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Court Jew
(1,060 words)

Although in the Middle Ages Jews (Judaism) were already found at the courts of many princes, where they handled financial transaction on behalf of the prince and saw to the interests of the Jewish community (Jewish congregation), in their institutionalized form – with precursors in the 16th century – they did not appear in the German princely states until after the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) [5. 11 ff.]; [7. 91 ff.].

Because the princes’ own resources were slight and they were dependent on the interests of the estates, and also because there were no eff…

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Battenberg, Friedrich, “Court Jew”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_021052>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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