Patente d’Usurier [Tract - Antisémitisme] - 1900

Usurer's Patent - Tract - Antisemitism - 19th Century


Bitter emanation of the prejudices of the 19th century, this tract or "Patent of the Usurer" presents itself as a fake satirical diploma, saturated with stereotypes and insulting traits toward the Jewish community. Under a veneer of feigned humor, it deploys an entire vocabulary of caricature, revealing the tensions, fantasies and hostility that traversed at the time a portion of society. A rare and striking piece, it remains a direct testament to the discriminatory imagination of the era, and, by contrast, a reminder of the persistence of certain discourses that history has not yet fully relegated to the past.


PATENT OF THE USURER. We, descended from the illustrious St. Matthew, patron of the sublime body of Usurers and Pledge Lenders, wishing to reward in a brilliant manner the services rendered to our respectable order by Mr. in our capacity as Grand Master, appoint him chief inspector in the department of ______, with charge to him to lend money, according to his laudable habit, only at an exorbitant interest capable of multiplying his funds in less than six months; to never grant an ecu without being guaranteed by a deposit representing at least ten times this value; to be deaf to the cries of the unfortunate whom need has driven to him, and finally to propagate and have adopted, by the means he shall deem most proper, the invaluable method that has guided him in all his actions, a method to which he owes immense capitals, as well as the Patent we grant him today.
Delivered at our Palace of the Juiverie, in Jerusalem, on ______

Isaac VOLEFORT, the Grand Usurer
Jacob takes too much, Secretary


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