Szegő Dóra - Szegő György: Synagogues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2004)

Relics of the Jewish Middle Ages in Buda

■ Mediaeval synagogues in Buda (i, 2), and the bridge (3) drawn over predent day buildings

below, could possibly provide the missing link, but its contemporary evaluation is as yet to be carried out. Expert opinion opposed to the views of Sámuel Kohn and Arthur Koestler holds that the first arrival of Jews—itinerant vendors in all likelihood—in the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary can be dated to the nth century. The Jewish settling of Buda, the country’s emerging capital, only began in the late 1240s, following the Mongol invasion and a royal charter issued by Béla IV in 1251 guaranteeing freedom of worship. Besides making provisions for independent Jewish jurisdiction, the patent assigned the legal status of serfs of the Chamber to Hungary’s Jews. While this meant taxation, it also extended to the country’s Jewry royal protection against the atrocities that were common across Europe. The royal charter determining the position of Jews in Hungary until Turkish times was confirmed or extended by all subsequent monarchs with the sole exception of Lajos the Great (Louis Anjou). The partnership benefited both parties as the census Iudeorum (Jewish tax) collected by the court and later by the municipalities, too, provided an important revenue for a country badly impoverished by the Mongol invasion-while also proving convenient to Jews escaping from the West.

Known as the first Buda Jew, Henok was the Lord of the Chamber. He rented the right to mint coins, and, from the Queen, the right to levy the thirtieth,

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