Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux
SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHÂTEAUX
SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHÂTEAUX , town in the Drôme department, S.E. France. The first evidence of Jews in the town dates from 1206, when a Jew named Benicrescas is mentioned in a document. In 1239 a "Tour des Juifs" is recorded. Using the *blood libel of *Valréas as a pretext, in 1247 the bishop of Saint-Paul had the Jews of his diocese thrown into prison after he had stripped them of their belongings; Pope Innocent iv firmly protested against his action. Even after the Dauphiné – in which Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteux was situated – had come under the authority of the king of France, Jews continued to live in Saint-Paul. However, in 1486 only three families remained there, and there is no further mention of the Jewish community after that date. A Hebrew inscription in the presbytery hall could still be seen at the close of the 19th century.
bibliography:
Gross, Gal Jud, 640–2; M. Schwab, Inscriptions hébraiques en France du viie au xve siècles (1898), 38f.; J. de Font-Reaulx, Cartulaire de l'Evêché de Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (1946), 172; S. Grayzel, Church and the Jews (19662), 266f.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]