ABSTRACT
Cities were the main living environment for medieval Jews, in cities, the big Jewish communities with their synagogues, cemeteries, and other communal institutions developed. Pushed into the financial sector by the wishes of the territorial princes, and although the Jewish credit business however was never a monopoly, moneylending and pawn broking were major points of contact – albeit not the only ones – between Jews and the Christian citizenry. From the late 13th century onwards, with a growing sense of municipal self-determination and a burgeoning municipal administration, cities strove to exert control over the Jewish credit business within the boundaries of their town walls. Various measures were carried out to cut down Jewish interest rates, to limit the range of pawn able objects, and to generally ensure a municipal monitoring of Jewish moneylending and pawn broking; many of these measures were in contrast to the interests of the territorial prince or lord of the town. With the weakening of the ducal protection at the end of the 14th century, many cities managed to tighten the grip on their Jews perceptibly, and would play a major role in pogroms against and the expulsion of the Jews throughout the 15th century.
