Aaron of York

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AARON OF YORK

AARON OF YORK (1190–1268), English financier, son of *Josce of York. Aaron was one of the wealthiest and most active English Jews living during the reign of Henry iii. In 1241 his estate was valued for taxation at £40,000, an incredible sum. He was *Presbyter Judaeorum of English Jewry in 1236–43. During these years, as he complained to the chronicler Matthew Paris, he was compelled to pay the king over 30,000 marks; he relinquished the office and died impoverished. He was styled nadiv ("benefactor") in Hebrew, an indication that he was probably a patron of scholarship.

bibliography:

M. Adler, Jews of Medieval England (1939), 127–73; Birnbaum, in: jhset, 19 (1955–59), 199–205; H.G. Richardson, English Jewry under Angevin Kings (1960), passim; Roth, England, 48–49, passim. add. bibliography: odnb online.

[Cecil Roth]

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Aaron of York

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