MANS, LE

MANS, LE (Heb. מנש), capital of the department of Sarthe, in western France. A Jew, Vaslinus, is mentioned as a moneylender there between 1104 and 1115. In 1138, the Jews of Le Mans were attacked by local inhabitants. They lived in the quarter formed by Rues Marchande, Saint-Jacques, Falotiers or de Merdereau, Barillerie, Ponts-Neufs and de la Juiverie, and owned a synagogue and a cemetery (in the parish of Sainte-Croix), which was also used by other Jews in the vicinity. They probably also had their own market and a hospital. Another attack upon Jews may have occurred around 1200, since several Jewish converts are found in Le Mans in 1207, and in 1216,   Berengaria, the widow of Richard the Lion-Hearted, Lady of Le Mans, disposed of the so-called "school of the Juiverie," i.e., the synagogue. Records show the existence of a Jewish quarter during the second half of the 13th century, the Jews of Le Mans then being under the jurisdiction of the bishop. Reference to Jewish scholars of Le Mans is found in rabbinical literature from the end of the ninth century, the most celebrated being Avun the Great (tenth century) and Elijah b. Menahem ha-Zaken (11th century). The Jews were expelled from Le Mans in 1289 at the same time as the Jews of Maine and Anjou. During World War II many of the Jews in Le Mans were deported. A new community was formed after the war, many of its members coming from North Africa. It numbered 400 in 1969. A stained-glass window dating from the 12th century depicting the allegorical defeated Synagogue can be seen in the Cathedral of Le Mans. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Blumenkranz, in: Mélanges … R. Crozet, 2 (1966), 1154; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 256; Gross, Gal Jud, 392–3. (Bernhard Blumenkranz / David Weinberg (2nd ed.)