IN THE COURTS OF THE NATIONS - DataSpace - Princeton ...

Complaints registers suggest that they were active moneylenders with numerous debtors and that
they were sufficiently well-connected to have their complaints heeded by the Makhzan. It thus
seems safe to assume that both Ibn al-Baḥars, like the Assarrafs, were wealthy and relatively
powerful.
However, the repeated petitions of the Ibn al-Baḥars and the Assarrafs do not mean that
all or even most of the Jewish creditors who appear in the Ministry of Complaints records were
rich. Rather, the fact that only a few names appear repeatedly suggests that these families were
exceptional—probably because they were exceptionally wealthy. In fact, the paucity of names
which are frequently repeated in the registers suggests that most of the Jewish creditors who
appealed to the Makhzan were not extremely wealthy. Additionally, we know from other
sources that wealthy Jews had other means by which to ensure the payment of their debts. For
instance, a creditor with sufficient resources could make a loan to a qā’id in exchange for the
qā’id’s agreement that he would force any recalcitrant debtors to pay. 28 It seems safe to
conclude that few of the Jewish creditors who appear in the Ministry of Complaints records were
members of the wealthiest class.
Similarly, although the Ibn al-Baḥars boasted foreign protection, most of the Jews who
appear in the Ministry of Complaints registers were not protégés. Firstly, the Makhzan kept a
separate register solely devoted to the complaints of protégés (where Mas‘ūd Ibn al-Baḥar
168, 5 Shawwāl 1309; p. 226, 24 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1309; p. 271, 16 Rabī‘ I 1310; p. 304, 9 Jumādā I 1310; loose sheet,
10 Jumādā I, 1310; loose sheet, 30 Ramaḍān 1310. Some of the entries that mention Ibn al-Baḥar refer to the same
cases: see, BH, K 174, p. 80, 3 Sha‘bān 1308; BH, K 181, p. 34, 4 Ṣafar 1309; p. 65, 2 Jumādā I 1309. In these
entries Mawlāy Ismā‘īl reported concerning the debts owed to Ibn al-Baḥar by Ibn al-Zīzūn. See also BH, K 181, p.
166, 1 Shawwāl 1309; p. 226, 21 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1309; p. 264, 29 Ṣafar 1310; p. 272, 19 Rabī‘ I 1310; p. 297, 30 Rabī‘
II 1310; p. 347, 11 Sha‘bān 1310 (for a case dealt with over time by al-Ḥibāsī); BH, K 181, p. 174, 11 Shawwāl
1309; p. 262, 25 Ṣafar 1310 (for a case dealt with by al-Hilālī) and BH, K 181, p. 265, 29 Ṣafar 1310; p. 297, 30
Rabī‘ II 1310; p. 340, 23 Rajab 1310 (for a case dealt with by al-Zarārī). See also DAR, Yahūd, 20411, Mawlāy
Ḥasan to Qaid Ḥammu b. al-Jīlālī, 29 Dhū al-Hijja 1310.
28 Bénech, Explication d’un mellah, 37-38.
190