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Trévoux

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Principal town of the arrondissement of the same name in the department of Ain, France. Henry of Villars, Archbishop of Lyons and seignior of Trévoux, stipulated in the charter which he gave to the latter town in 1300 that no Jew should be allowed to settle in it. A certain number of Jews nevertheless obtained permission to establish themselves there on payment of a yearly tax of 15 livres. The Jews who were expelled from Lyons in 1420 sought refuge at Trévoux, where they engaged in making gold and silver wire. In 1425 they were obliged to contribute largely to the forced loan which the city had to make to the Duchess of Bourbon, who had succeeded to the seignioralty of Trévoux.

The other inhabitants of the town, who were jealous of the Jews, especially of their commercial prosperity, accused them in 1429 of having in their possession Hebrew books containing blasphemies against the Christian religion. At the instance of the archbishop the Duchess of Bourbon ordered an investigation, which she entrusted to Jean Namy, appellate judge of Beaujolais; Jean Châlon, licentiate in law; and Ayme, a baptized Jew of Chambéry, who was commissioned to inspect the Hebrew books and to translate the reprehensible passages. The books were thereupon seized and burned, and the Jews, after being sentenced to pay various fines, were expelled from the city (see CHAMBÉRY). Three years later a few of them returned; but they were again driven out in 1467; and there was another expulsion in 1488. A certain number of these Jews subsequently took the name "Trabot" or "Traboto,"indicating their native place. Steinschneider ("Cat. Bodl." col. 2052) has given a list, which has been completed by Berliner (see his "Magazin," 2:16,96).