Abraham Judeus Bohemus

Abraham Judeus Bohemus was a tax collector and financial adviser to Polish kings Alexander I Jagiellon (r. 1501 – 1506) and Sigismund I of Poland (r. 1506 – 1548).

At the end of fifteenth century, Abraham moved from Bohemia to Poland, where he lived in the Kazimierz district of Kraków before settling in Lwów. Abraham was one of the chief financiers of Polish kings and had offered loans to the Hungarian, Croatian and Czech King Vladislaus II Jagiellon (1456 – 1516), as well as to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1486 – 1519). In 1512 he was appointed as the general tax collector, empowered to collect the Jewish poll tax from communities in Great Poland and Mazovia. From 1514 until 1518, he also collected the Jewish poll tax in Little Poland. Abraham was also involved in commerce, and, in 1518, Sigismund I granted him the right of unlimited trade throughout the kingdom.

Abraham’s duties caused him to come into conflict with the Jewish communities of Kraków and Lwów. He was placed under a ban by the Jewish community, but Sigismund I removed him from the jurisdiction of the kehilot (Jewish community councils), and under threat of fines, rabbis were forbidden to put him under a ban.