ABSTRACT
The princes who, during the period between the end of the Thirty Years’ War and the War of the Spanish Succession, ruled over the two hundred and forty territories of the Holy Roman Empire were restless, overbearing and ambitious men, burning with a desire to perform great deeds and experience colorful adventures. A Jewish peddler riding on a pig was a stock figure in the caricatures of the time; the petty Jewish dealer greedy for money or the crafty war contractor were stock figures in the novels and plays of the period. As in the field of army contracting, their family and business connections in various countries proved of great help to them. Many Court Jews began their careers as money and luxury dealers and became known to princes and noblemen through this purely private activity.
