Expulsion of the Jews from France, 1306

An oral command called on John of Nogaret, John of Saint Just, and the seneschal of Toulouse to organize the arrest of all the Jews of the kingdom, the seizure of their belongings, and then their expulsion.

The date had been fixed for July 22 and the secret was so well guarded that not one Jew escaped.

The Jews had not even left the kingdom when Philip issued his regulations for public auction of their real estate.

nine years later the Jews were once more to be found in France; they were again expelled in 1323, while the royal treasury continued, until 1325, to collect the debts due to the Jews which had been confiscated in 1306.

The various changes in Philip's policy toward the Jews were all motivated by the sole purpose of furthering the interests of the monarchy and the kingdom.

The king's essentially mercenary interest in the Jews was finally manifested on June 21, 1306.

The expulsions from France, especially those of 1306 and 1394, evicted the Jews from most of the territory within the borders of France until 1789.

Some of these were "general expulsions" which removed the Jews from the territory of a whole country for an extended period.

While the motives for the expulsions fall into differing and variegated categories, the root of them all was hatred of the Jew. This hatred was at times exploited by fiscal considerations of the rulers responsible for the expulsions.