Jews and Taxes in Late Medieval Castile

What is it about?

The chapter describes the two-fold importance of both Jews and Jewish converts (conversos) to the late medieval economy of the kingdom of Castile, . A small but significant elite of Jewish tax-farmers administered many of the tax revenues, some even becoming powerful intimates at the court. The chequered careers of some of these individuals are described here. Also provided is a fresh analysis of the tax revenues that were submitted by the Jewish communities. These large sums, it is argued, constituted a very significant proportion of the total tax revenue of the kingdom in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although they were severely reduced later as a result of war and persecution. The value placed by the Crown on this and on the Jewish administrators meant that successive sovereigns overrode the many objections of the church and of their advisors to the appointments of Jews to these positions of authority. Yet a revolt erupted in the fifteenth century when a number of converso tax-farmers were violently attacked and vilified as false converts. The violent rhetoric foreshadowed a growing hostility to those many Christians of Jewish heritage that which would later find expression in the Spanish Inquisition A final section deals with taxes raised by the municipalities themselves for maintenance of their communities. The special case of how this was achieved in one fourteenth-century Jewish community, throws light on the internal structure of these communities and the legal powers of one leading rabbi in the resolution of conflict.

Featured Image

Photo by Lainie Berger on Unsplash

Photo by Lainie Berger on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The relevance of this study is three-fold. Firstly it provides a new analysis of the significant contribution to the medieval exchequer made by the Jewish communities in Castile. Secondly, the portrayal of a privileged class of Jewish tax-farmers and royal treasurers illustrates the porousness of cultural boundaries and the crossing of these boundaries by men who nevertheless still owed strong allegiance to their faith and to their communities. Thirdly, the continuation in their role as tax administrators by Jewish converts to Christianity, inflamed popular anger and violent revolt. It fostered jealousy and suspicion of this new converso class that pre-dated the later Spanish Inquisition.

Perspectives