Domus Conversorum
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| caption = The Domus Conversorum, from a 13th-century sketch by Matthew Paris
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{{History of the Jews in England}}
The Domus Conversorum ('House of the Converts'), later Chapel of the Master of the Rolls, was a building and institution in London for Jews who had converted to Christianity. It provided a communal home and low wages. It was needed because, until 1280, all Jews who converted to Christianity forfeited their possessions to the Crown.{{cite book|author=Robin R. Mundill|title=England's Jewish Solution: Experiment and Expulsion, 1262–1290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rD7KpxEhRu8C&dq=%22domus+conversorum%22&pg=PA100|date=16 May 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52026-3|page=100}}
It was established in 1232 by Henry III. With the expulsion of the Jews by Edward I in 1290, it became the only official way for Jews to remain in the country. At that stage there were about eighty residents. By 1356, the last one of these died. Between 1331 and 1608, 48 converts were admitted. The warden was the Master of the Rolls.[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C596 Records of the Master of the Rolls and the Rolls (Chapel) Office], National Archives
The building was in Chancery Lane. No records exist after 1609, but, in 1891, the post of chaplain was abolished by Act of Parliament and the location, by then known as the Rolls Chapel which had been used to store legal archives, became the Public Record Office. The site is today home to the Maughan Library of King's College London.
"Domus Conversorum" was sometimes used also to describe the living quarters of lay brothers in monasteries.
The ''Domus Conversorum'' in Oxford
A Domus Conversorum was built in Oxford in around 1235. The building was demolished in 1750.
Domus Conversorum.jpg|The Domus Conversorum in Oxford
See also
References
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External links
- [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=431&letter=D Jewish Encyclopedia]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050118210703/http://www.colas.freeserve.co.uk/context/53oct2002/jews.htmlJewish Converts in Medieval England]City of London Archaeological Society October 2002
- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=35384 Hospitals: Domus conversorum, A History of the County of London: Volume 1: London within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark (1909), pp. 551-554]
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- [https://archive.org/details/historyofdomusco00adleiala/mode/2up History of the "Domus Conversorum" from 1290 to 1891] [1899] by Michael Adler, at Internet Archive
- [https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/domus-conversorum DOMUS CONVERSORUM] by Cecil Roth. Encyclopaedia Judaica article at encyclopedia.com
Category:1253 establishments in England
Category:Antisemitism in England
Category:Conversion of Jews to Christianity
Category:Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Camden