Moses Fishel

Moses Fishel was a sixteenth century banker and community leader of Jewish society in Cracow-Kazimierz, Poland. He is first mentioned in 1477, and was principally engaged in the lease of customs duties and other royal revenues. In 1499 Moses was accused of extortion in collecting the poll tax from the Jews of the region of Gniezno but it seems that it did not affect his future business arrangements. In 1503, Moses and his brother Jacob leased the royal customs revenues in the provinces of Great Poland and Masovia for an annual payment of 2,500 Hungarian florins, 24 kg of saffron and 120 kg of black pepper. His wife was also engaged in moneylending, and had dealings with the courts of kings Casimir IV (r. 1447 – 1492), John I Albert (r. 1492 – 1501), and Alexander I (r. 1501 – 1506).