Court factor
A court factor was a merchant employed at a court ruling center or court who procured goods (luxury), supplies from the army or capital for the ruler. Many court factors were Jews , for whom the contemporary source term court Jew was used. Another name is Hofagent. A number of court factors also served several courts.
history
With Isaak from Aachen , who took on diplomatic missions for Charlemagne , a merchant was already working in the service of a prince at the end of the 8th century . In the Middle Ages, pawn shops and lending against interest became a focus of Jewish merchants. They won their customers more through their practical experience and far-reaching relationships than through the ban on interest for Christians , which was only confirmed by the Catholic Church in 1179 and the ban on usury that was emphasized in 1215 , which was also soon neglected. For the growing financial needs of the economy and politics in the late Middle Ages , Christians (Italian banks , e.g. the Compagnia dei Bardi ) and Jews were granted loans against interest.
The first Jewish court factor in the sense of an office is Salomon or Salmon, who in 1315 was the court and kitchen master of Duke Heinrich VI. worked in Wroclaw. Samuel von Derenburg served four church princes in the Archdiocese of Magdeburg , such as Otto and Dietrich von Portitz . Vivelin of Strasbourg was one of the richest people in Europe in Alsace before his death in the plague in 1349. Aaron von Lincoln was already active in England in the 12th century. Isaak Abarbanel was a great financier in the Reconquista in Spain .
Beginning at the Vienna Imperial Court and the Berlin Court
The history of the actual court Jews did not begin until the 16th century: In 1582, Emperor Rudolf II created the institution of Jews at court in Vienna . He was free of taxes in the country and in the city, had no tolls and duties for his goods, was exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the Obersthofmarschall , was exempt from wearing the Jewish emblem and was allowed to stay where the court was. From 1596 these liberated Jews also had to make special contributions for war purposes. Jakob Bassevi von Treuenberg , head of the Prague Jewish community from 1616 , received the title of nobility from Ferdinand II at Wallenstein's instigation in 1622 and, together with Prince Lichtenstein, became the tenant of coinage. In 1624, the minting business in the Imperial Mint in Vienna was transferred to the liberated Jew Israel Wolf Auerbach and his consortium.
With Michael von Derenburg the House of Hohenzollern in Kurbrandenburg also had a court factor from 1543 on. Elector Joachim II (1535–1571) appointed Lippold , who came from a Jewish family in Prague, as mint master in 1556 . He is considered the first court factor in the broadest sense; his task included the procurement of the coin metal and the care of the strike treasure.
Distribution in the German Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries
Court factors mainly worked for the royal courts of the Old Kingdom in the 17th and 18th centuries . They supplied the rulers with capital and goods, procured luxury goods , supplied the armies with provisions, weapons and horses and were entrusted with the production of coins . Because of their centuries of activity as merchants and money dealers, their partly international network and their greater willingness to take risks, Jews were welcome for these tasks at the courts. To facilitate their work, court factors were usually given privileges , privileges and titles, thus continuing the medieval tradition of the Jewish shelf. The arbitrariness of the judiciary often deprived them of property and position. Between the Thirty Years' War and the beginning of the 19th century, court factors were put into service at almost all courts in the empire . In the imperial cities they were not, like the other citizens, dependent on the council, but directly on the emperor and the empire. In the 19th century, the name Hofbankier was used .
A new communicative closeness arose between the Jewish court factors and the rulers and their officials, which opened up new economic, political and cultural scope for the court factors for themselves, their families and their communities. In the 18th century, and with their consent, the princes' practice of entrusting court Jews with the government of their home communities was widespread. They ruled them from afar in the manner of absolutist rulers, but did not yet form a caste or class of their own , but were only individual individuals of a very small privileged group of Jews. The formation of castes within the Jewish people only began with the marriages between leading court Jewish families, which resembled the international marriages of the aristocracy.
Reception in anti-Semitism and Nazi propaganda
As early as the 19th century, Jewish court factors were regarded as a negative feature of a premodern mercantilist princely economy that liberalism had overcome. Private bankers were no longer religiously oriented. The anti-Semitic propaganda of National Socialism used the role of the Jewish court factors to prove the alleged harmfulness of the Jews. The best-known example of this is the film Jud Süß by Veit Harlan . At the same time, Nazi history research was to give these theses a scientific coating with the book Hofjuden by Peter Deeg . Heinrich Schnee's research was also started in this context. Even later, snow could never completely break free of it. However, his work offers an overview of many sources.
Important court factors in the German Empire
Ansbach
- (Mordechai) Marx Model (d. 1709) was a court factor at the Ansbacher Hof , in rivalry with the Fränkel family.
- The learned court factor Gabriel Fränkel worked from Fürth in the Franconian area.
Aurich
- Aaron Abrahams Beer († 1740) served the Count of East Friesland .
Bamberg
- Adam Friedrich Sensburg (1720–1792) was court factor in Bamberg and, after his baptism, Prince-Bishop's Police Commissioner.
Berlin
- Michael von Derenburg was the first court Jew in Kurbrandenburg under Joachim II.
- Israel Aaron (d. 1673) was the first Jew ever in Berlin under the Great Elector and the first man from
- Esther Liebmann , as widow of the court jeweler Jost Liebmann Münzmeisterin of Friedrich I . was. She was considered a particularly successful business woman and enjoyed a high reputation with the king, but fell out of favor after his death in 1713.
- Liepmann Meyer Wulff , the Berlin Croesus , was court factor of Friedrich Wilhelm II and around 1800 the richest man in Prussia.
- Veitel Heine Ephraim (1703–1775) was the most important financier of Frederick II's wars . He financed the Seven Years' War by deteriorating coins . The coin deterioration led to inflation . The coins he minted were called the Ephraimites . Today the Ephraimpalais in Berlin-Mitte commemorates Nathan Veitel Heine Ephraim .
- Under Friedrich Wilhelm II, Daniel Itzig was the first Jew in Prussia to be granted the naturalization patent (1791), equality with Christians.
- Moritz von Cohn was the court banker of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiser Friedrich III. He participated in the financing of the railways.
- Gerson Bleichröder from the S. Bleichröder bank , who maintained excellent contacts with Kaiser Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck, represented the Rothschild banking house at court .
Braunschweig
- Alexander David reestablished the Jewish community in Braunschweig .
- Israel Jacobson is considered the last German court factor.
Buckeburg
- From the Heine (Chaim) family it went to Heinrich Heine .
Darmstadt
- Bär Löw Isaak got rich at the beginning of the 18th century through the tobacco monopoly in Hessen-Darmstadt .
Dessau
- Moses Benjamin Wulff had a particularly good relationship with the "old Dessauer", Prince Leopold I.
- Moritz von Cohn began his work in Dessau and later moved to Berlin.
Dresden
- From the bank Kaskel the line led to Dresdner Bank .
- Issachar Berend Lehmann (1661–1730) supported August the Strong in financing the acquisition of the Polish crown . Halberstadt was the center of his life, which was widely promoted .
- Jonas Meyer had contacts up to Tsar Peter the Great.
- Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann (1724–1782) tenant of the Electoral Saxon Generalaccise . He later entered service in Denmark.
Dusseldorf
- Joseph Jacob van Geldern (1653–1727), court chamber agent of Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz , builder of the first synagogue in Düsseldorf , great-great-grandfather Heinrich Heine .
Frankfurt am Main
- Josef Goldschmidt († 1572) became known as "Joseph of the Golden Swan". The Goldschmidt family branched out all over Europe.
- The Speyer family lived in the "Goldener Hirsch" house.
- The Hass- Kann family went back to Salomon zum Hasen around 1530, who lived in the house at the red rabbit.
- Meyer Amschel Flörsheim converted to Christianity around 1760.
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) was still the court factor of the Hessian landgrave and administered his fortune in the Napoleonic era, but he opened the time of the great international banking houses ( Bankhaus Rothschild ).
- The wine merchant Jacob Samuel Hayum Stern from the large Stern family followed the example of the Rothschilds and founded a Jacob SH Stern bank at the beginning of the 19th century .
Glückstadt
- The Sephardic Albert Dionis worked from Glückstadt, Denmark, for King Christian IV.
Hamburg
- Diego Texeira was one of the Sephardic Jews from Portugal.
- One of the most influential “court Jews” in Hamburg was Moses Israel Fürst .
Hanover
- In Hanover, the court Jew Leffmann Behrens worked in the service of the three Guelph Dukes Johann Friedrich , Ernst August and Georg Ludwig .
Hildesheim
- Moses Herz (d. 1781) served as court factor in the Hildesheim monastery .
Hechingen
- Karoline "Madame" Kaulla was in the service of the House of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and in Stuttgart.
Innsbruck / Hohenems
- Michael May (Hoffaktor) (around 1680–1737) emigrated from Innsbruck to Mannheim around 1725 after bankruptcy .
- Jonathan Uffenheimer succeeded the Viennese court from Hohenems in Tyrol .
kassel
- In Kassel , Benedikt Goldschmidt (approx. 1575–1642) was an influential court banker . In 1635 he achieved the expulsion of all Jews who did not belong to his family from Kassel.
- The son Simon Goldschmidt (1600–1658) was also the court banker and head of the remaining Jewish community.
- Oberhof Agent Mosessie Joseph Bueding (1748 / 49-1811) was the founder of the bank, "the same name MJ Bueding " in Kassel.
- Feidel David rose in the Seven Years' War as supplier and mediator of the English subsidies for the Hessian landgrave.
- Wolf Breidenbach was the last in the line of court factors in Kassel.
Kleve / Wesel
- Elias Gomperz came from the large Emmerich family and after 1650 became court factor for Kurbrandenburg in Kleve .
- The son Ruben Elias Gomperz (1655–1705) continued the family business and moved its center to Wesel .
Cologne / Bonn
- Levi von Bonn served the Elector Ernst of Bavaria from 1598 and with an imperial letter of protection from 1605 .
- Abraham Oppenheim descended from the Bonn court factors of the Cologne bishop Clemens August and built up the large banking house Sal (omon) Oppenheim , which became part of Deutsche Bank . He developed relations with the Prussian royal house under Wilhelm I. Sal. Oppenheim issued the war bonds that made the First World War possible under Kaiser Wilhelm II .
Mainz
- The Bischoffsheim family founded a widely branched bank up to BNP .
- The Bamberger family founded a widely branched bank up to Deutsche Bank .
Mannheim
- Lemle Moses Reinganum (1666-1724) started out as a horse dealer in the Palatinate War of Succession .
- The court and militia factor Elias Hayum (Anten family Mayer) (1709–1766) was the progenitor of the Mannheim bankers and factory owners.
- His son Elias Mayer (1733 / 37–1803) became a senior court and militia factor.
- Gottschalk Mayer (1761–1835), founder of the company “ Gebr. Mayer Zigarrenfabriken ”, then continued the family tradition as a court factor in the third generation.
Munich
- Simon Wolf Wertheimer (1681–1765) ran the business in Munich despite the Bavarian reservations.
- Aron Elias Seligmann (1747–1824) ennobled Baron von Eichthal. Elector Max Joseph - from 1806 King of Bavaria - made Aron Elias Seligmann his court factor in 1799, who advanced the pay for the troops , without which Max Joseph would not have been able to continue his war.
- Jakob von Hirsch (1765–1840) was raised to the nobility with the predicate "on Gereuth".
Paderborn
- Behrend Levi made himself unpopular with the Jews because of his harshness.
Prague
- Mordechai Meisel financed the imperial court of Rudolf II.
- Jacob Bassevi financed the campaigns and the acquisition of land by Albrecht von Wallenstein , with whom he leased the Vienna Mint , the coin shelf for Lower Austria , Bohemia and Moravia on February 1, 1622 , through the deterioration of coins . Other participants were Hans de Witte , Paul Michna von Vacínov and Karl von Liechtenstein . They caused enormous increases in prices and famine . At the end of the Thirty Years' War the pre-financing of wars by court factors had become established. Because of his merits, Jakob Bassevis was raised to the hereditary nobility and from then on called himself Jacob Bassevi Schnuel (probably Shmuel, abbreviation of Salomon) von Treuenberg.
- David Oppenheimer was a learned rabbi who inherited his wealth and acquired it through marriage.
Saarbrücken
- Cerf Beer supplied and operated an ironworks for the princes of Nassau-Saarbrücken .
Schwerin
- Michael bar Ruben Hinrichs (1634–1710) became court factor of Duke Christian Ludwig I in 1688. His descendants remained, if not alone, in this position until the late 18th century.
Stuttgart
- The most famous court factor, not only in Stuttgart , is Joseph Suss Oppenheimer , who worked at the court of Duke Karl Alexander in Württemberg and who was the victim of a judicial murder .
- At the same time, Marx Nathan, also called Mardochai Schloß , worked in Stuttgart , who as head of the Israelite community in Stuttgart Suss Oppenheimer provided spiritual support before his execution .
- Under King Friedrich I , Karoline Kaulla worked here as a court factor, an exceptionally successful entrepreneur. Only two percent of all court factors were women.
trier
- The doctor Wolf von Koblenz (died 1610) served Lothar von Metternich and litigated Levi von Bonn .
- The paper dealer Josef Feist served Clemens Wenzeslaus .
Weimar
- Jacob Elkan (1742–1805), born in Schwanfeld , was the first Jew to receive a settlement permit in Weimar from Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach .
- Israel Julius Elkan (1777–1839), born in Weimar, court factor or court banker in Weimar
Vienna
- Jakob Koppel Fränkel (1600–1670), richest banker of his time
- Samuel Oppenheimer was one of the richest bankers of his era
- Samson Wertheimer as well, benefiting from the many wars of the time. In Vienna there were around 100 court factors at the same time.
- Diego d'Aguilar (1699–1759) financed the construction of Schönbrunn Palace .
- Karl Abraham Wetzlar von Plankenstern became known and ennobled as a “millionaire Jew”.
- Isaak Arnstein (1682–1744) financed the imperial court.
- Nathan Adam von Arnstein and Fanny von Arnstein , banking family and center of society at the Congress of Vienna
Wurzburg
- Jakob von Hirsch was court factor for Bavaria and the diocese of Würzburg . His son was raised to the nobility as a Jew ( Hirsch auf Gereuth ).
Court factors in the rest of Europe
Copenhagen
- Meyer Levi Jacob
Madrid
- Abraham Senior financed the war against the Moors in the 15th century.
Lisbon
- David de Pury (1709–1786) came to the Portuguese court from Neuchâtel, then Prussia . Like Schimmelmann, he was particularly involved in the slave trade and plantation economy . Elevated to the nobility by the Prussian king.
London
- Moses Montefiore was ennobled in 1837.
- Paul Julius Reuter , whom Queen Victoria appointed baron, brought Iran under British control by making Nāser ad-Din Shah financially dependent and from him in 1872 obtained several monopolies on the Iranian economy. That for tobacco let the Iranians rise nationwide. Shah Nāser ad-Din bought it back with the money raised.
Paris / Strasbourg
- The army supplier Cerf Beer , who lives in Strasbourg , was granted French citizenship in 1775.
Stockholm
- The engraver Aaron Isaak became a supplier to the army and, in 1789, to the court.
St. Petersburg
- Samuel Sinzheimer had a letter of protection from the tsar.
- Peter Schafirow (1669–1739) served Tsar Peter the Great .
Veneto
- In Gorizia , Joel (Josef) Pincherle received a privilege as court factor from Emperor Ferdinand II in 1624 .
literature
- Selma Stern : The court Jew in the age of absolutism. A contribution to European history in the 17th and 18th centuries. 1st edition Philadelphia 1950. Translated from English, annotated and edited. by Marina Sassenberg, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-16-147662-X . ( available online in books.google.de )
- Vivian B. Mann / Richard I. Cohen (eds.): From Court Jews to the Rothschilds. Art, Patronage and Power 1600--1800. (Published in connection with the exhibition "From Court Jews ..." Jewish Museum, New York, Sept. 1996 - Jan. 1997). Munich / New York 1996.
- Rotraud Ries, J. Friedrich Battenberg (Ed.): Court Jews. Economy and interculturality. The Jewish business elite in the 18th century . Christians Verlag, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 978-3-7672-1410-1 .
Web links
- Information on Jewish court factors in Frankfurt at www.judengasse.de
- Case study by Cathleen Bürgelt: The Jewish court factor Berend Lehmann and the financing of the Polish royal crown for August the Strong (pdf, ~ 450 kB) in medaon.de, magazine for Jewish life in research and education
- Information on court Jews / court factors from a school project at www.judentum-projekt.de
- Article in Deutschlandfunk Kultur about court Jews from March 13, 2020, accessed on April 7, 2020
Individual evidence
- ^ Dan Diner : Court factor . In: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture . tape 3 . Springer-Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-476-01218-0 ( google.de [accessed on March 25, 2020]).
- ↑ Michael Toch: Economic history of medieval Jews: questions and assessments . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-044649-4 ( google.de [accessed on March 25, 2020]).
- ↑ SMOL VON DERENBURCH (SAMUEL OF DERENBURG) - JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved March 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Toch: Economic history of medieval Jews: questions and assessments . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-044649-4 ( google.de [accessed on March 25, 2020]).
- ↑ Kurt Schubert : Jüdische Geschichte , CH Beck, 7th edition, 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-44918-5 , p. 91.
- ↑ Hans Behrens: Adaptation - Defense - Awakening / German-Jewish literature between 1935 and 1947 using the example of the narrative texts "The world stands on three things" and "The scales of the world" by Gerson Stern , Igel Verlag, 2017, ISBN 9783868157161 , p 22.
- ^ Heinz Gstrein: Jüdisches Wien , H. Wien, 1984, ISBN 9783700802648 , p. 14.
- ↑ Rotraud Ries: Jews as noble functionaries . In: Werner Paravicini (ed.): Courtyards and residences in the late medieval empire. Images and terms , edit by Jan Hirschbiegel / Jörg Wettlaufer, T. 1-2, 1: Terms. Sigmaringen 2005 (Residency Research 15.II, T. 1), pp. 303-306. [1] .
- ↑ John F. Oppenheimer (Red.) And a .: Lexicon of Judaism. 2nd Edition. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 1971, ISBN 3-570-05964-2 , col. 294.
- ^ Hannah Arendt : Elements and origins of total domination. Anti-Semitism, imperialism, total rule , Piper, Munich / Zurich 1986 (TB). (11th edition. 2006, ISBN 978-3-492-21032-4 ), pp. 158ff.
- ^ Heinrich Schnee: The court finance and the modern state. History and system of court factors at German royal courts in the age of absolutism. According to archival sources, Vol. 1–6, Berlin 1953–1967.
- ^ Judengasse: Speyer. Retrieved April 5, 2020 .
- ^ Judengasse: Haas, also Gerotwohl. Retrieved April 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Judengasse: Can. Retrieved April 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Hildesheim, Jewish cemetery Teichstrasse. Retrieved April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Thomas Albrich: Jewish life in Tyrol and Vorarlberg from 1700 to 1805: Jewish life in historic Tyrol . Haymon Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7099-7341-7 ( google.de [accessed on April 5, 2020]).
- ↑ Monika Grübel, Georg Mölich: Jewish life in the Rhineland: from the Middle Ages to the present . Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2005, ISBN 978-3-412-11205-9 ( google.de [accessed April 6, 2020]).
- ↑ Erika Bucholtz: Henri Hinrichsen and the music publisher CF Peters: German-Jewish bourgeoisie in Leipzig from 1891 to 1938. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2001 (series of scientific treatises of the Leo-Baeck-Institut; 65) Zugl .: Berlin, Techn. Univ. , Diss., 2000 ISBN 3-16-147638-7 , p. 18.
- ^ Andreas Reinke, Barbara Strenge: An inventory overview . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-095413-5 ( google.de [accessed April 7, 2020]).