Accusation and Innuendo: Oligarchic Jewish Politics in Fourteenth Century Valencia

Abstract

This article offers an interpretation of oligarchic politics in the Jewish community of Valencia over the course of the fourteenth century through an analysis of archival documents that record the reciprocal accusations made by contending factions before the royal authorities. The article begins with a discussion of some of the methodological problems that such documents present. It suggests that the accusations that factious oligarchs leveled against each other for having committed various “crimes” should not be taken at face value and as evidence of the moral corruption of the oligarchy and the dysfunction of communal government. The article shows, instead, that recrimination before Crown officials was part of a longer, constructive political process that invited royal mediation to attenuate conflict and uphold order in the Jewish community, maintain a balance of power between competing factions, and check the abuse of authority by communal officials. The article traces the internal political history of Valencia’s Jewish community between 1290 and 1391 through soundings of the archival evidence from different periods.