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Court Jew

In early modern Europe, particularly in Germany, a court Jew (German: Hofjude, Yiddish: הויף איד, romanized: hoyf id) or court factor (German: Hoffaktor, Yiddish: קאַורט פאַקטאַר, romanized: kourt faktor) was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, royalty and nobility. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including, in some cases, being granted noble status.

Examples of what would be later called court Jews emerged in the High Middle Ages[a] when the royalty, the nobility, and the church borrowed money from money changers or employed them as financiers. Among the most notable of these were Aaron of Lincoln and Vivelin of Strasbourg. Jewish financiers could use their family connections to provide their sponsors with finance, food, arms, ammunition, gold and other precious metals.


The rise of the absolute monarchies in Central Europe brought many Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin, into the position of negotiating loans for the various courts. They 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. The most famous example of this occurred in Württemberg in 1737–1738, when, after the death of his sponsor Charles Alexander, Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was put on trial and executed.[1] In an effort to avoid such fate, some court bankers in the late 18th century — including Samuel Bleichröder, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, and Aron Elias Seligmann — successfully detached their businesses from these courts and established what eventually developed into full-fledged banks.[2]

(12th century)

Aaron of Lincoln

(13th century)

Elias of London

(1412–1493)

Abraham Senior

(1437–1508), financier for Portuguese and Spanish courts[12]

Isaac Abravanel

(c. 1440–1508), a godson of King Edward IV, he was made the governor of Guernsey[13]

Sir Edward Brampton

(c. 1450–c. 1510)

Abraham Zacuto

Moses and of Kraków, court Jews during the reign of John I Albert of Poland; Rachel was lady-in-waiting of the queen mother Elizabeth

Rachel Fishel

(de) (1476–1554)[14]

Josel of Rosheim

(1524–1579), court Jew in the Ottoman Empire and Duke of Naxos

Joseph Nasi

(Miška Marek Meisel) (1528–1601)[15]

Mordecai Meisel

von Treuenberg (a noble) (1580–1634)[16]

Jacob Bassevi

(ca. 1580–1653), court agent in Hamburg, elder of the Jewish community in Hamburg, richest Jew in Hamburg

Chajim Fürst

(1617–1692), court agent in Hamburg and Mecklenburg–Schwerin

Moses Israel Fürst

(Liepmann Cohen) of Hanover (c. 1630–1714)[17]

Leffmann Behrends

(1635–1703), military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor[18]

Samuel Oppenheimer

(1649–1714), court Jew to King Frederick I of Prussia

Esther Liebmann

(1658–1724), Austrian financier, chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt[19]

Samson Wertheimer

; de (1661–1730)

Issachar Berend Lehmann

(1670–1739), vice-chancellor of Russia under Peter the Great

Baron Peter Shafirov

(1698–1738), financier for Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer

(† 1740) of Aurich and Frankfurt

Aaron Beer

(c. 1675–1744), court purveyor of Mainz[20][21]

Löw Sinzheim

(1724–1789), court agent and lessee of the tobacco monopoly from the Habsburgs. "Bankaldirektor" for Joseph II. First Austrian Jew to be ennobled without converting to Christianity (1789).[22]

Israel Edler von Hönigsberg

(1720–1795), court agent and lessee of the tobacco monopoly from the Habsburgs. Second Austrian Jew to be ennobled without needing to be converted (1790).[23]

Joachim Edler von Popper

(1723–1799), a court Jew of Frederick II the Great and Frederick William II of Prussia

Daniel Itzig

(† 1810), court Jew of the Duke of Württemberg

Raphael Kaulla

(1739–1809), court Jew of the Duke of Württemberg

Karoline Kaulla

(1744–1812), "court factor" for William I, Elector of Hesse

Mayer Amschel Rothschild

(1768–1828), philanthropist and reformer, court agent of Brunswick[24]

Israel Jacobson

(1751–1829), factor to the Elector of Hesse, father of Moritz Wilhelm August Breidenbach

Wolf Breidenbach

(1753–1839), a court Jew of Joseph II and Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire and I of Austria

Bernhard von Eskeles

In rough chronological order:


In fiction, Isaac the Jew in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe serves this purpose to Prince John and other nobles.

Crown rabbi

Hakham Bashi

Jewish heraldry

Jewish oath

Judenhut

Landesrabbiner

List of British Jewish nobility and gentry

List of European Jewish nobility

Schutzjude

Shtadlan

Useful Jew

Israel, Jonathan I. (1985). . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198219288.

European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750

Stern, Selma (1950). The Court Jew: A Contribution to the History of the Period of Absolutism in Europe. New York: Transaction.  0-88738-019-0.

ISBN

Public Domain Deutsch, Gotthard; Kayserling, Meyer (1901–1906). . In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

"Court Jews"