The taxation of consumption in late-medieval Castile: a case of contested authority and a rabbinic judgement in a fourteenth-century Jewish community

ABSTRACT

Christians and Jews in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Castile relied on income from local taxes levied on commercial transactions to maintain the fabric and the effective administration of their communities. The consumption tax imposed by the crown, the alcabala (also known as the sisa), was a major source of royal revenue so that traders were doubly taxed on the sales of their produce. The mechanism for the collection of these taxes and the way in which the tax-farmers were appointed to these lucrative posts showed some similarities between the two faith communities. A dispute described in a fourteenth-century rabbinic responsum reveals, however, that the process within one Jewish community (aljama) was less structured than that followed in the Christian municipalities (concejos). Furthermore, it portrays the considerable emphasis placed by the protagonists on the legal injunctions of Jewish law (halakha). The conflict between the various elements within the Jewish leadership and their attempts to influence rabbinic authority are an illustration of rivalry and contention and of the bids to dominate judicial process within a late-medieval Jewish community.

KEYWORDS:

• Taxation
• alcabala
• consumption
• Jewish studies
• rabbinic responsa
• community
• aljama
• concejo
• halakha

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See the many contributions of Ladero Quesada, especially La hacienda real de Castilla, and Fiscalidad y poder real; Hernández, Las Rentas del Rey. For a recent assessment of Jewish tax revenues to the crown of Castile, see Reid, Jews and Converts, 14–86; for royal and seigniorial revenues of the Jews in the Crown of Aragón, see Barton, Contested Treasure.

2 On local taxes raised by and for the concejos themselves, Torres Fontes, “La hacienda concejil;” Martínez Carrillo, “Las ‘pujas de quinto’;” Collantes and Menjot, “Hacienda y fiscalidad concejiles;” Ladero Quesada, Las haciendas concejiles; Menjot, Système fiscal étatique.

3 For an overview of takkanot, see Albeck, “The Principles of Government,” 115; Roth, “Community Ordinances (Taqanot).” For the kingdom-wide takkana of Valladolid, see the transcribed and partially translated edition by Fernández y González, Ordenamiento formado por los procuradores; Loeb, “Règlement des Juifs de Castille;” Baer, Die Juden, vol. 2, docs. 287, 280; Moreno Koch, Las Taqqanot de Valladolid de 1432.

4 Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 1:48–59.

5 The Hebrew term kahal was most commonly used by Jews themselves when referring to their communities.

6 A valuable source is Epstein, The ’Responsa’ of Rabbi Solomon ben Adreth. For a recent assessment of the usefulness of the rabbinic responsa and accompanying references, see also Schraer, A Stake in the Ground, 22–25.

7 A new study dates his birth to 1250 but his death (1320–1327) is less certain, see Imanuel, The Crown of the Elders, 172–201.

8 Baer, Die Juden, vol. 2, docs. 136, 125, and “De las respuestas del rabí Acher,” 207–13. The Hebrew version of the responsum in the Appendix is that to be found on the Sefaria website: https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRosh?lang=bi.

9 Yudlov, Sheʾelot u-teshuvot le-Rabenu Asher (hereafter Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal), 13:21, 63a. The morshim also cite in evidence the absence of a specified amount of tax that was to be raised by the appointee.

10 The Castilian term arrendador was most commonly used for those awarded the contract to farm taxes (known as the arrendamiento). Another term, almojarife, was applied to the arrendadores del almojarifazgo, collectors of customs and levies on the transportation of goods, see Ladero Quesada, La hacienda real de Castilla, 125; Valdeón Baruque, “Un pleito cristiano-judío,” 226.

11 Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 1:37.

12 El libro de los ordenamientos, doc. 5, 1347.

13 Actas capitulares: Archivo Municipal de Murcia (hereafter A.M.MU), 23 June 1443, fol. 1r.

14 Baer, “De las respuestas del rabí Acher,” 207, wrongly labelled the responsum 13:20 and interpreted the term almahona incorrectly as an extraordinary royal tax.

15 Eguílaz y Yanguas, Glosario etimológico, 235.

16 Ladero Quesada, “La hacienda real de Castilla,” 193, 353; Eguílaz y Yanguas, Glosario etimológico, 209.

17 Vallvé Bermejo, Al-Andalus: sociedad, 315.

18 Sentencia del vicario general de Toledo, 1385, Archivo de la Iglesia Primada de Toledo, in Amador de los Ríos, Historia social, 574.

19 Torres Fontes, “La hacienda concejil,” appendix, 754.

20 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 68a.

21 Moxó, La alcabala, 20.

22 Crónica del rey don Pedro, 1351, cap. XVIII, 422. However, in later documentation the term sisa acquired a more generic meaning as a local or royal tax on consumption.

23 The extensive literature on the alcabala includes Moxó, La alcabalas, and “Los cuadernos de alcabalas;” Ladero Quesada, La hacienda real de Castilla, 61–93, and El siglo XV en Castilla, 57, see table for a breakdown of the ordinary royal taxes of 1429: the alcabalas accounted for 75% of all revenue, and its value was more than forty-six million mrs. See Asenjo González, “Los encabezamientos de alcabalas.” Menjot, Système fiscal étatique, 30, cites the commercialisation of consumption as the factor that made its taxation an ever more profitable revenue source for the crown.

24 Cuaderno de alcabalas de Enrique II de 1377, Archivo General de Simancas, leg. 4–82, in Moxo, “Los cuadernos de alcabalas,” 370.

25 Moxó, “Los cuadernos de alcabalas,” 348–55; Enrique II, 1377, Archivo General de Simancas, leg. 4–82, in Moxó, “Los cuadernos de alcabalas,” doc. 2, 371.

26 As was the case in Burgos: “ponen en almoneda las rentas de la alcabala del vino y la carne … . al que mas diere por ellas,” Libro de Actas, Archivo Municipal de Burgos (hereafter L. de A., A.M.B.) 1398, in Bonachía Hernando, El Concejo de Burgos, 140n25; Pardos Martinez, La renta de alcabala, 652–53, esp. n.139 for a description of the almoneda. See also Ladero Quesada, La hacienda real de Castilla, 25.

27 A.M.MU., 1429–1430, fol. 37. See also Abellán Pérez, “El concejo Murciano,” 135.

28 Carlé, Del concejo medieval, 120; Collantes and Menjot, “Hacienda y fiscalidad concejiles,” 245; Los códigos españoles, libro IX, titulo XIX, ley I, XIX, 1491, 357.

29 13 February 1442, La carnicería judiega, Minutas y acuerdos del ayuntamiento de Fuencarral, tomo 1, fols. 63v–64r, in Fita, “Repoblación de Fuencarral,” 434–37.

30 See Baer, Die Juden, 2:261, for a dispensation granted in 1409 by Juan II to the aljama of Segovia which freed the Jews from paying the alcabala on meat and wine because their representatives had claimed that they already paid a tax on their sale within their community: “demas de los precios que levasen o oviesen de levar para sy los que vendiesen carne e vino entre ellos.”

31 Sheʾelot u-teshuvot Isaac Bar Sheshet, teshuva 426, 269a.

32 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 7:10 (v’tsibur she’haya l’hem almona l’talmud torah ul’sha”tz). For the importance of education to the Iberian communities, see Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 2:64–96, esp. 66; Reid, Jews and Converts, 150.

33 Commentarius Cantabrigiensis in Epistolas Pauli e schola Petri Abelardi, II:434.

34 El libro de los ordenamientos, 242–51.

35 Porras Arboledas, Los reinos occidentales, 159; Carlé, Del concejo medieval, 120.

36 Menjot, Murcie castillane, 841–49.

37 Cortes, Madrid, 1329, §25, 411, “que se fagan publicamiente e por pregones … que sean otorgadas a quien mas diere por ello.” For almojarifazgo see above, note 10.

38 Archivo Histórico Municipal de Baeza, 1/8/16, 1326 and 1/10/29, 1338, docs. 48, 69, in Rodríguez Molina, Colección documental, 112, 157.

39 “Las ordenanzas de Sevilla, mandadas recopilar por los Reyes Católicos,” undated, in El libro de los ordenamientos, 348–53.

40 Carande, Sevilla fortaleza y mercado, 356–59.

41 Archivo Municipal de Burgos, (hereafter A.M.B.), Libro de Actas-1// fol. 1, 1388.

42 Torres Fontes, “La hacienda concejil,” 746.

43 A.M.MU., 27 February 1394, fol. 165.

44 Veas Arteseros, Fiscalidad concejil, 113.

45 Collantes and Menjot, “Hacienda y fiscalidad concejiles,” 241. Similarly for Burgos, see Estepa Díez and Valdeón Baruque, Burgos en la Edad Media, 417–19.

46 Martínez Carrillo, “Las ‘pujas de quinto’.”

47 A.M.MU., 27 February 1394, fol. 165.

48 A.M.MU., 1405, fol. 151.

49 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 63a.

50 Epstein, The ’Responsa’ of Rabbi Solomon ben Adreth, 37–39; Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 1:35. For the similarities and distinctions between mukedamim, berurim, and dayanim and other officials of the alajmas having a judicial role, see Baer, A History of the Jews, 1:212. See also the statute of Tudela (1287–1305) in Baer, Die Juden, vol. 1, docs. 586, 951 (Hebrew).

51 As Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 1:113, noted, “The character of the Bet Din varied with each community from minor judiciary adjudicating civil litigation to the status of a court.” The former was probably the case in this instance.

52 For what constituted a majority decision by a community see Kaplan, “Majority and Minority,” 262, citing the opinion of the Rosh (klal 6:5) that the individual cannot negate decisions of the majority or of the notables (tovei ha’ir, klal 5:4). Differing conceptions were held by the medieval Jewish communities; in some instances it was the tax-payers who determined matters relating to taxation, and in others it was a majority decision of the court or of an elected leadership, see Shapira, “Majority Rule,” 162, 181, 194.

53 Statutes of Tudela in Baer, Die Juden, vol. 1, docs. 586, 957 (Hebrew).

54 Yehuda ben Asher, Zikhron Yehuda, teshuvah 51, 8a.

55 Loeb, “Règlement des Juifs de Castille,” 198.

56 See above note 36.

57 Baer, Die Juden, vol. 2, docs. 287, 295, IV:7; Fernández y González, Ordenamiento formado por los procuradores, 91.

58 See above note 51.

59 Fernández y González, Ordenamiento formado por los procuradores, 69; Baer, “Die Juden,” vol. 2, doc. 287, section IV, 290.

60 Beinart, “Jaco Cachpo.” See also above note 30 for their role, cited as procuradores, in petitioning Juan II on behalf of the Jews of Segovia.

61 Epstein, The ’Responsa’ of Rabbi Solomon ben Adreth, 42; Sheʾelot u-teshuvot ha-Rashba (hereafter Sheʾelot ha-Rashba), III, teshuva 394, 204a: the issue was that of the expenses incurred by the sheluḥim in their travels to the court.

62 Sheʾelot ha-Rashba, V, teshuva, 279, 185b.

63 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64a.

64 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64a.

65 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64a.

66 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 66a.

67 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64b.

68 Dina d'malkhuta dina is a principle in Jewish religious law originating in the second century CE and decreeing that the civil law of the country is binding upon its Jewish inhabitants. For how its understanding and application may have differed between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities see Shilo, Dina de-malkhuta dina, especially the conclusion, 433–58, 439n6.

69 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 65a.

70 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 69b.

71 The law of ona’ah (אונאה) relates to price-fraud and prohibits a transaction made at a greater cost than the competitive norm. See Levine, The Oxford Handbook, 45.

72 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64a.

73 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 68a.

74 Lifshitz, Promise: Obligation and Acquisition, xii, 394–96; Levine, The Oxford Handbook, 439n73, “asmakhta is an obligation made without deliberate and perfect intent.”

75 For Abraham Soloveichik’s explanation of lo kanya see Besdin, Reflections of the Rav, 93.

76 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 63a.

77 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 63a.

78 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 63a. An acknowledgement of the posession of goods, situmta, even overides the law of asmakhta. For this and its Talmudic origin, see Kleinman, Methods of Acquisition, xii, 271–72.

79 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 68b.

80 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 68b.

81 The takkana was written in Judeo-Castilian, a mixture of Hebrew and Castilian that used the Hebrew alphabet: see Fernández y González, Ordenamiento formado por los procuradores, 71–73; Baer, “Die Juden,” vol. 2, docs. 287, 280–98, especially section III:5 and 6, 290. The term postor is rendered thus in the text: פושטור.

82 Fernández y González, Ordenamiento formado por los procuradores, 35; Baer, “Die Juden,” vol. 2, doc. 287, I:2, 283. See also above note 32.

83 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64a.

84 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 64b.

85 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 68b.

86 Yudlov, Sheʾelot ha-Rosh, klal 13:21, 70a.

87 Galinski, “Halakha, Economics and Ideology,” 400–16, n.125.

88 Baer, A History of the Jews, 1:212; Neuman, The Jews in Spain, 1:36–37.

89 Blasco Orellana, Capítulos de la sisa del vino, 22, 92–96.

90 See above note 81.

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Notes on contributors

Cecil Reid

Cecil Reid, My PhD in the Faculty of History at Queen Mary University of London was completed in 2018 under the supervision of Professor Miri Rubin, Dr Rosa Vidal Doval and Dr Eyal Poleg, with a thesis entitled “A Society in Transition: Jews in the Kingdom of Castile from Re-conquest to the Toledo Riots (1248–1449).” In 2021, I published a monograph, Jews and Converts in Late Medieval Castile: Breaking with the Past (Routledge). I continue researching along these lines, focusing on the organisation of the Jewish aljamas in late medieval Castile. My earlier academic background had been in clinical and research medicine as Clinical Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London (1983–2007). In this area, I have a record of over fifty publications in scientific or medical journals.