ISAAC BERNARD: , JEWELLER, MINTMASTER AND SPY

PETER BARBER

IN his * Catalogus Brevior' (1709-24), the text of which now constitutes the first part of the existing Catalogue ofthe Harleian Manuscripts, Robert Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley hesitantly - and ambiguously - recorded that a Hebrew cabbalistic work, now Harleian MS. 1204, was 'ut accepi, a quodam Isaaco Bernard, Judaeo Pragensi'.^ Presumably his source was Robert Harley himself. Like Wanley, Harley was no Hebrew scholar and may have wrongly assumed that the manuscript had been written as well as presented to him by Isaac Bernard. It was probably because of this misunderstanding that Cyril Wright omitted Bernard and Harleian MS. 1204 from his magisterial Fontes Harleiani. For misunderstanding it was. In his catalogue of Hebrew manuscripts Margoliouth identified the manuscript as being in a sixteenth century Italian rabbinic hand, while letters and papers held by the British Library among the Portland, Blenheim and Sloane manuscripts and among its state papers show that in 1706-8 Harley came into repeated contact with 'Isaac Bernard, Jeweller, a Jew of Prague'.^ The letters reveal the probable circumstances under which the manuscript came into Harley's hands. They also throw some light on the hfe and career of a wandering Jew and his struggle to find security and fortune in Augustan England. The letters have a particular value as being written from the vantage point of the Jew rather than of his Christian patrons, rivals or observers.^ Moreover, the Jew in question was not one ofthe Sephardi, or Iberian-Jewish, elite such as Solomon de Medina, Marlborough's military contractor, whose lives have been chronicled, or like the vastly rich 'Portuguese' Mendes da Costa dynasty, whose Christianized descendants include members of the old English nobility and whose pedigrees have been thoroughly traced.^ He was a relatively humble Ashkenazi, or Germanic-East European Jew ofthe type which began arriving in England from Central in the 1670s, who filled lowly, generally unremarked positions but whose descendants now form by far the largest Jewish group in Britain.^ Moreover, the letters also throw indirect light on relations between individual Ashkenazi and Sephardi in the early years. From the letters it can be deduced that Isaac Bernard was probably born in about 1660 and that his first languages were, predictably, Hebrew and Judseo-German (German written in Hebrew characters)." At that time Prague was the largest and most prosperous Jewish community in Europe with about 11,000, predominantly , a 132 complex and relatively democratic form of self-government and guilds which regulated the numerous trades open to its citizens. Jewellers formed the largest group of artisans and there were many dealers in precious metals. They were supplied from below by the poor itinerant pedlars and in their turn supplied the ' Court Jews' or * Court Contractors' {Hojjuden^ Hoffaktoren)., the acknowledged leaders ofthe community.^ Court Jews were a characteristic phenomenon of Baroque Europe. In peacetime, they provided many ruling princes and nobles throughout Central and Eastern Europe with the income and luxuries that they required, by farming the revenues, acting as their agents in their dealings with their subjects and by supplying and managing their mints. In wartime they kept their armies supplied with food, arms, clothing and money. They were able to function swiftly and effectively because they worked through their co- religionists. These, who were frequently blood relatives, formed a network for passing on information as well as money that extended from their own countries to communities throughout Europe and the European colonies in America and Asia. The nobility knew that the Court Jews were to be relied on, since they lacked any other allies in a generally hostile Christian world. In return the Court Jews received money, status, some (lowly) honours and, above all, protection for themselves and their communities. Court Jews usually spoke for the communities in their dealings with the outside world, and in their turn dominated those communities. Not only did they tend to have the determining say in the selection of the community's , but it was not uncommon for them to combine spiritual as well as secular leadership in their persons. The role of'Court Jew' or the slightly lowlier 'Mint Jew', then, was one to which any ambitious Jew might aspire.® The Prague community enjoyed a number of distinguishing features. It was one ofthe oldest in Europe, with an almost continuous history stretching back to at least the eleventh century. Before 1650 it had benefited from the protection of a series of Habsburg rulers. Under Rudolf II (1576-1612), its population had been allowed to grow spectacularly. In the same period, the community had become one of the principal centres of a Jewish intellectual Renaissance, in which traditional rabbinic scholarship had fused with Italian learning and Lurianic cabbalism. The latter, a particular expression of Jewish mysticism, had spread from Palestine into Central Europe by way of Italy in the later sixteenth century, and numerous Italian cabbalistic manuscripts were to be found in the Jewish quarter of Rudolfine Prague. Indeed, Prague's rabbis had played a notable part in the intellectual and alchemical activities of a court fascinated by the mysteries ofthe Cabbala.® The later seventeenth century had proved less favourable to the Prague Jews. The restoration of peace inside Germany after 1648 diminished the Emperor's dependence on Jewish military contractors and therefore Imperial consideration for their co- religionists,^** while the Prague community had lost its direct contact with the Emperor and his ministers on the Imperial court's removal to after 1612. Prague's growing provincialism seems to have had a slightly atrophying effect on its Jewish population, which did not significantly increase between 1650 and 1720, while the gentile population 133 of Prague grew enormously. From forming about 40% ofthe overall population in 1656, the Jews formed less than 30% by 1702. This population, however, remained confined to a small area of Prague. The average density of 34.8 people per house in 1656 had risen to 53 7 by 1702, overstraining the sanitary provision and bringing disease.^^ In the same decades the community's European pre-eminence was challenged by the growth of other Jewish communities and, by 1700 it had been overtaken in size and importance by Amsterdam.^^ Popular antisemitism grew particularly at times of food shortages in wartime.^^ This was encouraged by the which exercised great influence at the Viennese court, and though protection for the Jews was still provided by the government it was less firm than earlier. ^^ To be sure, the community retained considerable economic importance for central government, and the Court Jews in Vienna offered it unstinting support whenever it was required. Nevertheless, by the end ofthe century its self-confidence was faltering in face of growing displays of popular hostility. In 1689 an enormous fire, supposedly instigated by the French, destroyed most of the increasingly overcrowded Jewish quarter,^^ and the 1690s were to be marked by serious riots,^^ raids on and the confiscation of Hebrew books by the gentile authorities.^^ Far more disturbing was the Emperor Leopold's readiness as early as 1680 to consider expelling the Jews from their traditional quarters, foreshadowing the events of 1744 when Maria Theresa actually ordered the expulsion of the entire Jewish community from Prague. ^^ In short, there were many reasons by the late 1680s for a Jew to leave Prague. From the mid-1670s Bernard seems to have been working as a chemist or soap manufacturer, a common Jewish profession in central Europe, and as a jeweller. These apparently remained his main sources of income throughout a lengthy working life and placed him firmly in the middle ofthe Jewish social pyramid.^^ By about 1685, however, if his own testimony is to be believed, he was attempting to become a supplier of gold and silver and a mintmaster - a first step up the ladder to becoming a 'Court Jew'. There was no lack of opportunities. The fragmentation of Germany, of which Austria and were legally constituent parts, was refiected in its coinage, with differing monetary standards within the Empire and with each of the older-established principalities, bishoprics and cities possessing the jealously-guarded right to mint. This they had often practised for centuries, with Jewish mintmasters being periodically employed from at least the eleventh century. ^^ In time the minting right had come to be regarded as, if not an attribute of sovereignty (even the most powerful German prince was not technically sovereign), then as a precondition for increased international status. As such it became of interest both to the , who had been a Habsburg since the later fifteenth century, and to the more powerful noble families of the Habsburgs' hereditary dominions, including the lands ofthe Bohemian crown which economically were the most prosperous of them all. The Emperor's interest was two- fold. He needed to control and restrain the minting activities ofhis subjects within his lands and, to a lesser extent, within Germany as a whole for financial and political reasons. Quite apart from an understandable fear of overmighty subjects, such as 134 Wallenstein, whose coinages had documented and publicized their independent- mindedness, the baseness of many feudatories' coins threatened to undermine the better- quality Habsburg currency. Yet, by contrast, the bestowal of the minting right was a potent instrument in Imperial dealings with these same magnate families whose acquiescence was essential even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the Habsburgs' continued peaceful rule over the most important of their dominions. The noble families of the Habsburg lands, of whom perhaps the Liechtensteins are the best known and most successful example, had long combined enormous wealth and economic power with a relatively lowly international status. The bestowal of the minting right in respect of counties or duchies held within the Habsburg lands, as in the cases of individual Liechtensteins and Trautsons, had gone some way to assuage them. The grant of minting rights within the Habsburg lands only provided the Emperor with temporary relief, however. Acceptance into the 'old German' ruling nobility, with the right to a seat in the Imperial diet, remained the ultimate objective of most of the more ambitious families. This could be achieved through the purchase of one of the innumerable direct Imperial fiefs, miniature and impoverished though most were, inside Germany. ^^ This route often, though not invariably, had, as an incidental by-product, the acquisition of a minting right dating from medieval times in respect ofthe territory. The minting right was not, however, always uniform. The older patents had been unrestricted. Their users had therefore stood to gain not only prestige from the production of handsome large portrait talers, but also considerable wealth from the near unlimited minting of increasingly debased small-change, typically kreutzers, groschen (= 3 kreutzers) and 15 kreutzer pieces, often in competition with those ofthe Imperial authorities. In these cases, the princes and their mintmasters profited from the difference between the coins' face value and their much lower silver content. This practice had given rise to considerable scandal as well as monetary chaos, infiation and economic damage inside the Habsburg lands.^^ As a result, from the late seventeenth century. Imperial grants had become much more difficult to obtain and much more restricted in scope. Even though the condition was only formally incorporated into patents from 1711, new recipients had had in the preceding decades informally to agree to strike coins extremely rarely (often only in one year per feudatory) to the standard in size, weight and fineness prevailing in the Habsburg lands, to limit their output, often minting only talers and gold ducats, to use only gold and silver specially purchased from the imperial authorities in Vienna, and to utilize only Imperial mints in Vienna, Prague, Nuremberg or Augsburg. Although such coinage officially remained legal tender and specimens occasionally slipped into circulation, in practice they became purely symbolic and were distributed as gifts on special occasions. Nevertheless, the minting right seems to have remained as coveted as ever and many Jews must have continued to hope for appointment as princely mintmasters or purveyors of gold and silver. ^^ Isaac Bernard claimed to have first tried his luck as a potential mintmaster with Anton Johann, Count of Nostitz-Rieneck (1666/7-1736) 'in our town of Prague'.^* The Count 135 Fig. 2. Golden ducat of Ludwig Gustav, Count of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, minted at Nuretnberg, 1696. (twice actual size). British Museum, Department of Coins and Medals. By courtesy ofthe Trustees came of an old Lusatian-Bohemian family and his father Johann Hartwig (1610-83), Leopold I's long-serving and influential Chancellor of Bohemia, had purchased the Imperial fief of Rieneck in Franconia in 1673. The son was no less ambitious (and was indeed later to rise to the position of Lord Lieutenant (Statthalter) of Bohemia) and a Nostitz-Rieneck coinage would have seemed a natural next step for his family. ^^ Bernard and he probably became acquainted in about 1684, shortly after Johann Hartwig's death, while the Emperor still felt a lively sense of obligation to his family and before December 1685 when the young Count left for Sweden where he was to serve as Imperial envoy until October 1690.^^ If Bernard's later statements are to be believed, the Count, knowing that his family did not possess the minting right, made repeated applications to the Emperor, but, despite Leopold's personal regard, he met with no success.^' In the intervening period Bernard himself had probably left Prague in order to re-house, re-establish and to better himself in Franconia as the Count's mintmaster. Franconia was an area of Germany abounding in princelings with minting rights and offering excellent prospects of employment to prospective mintmasters. Once there Bernard met another Franconian feudatory, Ludwig Gustav, Count of Hohenlohe- Schillingsflirst (1634-97).^^ Unlike the Nostitz-Rienecks, the Hohenlohes, an old German family, had a long-established right to mint which the Schillingsfurst branch exercised to the full. We know from other, reliable, sources that Ludwig Gustav took a particular interest in his coinage and in 1684 had established his own mint in Schillingsfurst.^^ Shortly after he applied to the Emperor for permission to strike Imperial small change in his new mint since the circulation ofhis own coinage 'would be restricted to one particular Circle (i.e. Franconia), whereas the Imperial coinage 136 Fig. 3. Seal of Isaac Bernard; Add. MS. 61344, f- 177^- The initial of his forename is in the upper loop of the B; the E in the lower may be that of his wife Elizabeth would be current throughout the Empire'.^"^ The Count was, briefiy, successful and for a few months he seems to have issued Imperial small change differentiated by a small personal mark. By the end of 1685, however, he was having difficulty in retaining mintmasters in Schillingsfurst and the Imperial patent was revoked.^^ The Schillings- flirst mint continued in operation for some time afterwards. Because minting records for the period after 1685 are missing, it is not possible to say for certain when it closed. However, it was probably no longer in operation in 1696, for in that year the Count's last coinage was struck at Nuremberg, the coins bearing on their reverse the initials of the Nuremberg mintmaster, Georg Friedrich Nurnberger.^^ Isaac Bernard later claimed to have worked for the Count for 'five or six years', presumably from about 1686, after his previous employer had left for Stockholm.^'^ There is no independent evidence for this (though it was a foolhardy man who would have lied about such things to Marlborough with his strong German connections), but there are strong suggestions that he was so employed. In the light of what is known about Count Ludwig Gustav, Bernard's description of his delight at seeing coins struck in his own name ('il s'avoit reiouy en tout son corps')^* rings true, while Bernard's gloss that there was no greater earthly pleasure than to have one's coinage current in the world brings to mind the words of the Count's own petition to the Emperor. ^^ Moreover, when researching for his book on the Hohenlohe coinage in the 1860s, the family's librarian, Joseph Albrecht, stumbled across an illustrated contemporary official list of legal Franconian coins containing a reproduction of a curious copper 'Dreier', or three pfennig piece, dated 1690. It bore on the obverse the Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst arms and the date (though, by a blunder, 1690 was rendered 1609). On the reverse, where a statement of value was usually to be found, were the letters 'I.R.'. Albrecht himself thought that the letters had been mistranscribed and it seems possible that they originally 137 Fig. 4. Adolf van der Laan, 'A Prospect of the Portuguese and High German Jews Churches at Amsterdam', 1711; BL, Maps C.9.d.5, no. 93 (detail). The Ashkenazi is on the right, with Ashkenazi Jews shown in the foreground read 'I.B.' (cf. fig. 3), the coin being an early and characteristically clumsy attempt on the part of Bernard to make his mark as a mintmaster.^^ Potentially profitable but small value coins and not handsome talers or beautiful ducats were, it would seem, all that Bernard was ever allowed to mint.^' It was presumably also during the early 1690s, and while in Southern Germany, that Bernard made the acquaintance of the Bavarian courtiers with whom, in 1706, he claimed to be friendly. 138 Bernard must have lost his job as mintmaster in about 1691 and some time later he moved with his possibly Christian wife and young family to Amsterdam."^^ It was a natural move for an ambitious Jewish jeweller as over the previous sixty years a vibrant Jewish community had become established there.^^ The Amsterdam Jews virtually monopolized the European trade in colonial wares, including diamonds, importing the rough diamonds from England and exporting thenl in a finished state eastwards by way of the German trade fairs. Indeed it may have been at such fairs that Bernard became acquainted with the Sephardi merchants of Amsterdam with whom he seems henceforth to have associated.^^ By 1706, Bernard and his family were living in the Jewish quarter of the City of London, in Duke's Place, almost next door to the principal Ashkenazi synagogue.*^ The references in his letters to cargoes being sent to and from Amsterdam suggest that he was trying to act as middleman in transferring diamonds from London to Amsterdam. Presumably, however, his business was not thriving and, in the Spring of 1706, he approached his English hosts with an audacious scheme. Turning his own background, and the international Jewish network, to advantage, he suggested that he be sent as a spy into the camp of France's ally, the Bourbons' Governor-General of the Southern Netherlands, Max Emmanuel, Elector of Bavaria 'where he may be easily introduced by Bavarians of his acquaintance and where his Profession will render him usefull. That when he is there he will give intelligence of all that he can learn to another Jew call'd Joseph Emanuel, a merchant Jeweller, who should be constantly in the Camp of my Lord Duke of Marleborough, that he would write in Hebrew, and the terms of trade, which would be a cant unintelligible to any but his said correspondent. That he desires to be furnished with such small sums as may be thought necessary for his carrying on this service'.^^ He first approached the Duke of Marlborough early in April, unsuccessfully asking for 'une petitte [sic] audience' and a second letter, containing his detailed proposals, seems to have been mislaid in the rush ofthe Duke's departure for another campaigning season on the continent in the middle ofthe month.^^ Nothing daunted, Bernard turned to the Queen herself in a petition of 15 May. In flowery and phonetic French, he outlined his plans and emphasized his hostility to the French - a hostility common among Jews who remembered the King's fierce campaign against their French co-religionists in the early i68os.*^ In return for no more than his expenses and a promissory note from the Queen, he could provide the Duke with information worth a milhon guineas. The letter probably never reached the Queen. Robert Harley, then the principal Secretary of State, responsible for Northern Europe and inter alia domestic and foreign intelligence, was, however, interested by it. He referred the matter to one of his assistants, de la Menardiere, who interviewed Bernard in St James's Palace and recommended a direct meeting between him and Harley.*^ This duly took place, also at St James's, on i June. Bernard outlined his plan, and an agreed statement was drafted by Erasmus Lewis, the Under Secretary of State, though Bernard refused to sign 'because it was his Sabath day'.*^ By then, however, the consequences of Marlborough's 139 great victory at Ramillies (1^/23 May 1706) were becoming plain. The Elector of Bavaria's Franco-Flemish army had been shattered and within weeks most of the Southern Netherlands was in the Allies' hands. Under these circumstances and with secret negotiations in progress for the Elector of Bavaria's defection to the Allied side,^' there was no longer any point in having a spy in his camp and Harley seems to have informed Bernard in general terms that as a result of Ramillies, his services would not be required. Victory or no victory, however, Isaac Bernard's need for profitable employment had not diminished. On the day after Ramillies, Marlborough's representative George Stepney, the English envoy in Vienna, had formally taken possession of the Duke's reward from the Emperor for his services at Blenheim two years earlier, the pocket principality of Mindelheim."*^ Mindelheim lay in Swabia in Southern Germany which, like Franconia, abounded with princelings with minting rights.'*^ Bernard decided to try his luck and on 12/23 J^b' ^^ wrote to the Duke proposing that he become his mintmaster in Mindelheim and outlining his qualifications and Marlborough's financial prospects from such an activity. ^*^ Bernard painted an excessively rosy picture. He knew 'a bit' about the law relating to minting rights inside the Empire. In spite of the normal difficulties attendant on such applications, he was sure that it would cost Marlborough no more than a stroke of the pen to secure a minting patent for Mindelheim from the Emperor - if the minting right was not already attached to the principality - such was the new emperor Joseph's gratitude to the Duke. If he, Bernard, were appointed the Duke's supplier of silver, he could produce talers with pretty rhymes commemorating the victories of Blenheim and Ramillies that would not have their equal in the world. Such was the popular desire for a souvenir of the Duke, Bernard was sure a million could be sold at a high price. If Marlborough could provide Bernard with a passport, supply him with examples ofhis portrait for the talers, and of arms for the smaller value coins and request his representative in Mindelheim to have the necessary matrices made, he (Bernard) would find the best workmen, which would not cost much because everything in Germany was cheap. If Bernard, no doubt aware of Marlborough's reputation for cupidity, did well to emphasize the possibilities of financial gain, in other respects his enthusiastic language was misplaced. Marlborough may not have seen through the golden prospects (there was little chance of profits even with a patent) but he had good reasons of his own for not proceeding along Bernard's path. Sensitive to popular suspicions that he aspired to become a new Cromwell, he had long gone out of his way to avoid being portrayed in any way which might appear to challenge his royal mistress or to betray monarchical ambitions. He had refused to be depicted realistically in the allegorical murals commemorating his victories at Blenheim Palace, had put on an elaborate show of reluctance when first offered an Imperial principality and in 1704 he had been extremely embarrassed by the appearance of a medal, designed by the Chief Engraver to the Mint, John Croker, with the Queen's portrait on the obverse, that appeared to portray him on 140 . J-. Bernard's signature ofhis letter to Marlborough, 9 June 1707; Add. MS. 61344, f. 176 (detail) horseback on the reverse.^^ Well aware of widespread popular memories of Cromwell's portrait coinage, he would not have been prepared to authorize such a coinage for himself as Prince of Mindelheim - particularly since, even if personally gratifying, it would not in itself have enhanced his international legal status in any way. Bernard does not seem even to have received a reply to his letter. He was nothing daunted, however. 1707 turned out to be as bad for the Allies as 1706 had been spectacularly good, and sensing that under these circumstances they needed 'du gens qu'ont un peu d'esprit pour allumnier la chandelle', he wrote to Marlborough from Amsterdam on 9 June 1707, renewing his espionage proposals and enclosing the notes he had received the previous year from de la Menardiere and Lewis.""^ Though his language is as exaggerated as ever - with assurances that he could out-perform any other English spy even if there were 10,000 of them - there is no longer the desperation to please. If he is to spy, it must be under the same terms as in the previous year. If Marlborough and the Dutch are interested in his offers, they should act promptly by sending someone to talk to him at the house of Levi Luria, a wealthy Amsterdam Sephardi merchant in pepper, nuts and mace.^^ Otherwise, he will return, with his merchandise, to his family in London, since he cannot afford to waste his own time. So far as one can tell there was, once again, no response from Marlborough, but this time it may not have mattered so much. Business seems to have been prospering: the letter implies that Bernard was being kept busy with his ' marchandisse' and that he was mixing on terms of equality with wealthy co-religionists. There is also the hint in the letter that he realized that the Allies employed numerous spies - a perception heightened perhaps because he was already one of them. Bernard's relationship with Harley almost certainly had not ended with their meeting on I June 1706. Though no further correspondence between them has yet come to light, it was most probably in the course of 1706 or 1707 that Bernard presented the Secretary of State with the Italian Cabbalistic manuscript that is now Harleian MS. 1204.^* 141 Bernard may well have brought the manuscript with him from Prague, since it was of a type, even down to its probable Christian earlier provenance, that had been fairly common there for over a century.^^ It was presumably given as a bribe or sweetener, once Bernard had learnt of the Secretary of State's interest in books. Harley appreciated it sufficiently to have it incorporated into his library and it may have appealed to his intellectual interests, his love of secrecy and his attachment to the Old Testament.^® It may also conceivably have served its purpose as far as Bernard was concerned. Harley had a large network of intelligence agents throughout the country, most of whom were attached to particular social and political groups.^^ It could be that Harley suggested that Bernard become one of his agents among the Jewish population of London and Amsterdam. If so, he would not have been offered any payment but he would have received assurances of protection, of possible future paid employment and of financial reward for services rendered. Such a background would help to explain the next stage in Bernard's career, which would otherwise seem the strangest of coincidences, given his recent contacts with Harley and offers to act as a spy. In the Spring of 1707, Claude Baud, the secretary to the Savoyard envoy in London, the Comte de Brian^on, found himself embarrassed by gambling debts and dependent on loans from Jewish money lenders. In desperation, he took to selling highly confidential information about the forthcoming Allied expedition against Toulon, the principal base of France's Mediterranean fleet, to a syndicate which included a member ofthe Imperial ambassador. Count Gallas's, suite. These men then reaped enormous rewards, on the basis of this information, by engaging in insider dealing on the Exchange.^^ Within months Baud had been betrayed to the authorities who were smarting after the humiliating failure of the attack on Toulon. Brian9on was persuaded without difficulty to waive his secretary's rights to diplomatic immunity^® and Baud was arrested and charged with high treason. While being escorted into custody on 9 January 1708, however. Baud - 'a middle sized man, lean and pale fac'd, between thirty and forty years of age, a foreigner and speaks English imperfectly and has usually worn a brown perriwig' - gave his captors the slip.^** A proclamation offering the then enormous sum of ;£2oo for his recapture was issued two days later and he was re-arrested shortly afterwards. On 28 January/8 February the reward 'for discovering and arresting' Baud was duly presented to Isaac Bernard.^^ Baud had perhaps sought to raise funds for his escape from Jewish money lenders known to Bernard, but it may be significant that Bernard is described as arresting as well as simply discovering the unfortunate Savoyard. If Bernard was hoping for further employment he was to be disappointed. On 8/19 February 1708, Robert Harley was forced to resign as Secretary of State for the North following his failure to oust Marlborough's close ally. Lord Treasurer Godolphin. At a stroke, Bernard was deprived ofhis only infiuential supporter in England. There appears to be no further mention of him in official papers. Eventually he and his family seem to have returned to Amsterdam - and possibly even before 1710, when Harley returned to power. Business opportunities for immigrant Ashkenazi Jews in England diminished

142 as the century wore on, and there is no mention of Isaac Bernard in the earliest congregation lists ofthe Ashkenazi synagogue in Duke's Place. ^^ By the time of his next letter, many years later, Bernard seems to have been a visitor to London. The letter is addressed to Sir Hans Sloane. It is undated but describes Sloane as President of the College of Physicians of London, a post he held between September 1719 and 1735. There is a suggestion that Bernard had either come down in the world or had come to terms with reality. He timidly asks the great doctor's opinion on three aromatic oils before he dared selling them 'pour gaigner ma pauer Vie'. Nevertheless, the old optimism breaks through at the end when he offers Sloane additional samples at cost price if he were interested. The letter is again in phonetic French instead of the broken English that Bernard might have attempted had he had long and continuous exposure to England and the English. Moreover, he gives no London address for himself, referring Sloane instead to Imanuel Mussaphia, a Sephardi doctor in Fenchurch Street. Mussaphia, a graduate of Leyden University, had the closest of family links with Amsterdam and the Dutch colonies. ^^ He was probably Bernard's host in London in the 1720S, as Luria Levy had been his host in Amsterdam in 1707. With this letter Isaac Bernard, micawberish to the last, disappears from view. His last years may well have been spent in poverty, which was increasingly the lot of eighteenth- century European Jews^* and presumably he died in Amsterdam. Bernard remains a shadowy figure, but his letters provide a human face for the phenomenon of early Ashkenazi immigration into England and throw a little new light on Robert Harley, the bibliophile and the politician, and on the early development of one of the British Library's most precious collections.

APPENDIX

LETTERS OF ISAAC BERNARD IN THE BRITISH LIBRARY I, Petition to Queen Anne, 15/26 May 1706 (Add. MS. 70023, ff. 157-9).

Londres Le 15 may 1706

Viva La rene anna, amen Je demand pardon a Votter Mayeste, que Je pren La hardiesse de Vous incommoder, apreque, que Votter Vallet ayant ecrit a Monseigneur Le Due de marlborough avan Sa departure, et J'avois Voulloi une petitte audience, mais ce la n'etoit pas possible, a cause de grandes affaires ce qui Luy avoit, ainsi, Le meme Jour quand Monseigneur etoit partie d'ici Je L'avois ecrit, et declarai ce que Je Voullois Le faire Savoir tet a tete, et Comme Je n'apren rien de ce Letter, ainsi, Je ne pui pas Croire que Monseigneur Le Due L'avoit re9u, ainsi, Votter Vallet fait Savoir a Votter Mayeste, que a Lors J'offrois et Joffrois encore S'il Vous plait, apreque que, Jesuis Dieu merci un homme Capable de rendre de bonnes Sevices a Votter Mayeste, et a Vottere arme, de m'emvoyer dans

143 L'arme de notter enemi, pour donner L'avis ce que Monseigneur me Commendera, Les chauses ce qui Sont possible, et profitable, Je n'en doutte pas Si on offroit un millon de gines on ne trouvera pas du meme, et ie ne demende rien pour a cet hour, S'il plait a Votter Mayeste, Seulemen Le depens, ou Les frais ce que J'ai boisoin panden du tens que on a besoin mes Services, et une ou deux Lignes par ecrit, et Signe de Votter Mayeste, que J'aurois a trouve grace de Dieu et de Votter Mayeste, Selon mes Services, et Le hazard ma Vie, quand Je me retourne ici aupre ma famme et famille, a lesquelles Je priere Dieu Le Seint d'Israel de me faire cette grace. Si Je Serois emvoyee, de faire retourner a eux, et il me faut avoir encore un auter person de La miene nation, que demeura aupre Monseigneur Le Due, parceque Je ne m'adune[?] pas a des personnes d'autres nations, dan des affaires ci dengereus, Jesper a La grace de Dieu, que noter enemi perdera beauqub de cette negoce, et que Sa Mayeste notere rene Vivera en repos et moy, Je Comble ma Voix au ciel, en prien Dieu, de donner Ses benidicition a Sa Mayeste nottere rene, et prolongue Le Vie a elle, et a tous amis d'elle amen. De Votter tres humbel et tres obeisan Serviteur I Bernard La miene adres, et, Isacc bernard Juif allemen, et iesuis marie auec une femme de BX, et Je demeure a Ducx place, et Suis un marchand de toutte Sortie de piereries pour Le Service de Votter Mayeste a Londres et Jesper a La grace de Dieu d'avoir pardon de Luy, et de Vottere Mayeste Beniditte Soit nottere rene amen A La plus hautte, et plus pissante rene, a La Cour D'Anglatere presentemen a Vindsor endorsed: For M' Isaac Bernard a Jew and Jewller in Dukk's place London

2. Letter to Marlborough, 12/23 July 1706 (Add. MS. 61344, fif. 174-5)- Monseigneur Je Vous prie, de me pardonner, de ce que Je pren La hardiesse de Vous incommoder, apreque, que J'ai entendu, que Sa Mayeste Imperialle Vous a donne Le Comtee de mindelheim en possession, ainsi Je Vous fiUecite et Je Souhaite a mon prince d'avoir cent mille faus auten de biens, et de plaisirs Comme Vous desires de Le bon Dieu, ainsi, moi Voter Vallet presente' mes Services a mon prince qui fuit, apreque, que Voter Serviteur Sai un peu de La Loy touchan Les biens dans Le terretoire de rommens touchan Les privileges d'avoir La Liberte de fabriquer du monnoy, ainsi Si voter bien a cette Liberte et bon. Si non a ceux que n'ont pas, et Voudront avoir Iui coutte beauqub de paine, parceque cela faut ette passe par toutte Les electeurs d'alemende. Je m'ai trouve avec Le Cont antonne de nostetz a notre Ville a prague que a un bien en allemegne, Je L'ai propose, que Luy Laisse fabriquer du monnoy, mais Lui m'avoit repondu qu'il n'a pas La Liberte, a Lors Je L'ai ditte, apreque, que Sa Mayeste Imper[iale] Luy aimme fort 144 que lui demende cela de Luy, ainsi il avoit fait, et avoit pris beauqub de peinne, mais Comme cette affaires ont coutte trop de troublemen il a Laisse et n'a pas acheve, mais a Monseigneur il ne couttera pas plus que un coup du plume, parceque Je n'en doutte pas que n'a pas aucun grand Seigneur de ne faire pas ce que mon prince desire, particulier dans un cas Comme cela, et Je Vous prie Si Vous agree, et plait mes ecrits, que Monseigneur aye La bonte, et me faire La grace de m'emploier d'avoir L'honneur que Je Sera Le personne qui Livrera d'argen a Votere Service, et plait a Dieu ie Vous Laisse faire du richstahllers qui ne Sera pas Leur Semblable dans La monde, ie Vuis ordonne a une cote La Victore qui mon prince a remporte a hochstat, et a L'autre La Victore remporte a rammelie, avec de Jolye rims, Lesquelles doivet faire plaisir a toutte Le monde, Je n'en doutte pas q'un million de ce richstahllers Seront Vendue d'un grand pris, Je ne croi pas que Sera un personne dans toutte Le monde qui ne garde pas Les moins un par avoir en memmore mon prince et Ses Verteus Loyables, par La grace de Dieu, Monseigneur, je puis dire Comme un honnet homme, Je suis ette environ cinq ou Six ans dans ce meme Service chex Le Conte gustaves de hollo et Schillengs Ferscht dieu Le fais pais, et toutte faus quand Luy avoit Veu du Sienne monnoy il S'avoit reiouy en tout Son corps, et meme Je ne croi pas quec'et un plus grand plaisir Sur La terre qu'a ceux que Le bon dieu benie d'avoir L'autorite que Leur monnoy et passable dans Le monde, ainsi, Monseigneur, Je Vous prie, d'avoir La bonte, S'il vous plait, d'emvoyer a Voter Serviteur Seullement un pasport, et Laisse metre dedans, qu suis Le Juif qui Vous Servie en Voter Cour, et donne des ordrs a L'intendent de Voter bien que Lui Laisse faire enetandant, ce qu'on a besoin, a Savoir Les matreicis et moi ie cherchera Les plus habiles maitres qu'on peut trouve pour Vous Servir et meme tous cela qu'on a besoin ne Coutera pas grand chausse, parceque en alemgne tout et bon marche, et iesper a La grace de Dieu que mon prince aura du bon proffit, et meme ie ai besoin un porttret du mon prince qu'et parfait et meme Monseigneur S'il Vous plait, d'ordonne pour Le petitte monnoy de Les armer a Voter plaisir et a tout Comme Vous desires, Monseigneur Je Vous prie de me pardonner, et me Jougera par amitie, a cause que ie demend de chausses Si hardement, Sils m'avoit deya ette donne et comme S'il et deya tout clair, ainsi Monseigneur Comme Voter Serviteur et de hor de toutte Le magination dutante ainsi Voter Serviteur il parle Si en haute Voix, et outre cela Si Le bon dieu faire misrecorde a Voter Vallet, et Si mon prince exaucera ce que ie Le fai savoir de ne Luy d'ors enaven trouble, et que mon prince aye de plaisir, et du proffit Sans aucune peine, et ie Vous prommes ma fidelletee, de Servir fidellemen Le quel Sera Impossible Si mon prince emvoyoit un de Sa propre Sang il ne Luy pouvoit pas plus Servir en fidellete comme Je Le Servira, et non pas Seullement en cela qu'et nomme ici, mais en tout, et par tout ou ie trouvera ce qui c'et proffitable pour mon prince, et tout cela J'accepte a Monseigneur par La Loy de dieu Vivant qu'il a donne a nous a La montagne de sinay par La main de Moyse et moi ie comble ma Voix au ciel en prien dieu de benier mon prince avec Les benedictions de misrecorde et prolongue de Vie a mon prince, et a tous eux quil aimmait Soit bien. Le 12 Jouly 1706 de Voter tres humble et tres obeisan Serviteur Isacc bernard 145 On verso: La miene adres et Isacc Bernard, Juif allemen et ie demeure a dukes place a Londres Annotated by Marlborough's secretary, Cardonnel: London 12 July 1706. From Bernard a Jew. To Coyn money for mindelheim.

3- Letter to Marlborough, 9 June 1707 (N.S.) (Add. MS. 61344, ff- 176-8).

AMsterdam Le 9"^^ de Juin 1707 Monseigneur Je vous demend pardon, a ce que Je pren La hardiesse, de vous incommode de ce Lettre ici, mais Jesper que mon prince aura de Lui du plaisir, anfin, Je n'en doutte pas que Monseigneur S'ensuvene, que moi Voter Serviteur Vous a ecrit a cet hour un an passee, et ofren ma Service a Sa mayeste notre reinne, et a Les allies d'elle, et Comme Je n'a pas eu L'honneur d'avoir du reponce de mon prince et J'ai fait La compte peut ettre ma Lettre avoit ette oublie en quelque endroit, ainsi J'avois pris La hardiesse d'ecrire a Sa Mayeste, ainsi J'avois eu L'honneur de me repondre par ce deux Mesieurs, Lesquelles J'emvoyes ici a mon prince Leur Lettres, et meme Jesuis ette chez eux, mais L'annee passer Les afaires Sont ette a un meullier pied qu'a present, Le bon Dieu Veille que Se tourne tout a bon, mais Comme nous Voyons par Les nouvelles publiques, qu'on ayant baisoin du gens qu'ont un peu d'esprit pour allumnier La chandelle, que Leumme bien pour trouver ce qu'on desire, ainsi J'ofres a Sa Mayeste' et a Les allies d'elle de Servir, et Jesper a La grace de Dieu, Si on a dix mille personnes dens cette Service, que moi Voter Serviteur rendera de Services plus q'un d'eux, mais cela Se faut faire a La maniere Comme J'avois fait Savoir Monseigneur L'annee passee, et Je fai Savoir a mon prince, que Suis pret a partir pour Londres mardy prochenne, et meme ma marchandisse et deya embarque, ainsi. Si J'aura L'order de Monseigneur de Lui Vinner trouver, J'emvoyeras ma marchandisse a mon fammille, et Jesper Si mon prince, et Les deputes des etat de LHP me desiroit, que Sera emvoye dire ici a queque un de me parler, parceque, moi Je ne pui pas ettre dans Les depences, et Je Souhait a mon prince de toute Sortie de benidiction du ciel Comme Lui desire, amen Monseigneur De Voter tres humble et tres obeisan Serviteur Isacc Bernard La mienne adres et Isacc Bernard Juif allemen marchand de Londres presentemen a AMsterdam et on faut faire ma Lettre Couverte et mettra La desous AMonsieur Monsieur Levi Luria marchand a AMsterdam 146 Je ne partira pas, Jusques La poste Soit arive de mardy prochenne. AMonseigneur Monseigneur Le Due de marlbourgh general Isime de L'arme de Sa Mayeste La reinne d'anglattere et de Ses allies a L'arme Annotated: Amsterdam the 9**" June 1707 From Bernard a Jew. Enclosures: letters of de la Menardiere to Bernard, 24 May/4 June 1706 and of Erasmus Lewis to Bernard, 1/12 June 1706.

4. Letter to Sir Hans Sloane, n.d. [1719-1735] (Sloane MS. 4058, ff. ii-i2v). Monsieur Je vous demend pardon de ce que Je prend La hardiesse de Vous incommoder d'avec La mienne ecriture, apreque, que moi Voter Serviteur ayant travaille envirom cinquante ans pour faire Les huiles d'aromatique, et encore qu'il me Semble qu'eux Sont bonnes que Comment J'ai L'honneur que Vottre exelence Voyoit de ce trois petittes bouteilletes de ce trois Sorties, mais Je n'a point de courage de Les Vendre, parceque Je n'a pas eu Jamais Le bon heur de Les avoir Veu auparavant, ainsi Je Vous emprie pour L'amour de dieu de me faire La charite de Les examiner et me faire La misericorde de me faire Savoir pour La pinne post Votter honnerable Sentiment, car c'et pour gaigner ma pauer Vie, et moi J'aure d'obligation a Vottre exelence pour Jamais et Le bon dieu Vous Le payera dans cette monde ici et dans Le ciel, amen, Vous aures La bonte, S'il Vous plait d'adreser Vottre honnerable reponce a S'^: imanuel mousaphia medecin portugues dans fencheur Street pour faire teniur, a Voter tres humble, et tres obeisant Serviteur Isacc Bernard P.S. d'autent que Vottre exelence ayant besoin de cet augnement d'aromatique pour Luy et Sa ilustre femmille Vous L'aures pour cela qu'il me coutte. a dieu A Son exelence Le presedent hans Sloon, d'honorable Colege des medecins a Londres, demeurent dans Bloomsbery Square Dans Sa maison 147 I. ' As I understand, by (or from) a certain Isaac Daniel M. Friedenberg, Jewish Minters and Bernard, a Prague Jew'; Add. MS. 45704, f 5. Medalists (Philadelphia, 1976), pp. 24-7 dis- The same source gives the manuscript's earlier tinguishes between Court Jews, who were also Harleian number as 67.A.8. sometimes mintmasters, and Miinzjuden, or 2 G. Margoliouth, Catalogue of the Hebrew and 'Mint Jews', who acted only as suppliers of Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum silver to mints, mint lessees and mintmasters and (London, 189Q-1935), vol. iii, no. 758; depo- were often dependent on Court Jews. sition in the hand of Erasmus Lewis, r/12 June 9 For a recent discussion of cabbalism, see 1706 (Add. MS. 70340). Encyclopedia Judaica (, 1971), vol. x, 3 For the few other published examples, see J. pp. 489-653, and for its historical context, Israel, Maitlis, 'London letters of the early pp. 38-41, 78-81; R. J. W. Evans, The Making eighteenth Qt\\X\\vy\ Journal of Jewish Studies, vi ofthe Habsburg Monarchy, 1530-1 joo (Oxford, (1955), no. 3, pp. 153-65; no. 4, pp. 237-52, and 1979)1 PP- 349-52; Vladimir Sadek, 'Die Prager the early Sephardi and Ashkenazi letters in Cecil Judenstadt zur Zeit der rudolfinischen Ren- Roth (ed.), Anglo-Jewish Letters {l^ondon, 1938). aissance', in J. Scholze (ed.), Prag um 1600. There is nothing to compare with the memoirs of Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Rudolfs H (Freren; Isaac Bernard's German-Jewish contemporary, Luca Verlag, 1988), vol. i, pp. 597-605. The GliJckel von Hamein (for which see most recently Prague Jews continued to be favoured and to Beth-Zion Abrahams, The Life of GlUckel von thrive under Rudolph's immediate successors; Hamein 1648-1/24 Written by Herself (London, see Israel, pp. 88-90, 104. 1962)). 10 Israel, pp. 146-8. 4 O. K. Rabmowicz, Sir Solomon de Medina 11 Brosche, p. 117. In 1680 about a third of the (London, 1974); cf. also Charles Rubens, Ghetto's population perished in an epidemic 'Joseph Cortissos and the War of the Spanish (Israel, pp. 205-6; Brosche, p. 96). Succession', Transactions of the Jewish Historical 12 Israel, p. 164. Society of England, xxiv (1975), pp. 1-62. Sir 13 Israel, pp. 233-4. For an antisemitic medal James Colyer-Ferguson's genealogies of the attacking the supposed hoarding of corn by Jews Mendes da Costa family from c. 1500 until after in Silesia in 1694, see Glendinning's, European 1945 are housed in the Library ofthe Society of Historical Medals from an English Collection, (sale Genealogists, London. catalogue) London, 28 June 1989, lot 169. 5 Cecil Roth, A History of the Jews in England, 3rd 14 See S. Schweinburg-Eibenschutz, 'Une con- ed. (Oxford, 1978), pp. 197-201. fiscation de livres hebreux a Prague', Revue des 6 Cf. deposition by Bernard in Erasmus Lewis's Etudes Juives, xxix (1894), pp. 270-1. hand, i June 1706 (Add. MS. 70340) and Jud^eo- 15 Brosche, p. 107. German annotations on Erasmus Lewis to 16 Evans, p. 416. Bernard, i June 1706 (Add. MS. 61344, f. i8ov). 17 Schweinburg-Eibenschutz, pp. 266-71. 7 A recent discussion of the Prague community 18 Brosche, p. 96. with an extensive bibliography is to be found in 19 Bernard to Sir Hans Sloane, n.d. [c. 1725.''] Wilfried Brosche, 'Das Ghetto von Prag', in F. (Sioane MS. 4058, f 11); and cf. Israel, pp. 172, Seibt (ed.). Die Juden tn den bohmtschen Ldndern. 178-80. Vortrdge der Tagung des Collegium CaroHnum in 20 Daniel M. Friedenberg, op. cit., pp. 8-24. For a Bad Wiessee vom 27. bis 2g. November ig8i description of the career of Gluckel von Ham- (Munich, 1983), pp. 87-122. See also, Jonathan eln's step-son as mintmaster to the Duke of Israel, European Jewry tn the Age of Lorraine in about 1712, see B.-Z. Abrahams, op. ^SS^USo (Oxford, 1985), pp. 40-1, 104, 132, cit., pp. 172-4. John Porteous, Coins in History. 181, 191, 194. Brosche (p. 117) gives the Jewish A Survey of Coinage from the Reform of Diocletian population of Prague in 1656 as 11,000 of which to the Latin Monetary Union (London, 1969), pp. 3887, or about 30% were under the age of 10. 73-8, 155-61, 200-5, '^^*^ Edward Besly, 'Euro- Israel (pp. 104, 239) gives somewhat lower pean coinage, 1450-1797', in Martin J. Price figures. (ed.). Coins. An Illustrated Survey 650 BC to the 8 See Israel, particularly pp. 123-44, 193-4, and Present Day (London, c. 1980), pp. 179—80, Selma Stern, The Court Jew (Vhihddphh, 1950). 183-9, 193' 201, 203, provide good general 148 introductions to the complexities of German been unaware in the 1680s (Holzmair, art. cit., coinage for English readers, best illustrated in pp. 39-40; J.S.Davenport, The Talers of the catalogues such as John S. Davenport, German Austrian Noble Houses (Galesburg, 1972), p. 29). Talers 1500-1600 (, 1979); German 28 Zedler, op. cit., vol. xiii, p. 550. Secular Talers 1600-1700 (Frankfurt, 1976); 29 Joseph Albrecht, Die Miinzen, Siegel und Wappen German Church and City Talers 1600-ijoo des Furstlichen Gesamthauses Hohenlohe, i, Hohen- (Galesburg, 1967); German Talers, 1700-1800 lohische Miinzgeschichte (Oehringen, 1865), (London, 1965). p. 102. 21 R. J. W. Evans, op. cit.; Victor-L. Tapie, The 30 'Sothane Muntze nur particular in einem Krais Rise and Fall ofthe Habsburg Monarchy (London, beschranckhet, hingegen die kayserliche durch 1971), pp. 35-173; J. Valke, Geschichte des das ganze Reich gangbar seye'. From Imperial furstlichen Hauses Liechtenstein (Vienna, 1877); decree of 15 Jan. 1685, quoting the Count's Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections (The original application, in Albrecht, op. cit., pp. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985) 142-3- for the cultural manifestations of a Bohemian 31 Ibid., pp. 102-3. dynasty's power and ambitions; P. M. Barber, 32 Ibid., pp. 104, 109; J.S.Davenport, German 'Marlborough as Imperial Prince 1704-1717', Sectdar Talers 1600-1700, p. 257, nos. 6836, British Library Journal., viii (1982), pp. 46—7, 6837- 49; Eduard Holzmair, ' Munzgeschichte der 33 Bernard to Marlborough, 12 July 1706, Add. Osterreichischen Neufursten', Numismatische MS. 61344, f- 174- Zeitschrift, lxxi (1946), pp. 6-73; Giinther 34 Ibid., f. 174. Probszt, Osterreichische Munz- und Geldges- 35 Quoted in the Imperial decree of 15 Jan. 1685. chichte von den Anfdngen bis igi8 (Vienna, 1973), Albrecht, pp. 142-3. PP- 547-76. 36 Ibid., p. Ill, no. 282. Bernard used his initials 22 See, e.g., Franz Wolny, 'Munzpragung der for his personal seal (Add. MS. 61344, f- ^77^)- Flirstbishofe von Olmlitz in nichtprivilegierten Some groschen, six kreuzer and half-talers struck Munzstatten', Numismatische Zeitschrift, lxxi between 1685 and 1689 have stars as opposed to (1946), pp. 77-91. the more usual rosettes separating the two parts 23 Holzmair, pp. 10-12. Judging from the condition of the date. Such stars were used as marks by of some surviving examples, it seems that even as some Jewish mintmasters, suggesting that they late as the 1820s, coins issued by Beethoven's may be a reference to Bernard. Albrecht, pp. patron, the Archduke Rudolph, as Bishop of 106, III, nos. 248, 250, 276; cf. Wolny, art. cit., Olmutz slipped into circulation. pp. 81-2, 87, pi. III. 24 Bernard to Marlborough, 12 July 1706, Add. 37 As has been noted above, the only talers and MS. 61344, f 174. ducats issued after 1690 were struck in Nurem- 25 For the Nostitz dynasty, see Evans, op. cit., p. berg. Note also that minting by feudatories 209; for its coinage, Holzmair, pp. 39-40; for seems often to have been restricted to particular, Anton Johann, see J. H. Zedler, Grosses volls- small value coins. Asher Rosi working for tdndiges Universal Lexikon alter Wissenschaften Leopold Wilhelm, Bishop of Olmutz, at the und Kunste (Halle & Leipzig, 1737), vol. xxiv, p. small semi-legal mint of Wischau in in 1373- 1659-60 had only struck groschen and 15 kreuzer 26 Ludwig Bittner, Lothar Gross (eds.), Reper- pieces (Wolny, pp. 81-2, 87, pi. III). torium der diplomatischen Vertreter alter 38 'Iesuis marie auec un femme de BX' meaning Lander seit dem westfdlischen Frieden {1648), 'Bapteme Chretien'? Petition to Queen Anne, vol. i, 1648-1715 (Berlin, 1936), p. 165. 15 May 1706 (Add. MS. 70023, f. 159). Also for 27 Bernard to Marlborough, 12 July 1706, Add. reference to his family, his seal, on the letter to MS. 61344, f. 174. Anton Johann finally Marlborough, 9 June 1707 (Add. MS. 61344, f- succeeded in issuing portrait talers and golden 177V) has the initials I and E in a B, suggesting ducats in 1719. They were struck in Nuremberg, that her first name began with an E. perhaps by virtue of the terms of the original 39 Israel, op. cit., pp. 51, 63, 80, 93, 104-5, m, 1398 investiture that created the county of 154-5, 164. Rieneck and of which he and Bernard may have 40 Ibid., pp. 174, 176, 178-9; the fairs feature 149 prominently in the memoirs of Gluckel von 54 Wanley's description of it, compiled at the turn Hamein (for which see n. 3 above). of 1711-2 implies that he was not sure of its 41 Cecil Roth, The Great Synagogue, London, precise provenance ('ut accepi...'), an unlikely i6go-ig4o (London, 1950). Petition to Queen occurrence had the manuscript been acquired Anne, 15 May 1706 (Add. MS. 70023, f. 159). during the period ofhis full-time employment as 42 Erasmus Lewis's notes on meeting with Bernard, Harley's librarian from 1708, or through his 1/12 June 1706 (Add. MS. 70340). Abbrevi- good offices after 1703, when he was working for ations have been expanded. Harley on a part-time basis. Given that Bernard 43 Petition to Queen Anne, 15/26 May 1706 (Add. and Harley do not seem to have met before i MS. 70023, f. 157). June 1706, the manuscript could not have been 44 Israel, pp. 161-3. presented earlier. C.E. and R. C. Wright (eds.). 45 De la Menardiere to Bernard, 24 May/4 June The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726 1706; Erasmus Lewis to Bernard, 1/12 June (London, 1966), vol. i, pp. xv, xix-xx. 1706 (Add. MS. 61344, ff- 179' 180). 55 Margoliouth, vol. iii, no. 758; Prag um 1600, pp. 46 Erasmus Lewis's notes on meeting with Bernard, 597-8; Evans, pp. 33-4, 349-52. 1/12 June 1706 (Add. MS. 70340). 56 Angus Mclnnes, Robert Harley. Puritan Pol- 47 Marlborough to Godolphin, 7, 25 June, 19 July itician (London, 1970), pp. 182, 184, 191-93 and 1706; Godolphin to Marlborough 3/14, 4/15, see Israel, pp. 229-30; Evans, op. cit., pp. 17/28 June 1706, in H. Snyder (ed.). The Marl- 349-52 for the widespread interest in the borough—Godolphin Correspondence (Oxford, Cabbala among Christian intellectuals at this 1975). PP- 565-6, 572, 574' 588, 589, 617 (letters time. 578, 586, 588, 599, 600, 625); W. S. Churchill, 57 Mclnnes, pp. 75-85. Marlborough. His Life and Times (London, 1967), 58 Add. MS. 6i6n, if. 2-55. vol. ii, pp. 150-2. 59 Add. MS. 61539, f. 76. 48 P. M. Barber, 'Marlborough as Imperial 60 Statement dated 9 Jan. 1708 by his escorts. Add. Prince', p. 60. MS. 61539, f. I. The quotation is taken from the 49 J. A. Vann. The Swabian Kreis. Institutional proclamation (the pressmark of the BL example Growth in the , i64g-i7i5 is 24.h.4(37)). (Brussels, 1973); F. Metz (ed.), Vorderosterreich 61 Calendar of Treasury Books 1708, vol. xxii, pt. 2 (Freiburg, 1958). (1950), p. IOO. 50 Bernard to Marlborough, London 12/23 J^'y 62 Israel, p. 242; A.Rubens, 'The Jews of the 1706 (Add. MS, 61344, f 174) and for the Parish of St. James Duke's Place, in the City of following paragraph. London', in J. M. Shaftesley (ed.,). Remember 51 D. H. Green, Blenheim Palace (London, 1951), the Days. Essays on Anglo- Pre- pp. 45-6, 233, 298; Barber, 'Marlborough as sented to Cecil Roth, (London, 1966), pp. Imperial Prince', pp. 47-50; P. M. Barber, 181-205; C. Roth, The Great Synagogue. 'Marlborough and the medal: a proposed Blen- 63 Imanuel Mussaphia, Dissertatio de Hydrope heim medal of 1704-5', Seaby Coin and Medal universali (Leyden, 1730); will of Daniel Mus- Bulletin, no. 773 Qan- 1983)' PP- 2-9- aphia Fidalgo, Imanuel's brother, June 1739 52 Add. MS. 61344, ff. 176-8; within days of this (P.R.O., Probate 11/696) which establishes that letter, the Duke commented to his wife that' our Imanuel was dead by then and that his sons were affaires go very ill in Garmany as well as in living in Surinam; will of Esther de Isaac Spain' (Snyder, op. cit., p. 806 (letter 810)). Musaphia, 1736. (P.R.O., Probate 11/678). 53 Herbert Bloom, Economic Activities of the Jews of 64 Israel, op. cit., rev. ed. (Oxford 1988), pp. Amsterdam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth 236-62. Centuries (Williamsport, 1937; reissued: New York and London, 1969), Appendix c. ii from Groot boek no. 10405, Chamber, Amsterdam.

150