SAINT-RÉMY-DE-PROVENCE

SAINT-RÉMY-DE-PROVENCE, town in the Bouchesdu-Rhône department, S.E. France. The presence of Jews in Saint-Rémy is confirmed from 1305 at the latest; at that time all the metal dealers were Jews. The community increased rapidly, augmented by refugees from the kingdom of France. That the community was important is indicated by the fact that it owned several synagogues, a bakery, a market, a butchery, and a cemetery (the last is still in existence). Until 1339 Jews supplied all the meat sold in Saint-Rémy, and the townsmen complained that the ritually slaughtered meat was tasteless. The community continued to exist until 1501 when the Jews were expelled from Provence. At that time several   local Jews accepted baptism. There was no subsequent settlement. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Leroy, Les Archives Communales de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (1950ff.), passim (includes the art. published in: REJ, 47 (1903), 301–7); B. Blumenkranz, in: Bulletin Philologique et Historique (1965), 615, 618, 622. (Bernhard Blumenkranz)