Licoricia of Winchester

Licoricia of Winchester, the second wife of David of Oxford (one of the wealthiest financiers in England in the 13th century), was a successful businesswoman herself. Her first husband, Abraham son of Isaac, was an extremely wealthy moneylender. She took over his business after his death, first appearing in records in 1234.

In 1242 she married David of Oxford, who had recently been involved in scandal because he divorced his first wife, Muriel, without her consent, which was contrary to Jewish practice. King Henry III had to step in and forbid anyone from interfering with David's choice of wife.

She bore David a son, but David died two years after their marriage. Since the kings of England were able to claim one-third of the decedent's estate, Henry had all the records of his debts brought to Winchester for examination. He also had Licoricia brought to London and imprisoned in the Tower to prevent her from trying to interfere with the accounting process. Once the accounting was complete, she was offered the chance to buy back all of his debt records so she could continue the business for the sum of 5000 marks (1 mark=2/3 of a pound). That was an enormous sum; in today's value it would be well over $2,000,000 dollars. She gladly paid it, knowing that she would more than make up for it.

She became a frequent visitor to the court of King Henry when he was in Winchester. David had been one of his favorite sources of money, and she now filled that role. She had Henry's ear and support. In 1253, the heir of Sir Thomas of Charlecote took her to court because she retained his father's estate due to his debts. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, Henry had given Licoricia permission to retain the estate. Eventually the court ruled in the plaintiff's favor, but Henry intervened and limited her fine to one half a mark.

In another court incident, Licoricia was accused of stealing a gold ring that she had been given by another woman moneylender, Belia of Bedford, to hand to Henry as a gift. The ring went missing and Licoricia was accused by Ivetta, a neighbor, of stealing it for herself. Licoricia had another sojourn in the Tower while the investigation went on. Eventually, she was exonerated when the ring was discovered in the possession of Ivetta.

Her name and activities appear in the records of the Jewish Exchequer for years, but in 1277 disaster struck. Licoricia's daughter, Belia, found Licoricia and her Christian maid, Alice of Bicton, stabbed to death in Licoricia's home. A large sum of money was missing from the home. The investigation seemed more interested in tracking the money than finding a culprit. Suspicions did not turn into accusations, and no one was tried for the murder.

In 2022, a statue of Licoricia and her son by David, Asher, was erected in Jewry Street in Winchester. She is the subject of a book.

The Jewish Exchequer has been mentioned in this post and previous one, and I should probably explain what it was and why it existed, and the horrible incident that led to it.

David's Wives

When David of Oxford declared that he was divorced from his wife, Muriel, little did he know the furor it would cause. In Jewish law, a wife must consent to a divorce, which Muriel did not do. She reached out to relatives, who contacted the beth din (rabbinical court) in France, who authorized an ad hoc beth din in England. That group of three told David he was still married. David turned to an authority he was certain would help: the king.

King Henry III benefitted from David's vast wealth and ability to organize special taxes from Jews, so was inclined to keep David happy. Henry forbade anyone from interfering with David's choice of wife. So David had his freedom. This was taking place in 1242. David settled Muriel in a house he owned around the corner from St. Aldate's, and went looking for another wife. He found one in Licoricia of Winchester. (The illustration shows Muriel's post-divorce house in the red box.)

Licoricia had been married before. Her first husband, Abraham son of Isaac, had died, and she was living in Winchester with their three sons, Isaac, Benedict, and Lumbard, and a daughter, Belia. Licoricia had money, and as early as the 1230s there are records of her lending money. By the time David was looking for another wife—one with a proven track record of fertility—she was one of the richest Jews in Winchester.

They were married, and she became pregnant with a son, named Asher after David's father. She also helped expand David's money-lending business with her own resources.

Sadly, David died in February 1244. Because he was one of the wealthiest Jews in England, and because English law allowed the king to claim one-third of all his assets, the king wanted a full accounting of David's worth. All records of his debtors across the country were taken to the Jewish Exchequer in London to be examined.

Also taken to London was Licoricia herself, and imprisoned in the Tower. To prevent this savvy businesswoman from interfering in the assessment process, or attempting to hide any assets, Henry had her confined until the process was complete. Once Henry's people were done, he charged Licoricia 5000 marks (a mark was two-thirds of a pound) to purchase all of David's debts so that she could continue to collect on them. David's house in Oxford plus all its contents were claimed by the king to benefit the Domus Conversorum, the House of Converts created by Henry in 1232 to support Jews who converted to Christianity.

Licoricia had no trouble paying the 5000 marks (equivalent in today's buying power to over two million dollars), because she knew she would be able to make plenty from continuing the moneylending business, which is exactly what she did. She was a very capable woman, and we'll give her her own entry next time.

David of Oxford

Asher of Lincoln had a son, David, who married a local woman, Muriel, and at some point moved to Oxford, where he lived in a house on St. Aldate's (now site of the Oxford Town Hall), where Oxford Jews congregated their homes. (The illustration is by an 18th-century artist, Jonathan Skelton.)

David was one of the wealthiest Anglo-Jewish financiers of the 13th century. He was one of six wealthy Jews engaged by King Henry III to collect the tallage, the special tax the Crown often imposed on Jews to raise funds quickly for royal projects.

The Close Rolls in England were an administrative record of every letter and order issued with the authority of the Crown behind it. There is an entry from Winchester for 27 August, 1242:

For David of Oxford: The King to Masters Moses of London, Aaron of Canterbury, and Jacob of [Oxford], Jews, greeting. We do hereby forbid you to hold henceforth any plea concerning David Jew of Oxford and Muriel who was wife of the same; nor under any circumstances are you to distrain him either to take or to keep that wife or any other. Know for certainly that if you do otherwise, you will incur grave punishment therefore.

In short, the king forbade anyone (and those three in particular) from acting with any authority on the current issue of David and Muriel "who was wife of the same." Note the italics. David divorced Muriel, presumably because they were childless and he wanted a son to whom he could leave his fortune. Jewish law forbade divorcing a wife without her consent. Muriel (we assume) did not consent, and appealed for help.

She appealed to her family in Lincoln. Peytevin the Great, who had his own synagogue, appealed to the beth din (rabbinical court) in France (the rabbis of France were considered very authoritative). The word from France seemed to be that David acted improperly and must take Muriel back. An ad hoc beth din was assembled in Oxford of three men to ratify this decision and present it to David. We know who these men were because of another entry in the Close Rolls on the same date. I share the relevant part here:

... Moreover, Peytevin of Lincoln, Muriel who was the wife of David of Oxford, Benedict f. (son of) Peytevin of Lincoln, Vaalyn', and Moses de Barbun', Jews, are to appear before the aforesaid Archbishop and others of the King's council on the octave of St Michael, wheresoever they shall be in England, to show cause why they sent to France to the Jews of France to hold a chapter on the Jews of England. And the said justices are enjoined not to permit David of Oxford to be constrained to take or to keep any wife save of his own desire.

David, seeing the decision to overturn his divorce, obviously turned to the authority that could override the English Jews and give David what he wanted, the man who relied on David for ready money, King Henry III.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how it turned out, what happened to Muriel, and why David's second wife was imprisoned in the Tower of London.