Paul of Burgos
Paul of Burgos (
Early life
He was the most wealthy and influential Jew of Burgos, an erudite scholar of Talmudic and rabbinical literature, and a rabbi of the Jewish community. His father, Isaac ha-Levi, had come from Aragon to Burgos in the middle of the fourteenth century. Solomon ha-Levi also apparently filled the office of tax-farmer at the same time.
According to Graetz, his scholarship and intelligence, no less than his piety, won the praise of Isaac ben Sheshet, with whom he carried on a learned correspondence. This assertion is disputed by Atlas and Hershman as anachronistic; "...the disparity in age between Paul de Burgos and Perfet renders the assumption of Graetz untenable." [1]
Conversion
He received
Controversy
Following his conversion, Paul, and later his younger colleague and fellow convert Joshua ha-Lorki (Gerónimo de Santa Fe), took an active role in proselytizing Spanish Jews. Kenneth Levin has stated that when a wave of forced conversions of Jews to Christianity began in 1411, Paul "took a leading role in the assault on Spain’s remaining Jews and was responsible for drawing up edicts that isolated the Jews, stripped them of many communal rights, and, most importantly, deprived them of almost all means of earning a living, leaving them with the choice of death by privation for themselves and their families or conversion." Jewish historians have insinuated and alleged that Paul converted for social and economic (as opposed to religious) reasons following a wave of anti-Jewish violence and forced conversions throughout Spain in 1391, despite Paul's own statements to the contrary, as well as extant Church records which predate these events.[5]
Later life
Paul spent some years at the University of Paris, receiving the degree of doctor of theology after several years. He then visited London, where he probably remained only a short time, sending a Hebrew satire on Purim to Don Meïr Alguades from that city.[6]
He was appointed archdeacon of
His intelligence and scholarship, as well as his gift of oratory, gained for him the confidence of King
- Paul of Santa Maria (c.1350-1435). Bishop of Burgos and Cartagena
- Pedro de Cartagena (1388-1478). Alderman of the city of Burgos and son of the previous one.
- Maria de Sarabia. Wife of Pedro de Cartagena.
- Mencía de Rojas. Wife of Pedro de Cartagena.
- Lope de Rojas (d. 1477). Canon of the Cathedral of Burgos and son of Pedro de Cartagena and Mencía de Rojas.
- Álvaro Pérez de Cartagena (d. 1471). Son of Pedro de Cartagena.
- Gonzalo de Santa María (1379-1448). Bishop of Gerona, Plasencia, Astorga and Sigüenza and son of Bishop Pablo de Santa María.
- Alonso de Cartagena (d. 1507). Son of Alonso de Cartagena and Inés de Villalobos.
- Ana de Leiva. Wife of the previous and daughter of Juan de Leiva and Constanza de Mendoza.
- Juan de Cartagena (1500-1533). Son of Alonso de Cartagena and Ana de Leiva.
- Pedro de Cartagena (1502-1533). Son of Alonso de Cartagena and Ana de Leiva.
- Inés de Mendoza and Cartagena. Daughter of Alonso de Cartagena and Ana de Leiva.
In the presbytery was placed a small choir stalls for the friars, and the chair of the father prior of the convent was near the altar of St. Hyacinth. In 1865, a cinerary urn that is supposed to contain the mortal remains of Bishop Pablo de Santa María was taken to the cathedral of Burgos and placed in the chapel of the Visitation, next to the tomb of his son, Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena.
Relationship to Judaism
Paul, who even after he had been baptized continued to correspond with several Jews, including
In the same spirit the chief object of the edict which he drafted as chancellor of the kingdom, and which was promulgated in the name of the regent, the widowed queen mother Catherine of Lancaster, at Valladolid on January 2 (not 12), 1412, was the conversion of the Jews. This law, which consisted of twenty-four articles, was designed to separate the Jews entirely from the Christians, to regulate their commerce, to allow them their own lifestyle and customs, giving the choice either to live within the close quarters of their ghetto or to accept baptism.
Impelled by his experience with and knowledge of
Works
The published writings of Archbishop Paul were:
- Dialogus Pauli et Sauli contra Judæos, sive Scrutinium scripturarum (Mantua, 1475; Mains, 1478; Paris, 1507, 1535; Burgos, 1591).
- Additiones to the Postilla of Nicholas of Lyra (Nuremberg, 1481; 1485; 1487, etc.; Venice, 1481, 1482, etc.).
It is chiefly on the latter work that Paul's reputation as an exegete rests. The Additiones were originally mere marginal notes written in a volume of the Postilla which he sent to his son Alonso. Their publication aroused Matthias Döring, the provincial of the Saxon Franciscans, to publish his Replicæ, a bitter rejection of almost half of the 1,100 suggestions and additions Paul had made.
- De nomine divino quæstiones duodecim (Utrecht, 1707).
These tracts are excerpts from the Additiones in regard to Exodus iii, and are joined to the
See also
External links
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Scrutinium Dialogus Pauli et Sauli contra Judæos, sive Scrutinium scripturarum. Burgos. 1591.
References
- ^ Hershman, Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet and His Times page 181. Isaac ben Sheshet, Responsa, Nos. 183-192
- ISBN 0-679-41065-1.
- ^ Poliakov, Leon The History of Anti-Semitism, Volume 2, pages 160-1 University of Pennsylvania Press: 2003
- ^ Duetsch & Yaacobsen, Chayuta & Daviv (2021). אשת הרב, אשת הבישוף. Israel: Yediot Books.
- ^ Jews in Spain 06: The Conversos 1391-1492 - the expulsion of 1492 Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 15, presented by Michael Palomino (2008) at Encyclopaedia Judaica.
- Steinschneider, "Cat. Leyden," No. 64, 7
- ^ de Madariaga, Salvador (1952). La vida del muy magnífico señor Don Cristóbal Colón (in Spanish) (5th ed.). Mexico: Editorial Hermes. p. 178.
Don Pablo de Santa María fué el jefe indiscutible del antisemitismo español en el siglo XV.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Paul of Burgos". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Paul de Burgos". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.