POSQUIÈRES

POSQUIÈRES, ancient name of the present town of Vauvert, S. France. The earliest record of the presence of Jews in Posquières is from 1121: the dowry that Ermensinde, daughter of the viscount of Béziers and Nîmes, brought to her husband, the lord of Posquières, included a Jew of Béziers, Benjamin. According to benjamin of tudela , there were 40 Jews (or 40 heads of families) in the town in about 1165. It appears that the lords of the town employed the Jews in public office: After an admonition of Pope innocent iii in 1209, the lord of Posquières solemnly swore not to entrust such offices to Jews. The Jews lived in a quarter known as Carrière des Juifs. Wealthy Jews who possessed more than 100 sols paid an annual tenure of one gold florin to the lord. After the expulsion of 1306 the Jews of Posquières migrated to provence , comtat venaissin , and perpignan . Of the scholars of the town named by Benjamin of Tudela, the only one known from other sources was the renowned abraham b. david , head of the yeshivah of Posquières. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gal Jud, 446–50; P. Palgairolle, Histoire de la ville de Vauvert (1918); S. Kahn, in: Mémoires de l'Académiede Nîmes, 35 (1912), 1–23; G. Scholem, Ursprung und Anfaenge der Kabbala (1962), index; I. Twersky, Rabad of Posquières (1962). (Bernhard Blumenkranz)