However, the court Jew had social connections and influence in the Christian world mainly through the Christian nobility and church. Due to the precarious position of Jews, some nobles could ignore their debts. If the sponsoring noble died, his Jewish financier could face exile or execution. A famous example of this process occurred in the 1100s, after the death of Aaron of Lincoln (1125–1186), who had been wealthiest man of 12th century Britain, his wealth exceeding even the King's. After his death, King Henry II requisitioned Aaron's assets over a number of decades, setting up a court for the purpose known as "Aaron's Exchequer".