Céline Martin

Les Juifs et la cité. Pour une clarification du statut personnel des juifs de l’Antiquité tardive à la fin du royaume de Tolède (ive-viie siècles)

The evolution of the personal status of Jews in the post-classical Roman and Visigothic law should be read within the scope of the general history of the juridical situation of persons at the same period. From the 4th to the 6th century, Jews were Roman citizens benefiting from the essential aspects of civil legal capacity; their status presenting no juridical originality contrary to what has often been stated. The fact by which a certain number of Jews, in certain places, at certain times, have received privileges, leads in no way to signify they were given a singular status, a notion resulting from a misunderstanding of the proper definition of privilege. It is only at the very end of the 7th century in the Visigothic world that Jews will lose their ingenui status by a measure that will abase them to slavery. This event, unprecedented in the history of Jews in the Western world, was brought forth in a context in which the status of freemen was becoming fragile throughout society.