The King and Jewish Authority: Political Foundations of the Catalan Jewish Communities in Royal Domains (14th C.)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer an overview of the legal and political context of the Catalan Jewish communities between 1240 and 1391. This contribution will synthesize the complex net of factors, rules, and theories that shaped the Catalan Jewry’s social environment by combining the use of Hebrew and Christian sources. Communal self-government was built upon the convergence between royal legislation and the normative and theoretical production of the communities. My objective is to capture this multi-facetted reality. The discussion below will focus on the main privileges granted by the Catalan-Aragonese kings to their Jewish subjects, the political theories developed by the Jewish scholars of the time, and the communal legal production. I will pay special attention to the social and historical elements that boosted the evolution of the communal system.