Jews in the medieval courts of Castile and Aragon

In the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, from the eleventh to the fifteenth century, Jews held prominent positions in royal service, as treasurers, tax farmers, physicians, and diplomats. These "court Jews" benefited from royal protection, which afforded them influence and wealth, but also exposed them to popular hostility and the fluctuations of princely favor. Figures such as Hasdaï ibn Shaprout in the earlier period, and various courtiers of the medieval Iberian courts, illustrate this position. This elite lived in a permanent tension between integration into power and the precariousness of their condition. The violence of 1391, the forced conversions, and finally the expulsion of 1492 brought this influential Jewish presence in the peninsula to an end.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗