The Economic History of European Jews: Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

384 Pages·2012·1.72 MB·English

by  Michael Toch

The Economic History of European Jews
Études sur
le Judaïsme Médiéval
Fondées par
Georges Vajda
Dirigées par
Paul B. Fenton
TOME LVI
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ejm
The Economic History
of European Jews
Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages
By
Michael Toch
LEIdEn • BOsTOn
2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Toch, Michael.
 The economic history of European Jews / by Michael Toch.
  p. cm. — (Etudes sur le judaïsme médiéval ; t. 56)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 IsBn 978-90-04-23534-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — IsBn 978-90-04-23539-7 (e-book)
 1. Jews—Europe—History—To 1500. 2. Jews—Europe—Economic conditions. 3. Europe—
Commerce—History—To 1500. 4. Europe—Economic conditions—To 1492. 5. Europe—Ethnic
relations. I. Title.
 ds135.E83T63 2012
 330.94’01089924—dc23
2012022621
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Issn 0169 815X
IsBn 978 90 04 23534 2 (hardback)
IsBn 978 90 04 23539 7 (e-book)
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COnTEnTs
Preface  ................................................................................................................ ix
Introduction   .................................................................................................... 1
PART OnE
sTOCKTAKInG: REGIOnAL POPULATIOns And LIVELIHOOds
Chapter One Byzantium  ........................................................................... 9
People and Communities   ....................................................................... 12
Economic Pursuits  ..................................................................................... 21
Chapter Two Italy  ....................................................................................... 37
People and Communities   ....................................................................... 38
Economic Pursuits  ..................................................................................... 46
Chapter Three Gaul, the Lands of the Franks, France
and Germany  ............................................................................................... 65
People and Communities  ........................................................................ 66
Economic Pursuits  ..................................................................................... 75
Late Antiquity and Merovingian Period  ....................................... 75
From the Carolingian Period to the 11th Century  ..................... 79
Agriculture and Landholding  ..................................................... 79
Commerce   ....................................................................................... 87
Credit and Monetary Transactions   ......................................... 97
Officials and Entrepreneurs  ........................................................ 99
Chapter Four The Iberian Peninsula   ................................................... 103
People and Communities  ........................................................................ 104
Economic Pursuits  ..................................................................................... 119
Late Antiquity and Visigothic Period  ............................................ 119
From the 8th to the 11th Century  ................................................... 124
Landholding and Agriculture   .................................................... 124
Commerce  ........................................................................................ 131
vi contents
Credit and Monetary Transactions   ......................................... 142
Entrepreneurs, Craftsmen, and Officials   ............................... 145
Chapter Five Eastern Europe  .................................................................. 153
People and Places  ...................................................................................... 153
Economic Pursuits  ..................................................................................... 168
PART TWO
ECOnOMIC FUnCTIOns And sIGnIFICAnCE
Chapter six Jews, Commerce, and Money  .......................................... 177
slave Traders?  ............................................................................................. 178
A Monopoly of Intercontinental Traders?  ......................................... 190
The Lure of the Orient: Radhanites and Genizah Traders  ............ 193
Re-dimensioning Jewish Trade: Local and Regional
Contacts   ................................................................................................. 200
Credit and Money   ..................................................................................... 204
Currency, Minting, and Officials  ........................................................... 212
Chapter seven Landholding, Crafts, Enterprises, Medicine,
and the Internal Jewish Economy  ........................................................ 215
Landholding and Agriculture  ................................................................. 215
Crafts, Enterprises, Medicine  ................................................................. 230
The Internal Jewish Economy and the domestic Mode
of Production  ........................................................................................ 235
Chapter Eight Historical Conclusions  ................................................... 239
Jewish History, General History  ............................................................ 239
south and north: One Jewish World?  ................................................. 246
The sexual division of Labor: Women in the Economy .......... 246
The Occupational spectrum  ............................................................. 249
Minority status  ........................................................................................... 251
Maps  .................................................................................................................... 257
Appendices
Appendix One Places of Jewish settlement in the
Byzantine Empire  ...................................................................................... 265
contents vii
Appendix Two Places of Jewish settlement in Italy  ........................ 273
Appendix Three Places of Jewish settlement in France
and Germany  ............................................................................................... 289
Appendix Four Places of Jewish settlement in Iberia  ..................... 311
List of Abbreviations  ...................................................................................... 329
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 331
Primary sources  .......................................................................................... 331
secondary Literature  ................................................................................. 337
Index  ................................................................................................................... 363

PREFACE
This book has been long in the making and during its course I collected
many debts. I first began to explore the topic in a talk prepared for the
session of the Konstanzer Arbeitskreis für Mittelalterliche Geschichte
commemorating the 1096 crusade persecutions. Moving from German to
European Jews, I extended the subject in the fall of 2000 during a sabbati-
cal spent as guest of the department for Jewish History and Culture of the
Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich. Further thoughts were aired
in a talk at the Arye-Maimon-Institute of Trier University in november
2000. A Jacob Perlov distinguished Visiting Fellowship in Judaic studies
at Yale University in the winter and spring of 2001 gave me opportunity to
develop what by then was turning into a book, with graduate and faculty
seminars at Yale and talks at Harvard and Princeton to test my evolv-
ing concepts. The book experienced critical shaping and final form in
2004–05. during this year, funds provided by the Fritz Thyssen stiftung
enabled me to enjoy a fellowship in the unmatched work atmosphere of
the Historisches Kolleg in Munich, next door to the medievalist’s Mecca
of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Back home in Jerusalem, a grant
by the Thyssen stiftung allowed me to employ two research assistants
in the years 2007 to 2009. The last to host my early medieval endeav-
ors was the Herbert d. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic studies at the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I thank all these institutions,
their fellows, directors, office managers, research assistants and librarians
for making me feel abroad so much at home.
Throughout the years, I learned much from my students in senior
undergraduate and graduate seminars at the Hebrew University, in
Munich, Vienna, Konstanz, Berlin and at Yale University. Over the years I
had fruitful exchanges with my friends Alexander Patschovsky of Munich
and Alfred Haverkamp and his students and colleagues from Trier. Tim
Reuter, who sadly is not with us anymore, Ivan Marcus, Paul Friedman,
Frederick Cheyette, Jordi Casanovas I Miró, steve Bowman, and Haym
soloveitchik provided much-valued information and opinions. shepherded
by Frau dr. Elisabeth Müller-Luckner, in June 2005 an international flock
of specialists congregated at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich to discuss
the economic history of medieval Jews. In Philadelphia, the deliberations
of the research group on “Jews, Commerce, and Culture” demonstrated