Merton's Jewish neighbours, 13th century
In the thirteenth-century England’s Jewish community were under many legal disadvantages. Among these was the inability to foreclose on Christian debtors who had used a manorial estate as security on a loan. Only another Christian could collect this kind of debt, and it appears that Merton's founder Walter de Merton acted as a middleman in this way, all the while acquiring valuable estates. He purchased lands from indebted owners, and in the process paid off the debts to their Jewish creditors.
Below are some of Merton College's starrs and deeds drawn up between the mid- and late-13th century. Whereas the majority of legal documents at the time were drawn up in Latin, Walter de Merton's frequent status as middleman for Jewish lenders means that the college has a generous selection of documents in Hebrew dating from this period.
Many of the estates still belong to Merton college to this day.
Merton and Oxford's Medieval Jewry
Pam Manix (introduced by Professor Ulrike Tillmann) examines Merton's Jewish neighbours in Oxford at the time of its foundation, including the importance of Jewish financiers in establishing Merton in 1264.
The Merton College Starrs
Professor Peter Pormann, Professor of Greek and Latin Studies at the University of Manchester, (introduced by Dr Evie Kemp) shares his research on two of the medieval Hebrew starrs held at Merton College.
Hebrew starr (Malden & Chessington, Surrey), 1247
An early example of this type of transaction is shown here, in which Walter pays off a debt of William de Watville to Aaron, son of Abram of London in 1247. The estates involved here are Malden and Chessington in Surrey.
Deeds relating to land in Oxford, 1267
In 1267 Walter was busy consolidating what was to become today’s college site. He acquired a house on Merton Street (now part of Front Quad) from a prominent member of Oxford’s Jewish community, Jacob, son of Master Moses of London. The two seals on the document depict the Lion of Judah and are probably the earliest examples of Jewish seals from England.
Hebrew starrs (Gamlingay), 1268
The Hebrew starrs relating to the 1268 transfer of ownership of land in Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire were detached from the Latin document at some point and sent to Benjamin Kennicott (1718-1783), Regius professor of Hebrew at Oxford, perhaps for translating. Kennicott’s papers eventually went to Lambeth Palace Library, where the Librarian realized that the starrs belonged to Merton and generously returned them to the college in 1966.
The starrs relate to a loan made by Abram de Vives, a Jew, to William de Leicester in the early 1260s. William had not repaid the loan by the time he sold his land to Walter de Merton. By 1268 Abram had died. The starrs therefore confirm that Abram’s widow Esther and her current husband Josce, relinquish any claims on the property.
Hebrew starrs (Cheddington & Ibstone), 1270
This Hebrew starr or deed of 1270 sees Hagimus, Denikel, and Menasseh son of Aaron quitclaim to Stephen de Chenduit any rights which they may have in the manors of Cheddington and Ibstone in Buckinghamshire, which he grants to Walter de Merton in the Latin deed, and to which his seal is appended.