ABSTRACT
Out of the mainly poor Ashkenazim in the Dutch Republic, a small elite formed. Its tone was set by Tobias Boas (1696–1782) in The Hague, the grandson of an immigrant from Poland. His father had established a trading firm that dealt in jewels, gold and textiles. Tobias expanded the business and transformed it into an internationally famous private bank. He made loans worth millions to several European royal families and to the court of the stadholder, where he was known as ‘one of the best of the Jews that are here’.
