Ordinance concerning the affairs of the Jews

This is the ordinance made by the lord king concerning the Jews under his authority in the month of February, in the year of the Lord 1218 [1219 according to modern dating].

1. From the octave of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary onward, no Jew shall lend money to a Christian who earns his living by working with his own hands, such as a farmer, shoemaker, carpenter or similar laborer, if that person has neither inherited property nor movable possessions sufficient to support himself without such labor. No debt shall accrue interest for more than one year from the date of the loan, and each pound shall earn no more than two deniers per week.

2. No Jew shall lend money to a monk or regular canon without the consent of his abbot and chapter, confirmed by their open letters. Nor shall he lend to any other member of a religious order without the consent of that person’s superior, similarly confirmed by open letters.

3. No Jew shall accept as a pledge any church ornament, bloodstained or wet garment, plow iron, draft animal or grain that hasn’t been winnowed. Such items may not serve as security for a loan.

4. If a Jew lends money to a knight, burgess or merchant, he shall receive from the debtor an assignment of inherited property, a holding or income as security for the debt, with the consent of the lord from whom the debtor holds it. If the debtor forcibly interferes with the assignment, interest shall accrue for as long as that interference continues after the Jew has made his complaint.

The person responsible for the interference shall make amends to the lord king. Once the assignment has been made, the debt shall cease to accrue interest unless interference occurs as described above.

5. In Normandy, the Jews shall have the debtor acknowledge the amount of the debt and the assignment before the royal bailiff at an assize whose proceedings are officially recorded, or before the bailiff in the presence of ten knights. Both the debt and the assignment shall then be entered upon the roll.

If the assignment was made while the bailiff was absent and the debtor refuses to appear before the bailiff and ten knights, or at the assize as stated above, the Jew may prove the matter through lawful Christian witnesses. The bailiff shall then compel the debtor and the named guarantors to appear before him and the ten knights, or at the assize, so that both the debt and the assignment may be acknowledged and enrolled.

6. If a knight or any other person wishes to pledge his horse, clothing or any other movable property, the Jew may accept it. The lord king shall not intervene in such a transaction.

7. For debts contracted before the Feast of the Purification, neither the debtor nor his guarantor shall be compelled to sell inherited property or income, nor shall their persons be seized on account of the debt. Two-thirds of the inherited property or income of both the debtor and the guarantor shall be assigned to the Jew, while they shall live from the remaining third.

The debtor’s draft animals, mattresses and other household utensils shall not be seized. These necessary possessions shall remain with the debtor.

8. All debtors in France and Normandy who have neither inherited property nor movable possessions sufficient to support themselves without working with their own hands shall receive three years in which to repay their debts. They shall provide security and pay one-third of the debt each year.