The Archa System

The Exchequer of the Jews was created in 1194 by King Richard I of England in order to keep track of all records of debts owed to Jewish moneylenders (as well as possessions and property of every Jew in England). The reason was not only to give the Crown an accurate account of what Jews held (and could be exploited), but also to prevent unscrupulous debtors from trying to avoid repayment by criminally destroying records.

The method of keeping the records secure was explained here. It included a system of multiple keys needed to unseal and examine the records, and a committee of equal members of Christians and Jews.

It was not feasible, however, to expect all records to maintain accuracy if they were kept in a central location lie Winchester (the London seat of the Crown's administration). A system of archæ, or chests, was arranged around England so that records could be kept up-to-date more easily. They could always be summoned to Winchester for examination.

Each archa had three locks and required three keys to be opened so that there could not easily be any attempt at tampering. Richard did not trust these archaeologists to be kept by the Jews, of course, so he had them stored in royal castles or major monasteries. The Tower of London kept one which was later moved to the Royal Exchequer. Oxford had one in its castle on the west end of town. We recently talked about the Jewish presence in Oxford, and the wealthy David of Oxford. There were 26 locations for archæ around England, in places such as Bristol, Canterbury, Norwich, Worcester, and York.

Any loan made by a Jewish moneylender was recorded on a chirograph. A chirograph was a document in duplicate or triplicate or even quadruplicate. In the case of the exchequer of the Jews, it was a document with the terms of the loan written out three times. The parchment was then cut into three; one copy went to the lender, one to the debtor, and the third copy kept in the archa.

This system worked from 1194 until 1290, when Edward I expelled all Jews from England, claiming all their property for himself.

Curiously, there was an exchequer specifically for a certain Jewish moneylender; yes, for just one man. Tomorrow I'll tell you about Aaron's Exchequer.