John XXII and the Expulsion of Jews from the Comtat Venaissin

Abstract

In the early 1320s, the Jewish populations of the Comtat Venaissin were expelled from this territory by its ruler, Pope John XXII. This episode has often been linked by historians to the French king’s policy on the Jews. However, no study has described in a satisfactory manner the way in which this expulsion was carried out, or the reasons why the Papacy broke with the longstanding doctrine of the necessary protection of Jews, which had prevailed since the bull Sicut judeis. Although the question was given some attention by Carlo Ginzburg in Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath, the historiography has long been dominated by the idea that the Popes, unlike secular rulers, never failed to protect the Jews. This article revisits this story. Using unpublished accounting documents, it proposes a more precise chronology of events leading to the expulsion, and an explanation of the way the forced sale of Jewish belongings was carried out. This leads to a new interpretation of this reversal of Papal policy, diverging both from an idealized history of the relations between Jews and Christians and from that of the rise of persecution mentalities, and embedded in the context of the building of state structures and the development of the arts of government.