ABSTRACT
In the twelfth century, there were reportedly some 400 Jews on Rhodes. The community had probably dwindled by 1306 when the Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John began their occupation of the island. Encouraged by various Masters of the Order who permitted the use of a synagogue, the Jewish population grew so that in 1381 the Master agreed to its enlargement. The administrative centre of the borgo of Rhodes was just outside the south-east corner of the walled castrum. Among the Jews on Rhodes was Ezechiel Mauristiri, inhabitant and burgensis of Rhodes. In 1341, a Ligiachus or Elijah Mauristiri purchased several houses in Candia on Crete and also lent 4,500 ducats to two borrowers, while in 1359 he paid 6,000 hyperpers to be allowed to marry a Jewess of Candia. Ezechiel’s will reflected the multi-lingual world in which a rich and important Jew might operate on Rhodes.
