Isaac Mussaphia

Isaac Mussaphia (* 1684/85 probably in Hamburg ; † in May 1760 in Kiel ) was a court Jew .

Life

Isaac Mussaphia was a son of the court Jew Jacob Mussaphia and his first wife Ribca. He had two younger brothers and one older brother who came of age, including Joseph Mussaphia . He probably spent his childhood in Hamburg and worked in his father's company from an early age.

Mussaphia can be found in sources for the first time in 1703. Here his brother Joseph litigated at the court of the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf due to incidents during the production of the Tönninger coin during the time of Duke Friedrich IV. From this point on, Isaac Mussaphia probably took over the management of his father's company from his brother Joseph and negotiated also with the government. A year later he moved to Altona with twelve other heads of Sephardic families . After lengthy conflicts between members of the Sephardic Jewish community, they used a privilege granted by King Friedrich IV of Denmark and founded their own community in Altona. A short time later, the families, including Mussaphia, went back to Hamburg.

In the summer of 1708 Isaac and Joseph Mussaphia traveled to Stockholm and asked Hedwig Sophie , the widow of Duke Friedrich IV, who died in 1702, to successfully resume the minting process. Magnus von Wedderkop probably helped them with this . Around this time, Mussaphia and his two younger brothers at the Gottorfer Hof tried to get the Tönninger Mint again, but failed. Joseph Mussaphia died in 1709. The trial against him ended in March 1711 with the same verdict as in 1705. Isaac Mussaphia then probably cooperated with von Wedderkop's opponent Georg Heinrich von Görtz and agreed with the Gottorf government on his comprehensive discharge. Previously, both parties had offset a bond of the Danish king from 1667, which the Mussaphias owned, with fines amounting to 18,000 Reichstalers. The settlement of this business took a long time and was sketchy; an instruction from Görtz to clear up the affairs of the war chest from 1700 onwards was not implemented until 1713. There was no settlement with the pension fund beyond 1701.

In March 1712, the Lübeck prince-bishop Christian August appointed as guardian of the underage Duke Karl Friedrich Mussaphia as court Jew. This therefore had the obligation to relocate to Schleswig . Since he then continued to do business from Hamburg, he probably only met this requirement formally. Together with his younger brother Abraham, who also lived in Hamburg, he continued to run his father's business. While his father had ample financial resources and was considered creditworthy, Isaac Mussaphia ran into economic problems. In the autumn of 1714 he asked Christian August whether he could pay him 100 Reichstaler per month, since he could not earn any money during the war and did not receive any loans. In response to his request, he was told that he would have to wait until there was money in the pension fund.

Mussaphia was doing unfair business, probably also because of his financial problems. In May 1714 he agreed with von Görtz in Berlin that he would get 50,000 Reichstaler for the government by means of bills of exchange. Gottorf officials should give guarantees for this. Since both parties apparently violated agreements a short time later, the deal did not materialize. Mussaphia led lawsuits for several decades due to bill debts that he had entered into as part of the business, as well as due to high amounts owed to him by Landesrentmeister Johann von Clausenheim . Furthermore, Mussaphia apparently did not trade in large amounts during Christian August's tenure. In 1717 he signed a contract for 533 Reichstaler, which he should advance the government for three months. For the next twenty years there are no documents to indicate that Mussaphia was raising money. In 1728, the Jew Samson Levin, who was considered “High German”, was appointed court Jew.

Mussaphia was obviously only needed again after Duke Karl Friedrich died in 1739 and a custodial government for his son Karl Peter Ulrich von Holstein-Gottorf came into force. This wanted to issue so-called "land bonds" in the amount of 500 or 1000 Reichstalers in order to keep the state liquid. This order was given to Mussaphia, who returned to work as a court Jew around the beginning of 1741. However, since Levin continued to work as such, Mussaphia was appointed court and chamber agent. During this time he was likely to have moved to Kiel as the city's second court Jew . In 1745, Mussaphia came into conflict with the government. In the meantime he left the city without settling the bonds. The government then confiscated all of his documents. After the dispute had been settled, there was a commission that was supposed to clarify his claims to the government, but never ended this project.

Sources name Mussaphia for the last time on April 26th, 1760. On that day he asked the government for assistance with illness and medical expenses. Since Levin's eldest son submitted his successful application for Mussaphia's offices on May 30 of the same year, referring to his “recent death”, he must have died in May 1760, presumably unmarried. His housekeeper's husband received his license as a protective Jew.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pages 281-283.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 281.
2. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pages 281-282.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 282.
4. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 283.
5. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Mussaphia, Issac . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 283, regarding marital status p. 281.