Publications

Contents of Transactions and Miscellanies of
The Jewish Historical Society of England

Volumes 1 to 28 are under the title The Jewish Historical Society of England - Transactions. From Volume 29 the title is Jewish Historical Studies - Transactions of The Jewish Historical Society of England. There are separate volumes of Miscellanies I-VI published in 1925, 1935, 1937, 1942, 1948, and 1962. From Volume 22 Miscellanies are contained within the Volumes.

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*** NEW! ***

LISTS OF THE PORTUGUESE INQUISITION

Transcribed and indexed by Joy L. Oakley
Volume I Lisbon 1540-1778 & Volume II Evora 1542-1763; Goa 1650-1653

The Register of Inquisition lists assembled in 1784 and entitled A Collecção das Noticias was once in the Library of the Dukes of Palmela and is now in the Jewish Theological Seminary Library in New York, who have kindly agreed to its publication.  The great majority of persons sentenced by the Inquisition were New Christians - descendants of the Jews of Portugal baptized in 1497, by order of Manoel I. This book gives an unrivalled picture of the whole range of the Inquisition's activities and is a primary source of the first importance for Jewish, Portuguese and Brazilian history and genealogy.

The lists of the sixteenth century Autos da Fé give the numbers of persons sentenced by the Inquisition and the proportion of males and female, but only give the names of those who were burnt at the stake. However, for the much larger number of cases in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the name of each person is given, together with their nickname, parentage, occupation, place of origin alleged offence and sentence. Indices of names, nicknames, occupations and places guide the reader to this data. The text is in the original Portuguese with an Introduction and Forewords in English.

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Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews

Preserved in the National Archives, Kew. Volume VI
Edited by Paul Brand MA, D.Phil., FBA

The Plantagenet Kings of England derived a considerable income by licensing Jewish moneylenders and taxing them and their debtors heavily. The 'Exchequer of the Jews' Westminster administered that part of the Crown estate in accordance with its own rules. Their records are surprisingly complete and their study reveals much about medieval English administrative and judicial procedure.

This volume opens with a long and detailed Introduction by Dr Paul Brand, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, explaining the location, staffing and activities of the 'Exchequer of the Jews'. It includes detailed biographies of the 'Justices of the Jews', who controlled it under Edward I. There follow the Latin texts of the Plea Rolls or Memorandum Rolls, from 1282, and comprehensive indices of names, places and subjects. From these the reader can trace additional information about the business activities of medieval English Jews in the period shortly before the expulsion.

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Medieval Jewish Documents in Westminster Abbey

Edited by Dr Ann Causton

In 1194 Archbishop Hubert Walter, acting for King Richard I, set up a new administrative system for taxing the king's Jewish moneylenders.  A locked chest was placed in every town with a Jewish community, in the charge of at least two officials called Chirographers, one Christian and one Jewish.  A law was enacted ordering that every loan granted by Jews must be recorded on three Latin indentures with a Hebrew summary, one for the king's chest [archa], one for the debtor and one for the creditor, otherwise collection would not be enforced by the sheriff.  Similarly quittances were recorded when the debt was paid off.  If a Jew died, his deeds in the chests could be used to assess the value of his estate, in order to claim the one third "relief" due to the king.  If he was hanged or converted, the king could seize his deeds and collect his outstanding debts.  When the king chose to levy a tallage tax on the Jews, orders would be sent to the Chirographers to send all the deeds in their care to the Exchequer of the Jews in Westminster Hall, so as to enable the Justices of the Jews to enforce the collection of the tax.  This was also done in 1290, just before the Jews were expelled by Edward I. A large number of these Latin indentures are now in the archives of Westminster Abbey.  Most have never been published. 

This volume commences with an introduction by Dr Causton, which explains the details of the system and adds fresh biographical information about the Justices who ruled the Exchequer of the Jews for the king. This catalogue in English of the Medieval Jewish Documents in Westminster Abbey tells much about both the borrowers and the lenders and the business activities of medieval English Jews in the country market towns.

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At the End of the Earth - Essays on the history of the Jews of England and Portugal

By Edgar Samuel

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