The social history of Fez Jews in the gold-thread craft between the Middle Ages and the French colonialist period (sixteenth to twentieth centuries)

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Acknowledgements

I wish to express my sincerest appreciation for the anonymous reviewers of Middle Eastern Studies for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

 1 For example, ‘Catalog’, in V.B. Mann (ed.), Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land (New York and London: Merrell, 2000), pp.139–84, esp. item nos. 151–63.

 2 Suraiya Faroqhi, Towns and Townsmen in Ottoman Anatolia: Trade, Crafts and Food Production in an Urban Setting, 1520–1650 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).

 3 Benjamin Braude, ‘International Competition and Domestic Cloth in the Ottoman Empire, 1500–1650: A Study in Undevelopment’, Review of the Fernand Braudel Center Vol.2/3 (1979), pp.437–51.

 4 R. Le Tourneau, Fez in the Age of the Marinides (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961), pp.88–90.

 5 S. Avitsur, ‘The Woollen Textile Industry in Saloniki’, Sefunot Vol.12/2 (1971–78), pp.145–68 [in Hebrew].

 6 J. Mokyr, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Factory System: Technology, Firms, and Households since the Industrial Revolution’, Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy Vol.55 (2001), pp.1–45; Idem, The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), pp.119–25; C. Poni, ‘Proto-Industrialization, Rural and Urban’, Review Vol.9 (1985), pp.305–14; A. Littlefield and L.T. Reynolds, ‘The Putting-Out System: Transitional Form or Recurrent Feature of Capitalist Production?’, The Social Science Journal Vol.27 (1990), pp.359–72.

 7 J. Beinin, Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp.1–20; Nelly Hanna and Raouf Abbas, ‘Introduction: André Raymond, the Historian’, in Idem (eds.), Society and Economy in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean 1600–1900 (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2005), pp.1–9.

 8 G. Baer, Egyptian Guilds in Modern Times (Jerusalem: Israel Oriental Society, 1964), pp.138–9.

 9 R. Le Tourneau, ‘Social Change in the Muslim Cities of North Africa’, American Journal of Sociology Vol.60/6 (1955), pp.527–35.

10 J. Larrain, Theories of Development, Capitalism, Colonialism and Dependency (Cambridge: Policy Press, 1989), pp.85–8.

11 H. Magdoff, ‘Imperialism: A Historical Survey’, in Hamza Alavi and Teodor Shanin (eds.), Introduction to the Sociology of “Developing Societies”, (Houndmills, Eng: Macmillan, 1985), pp.11–28, esp. pp.184–5.

12 D. Quataert, Ottoman Manufacturing in the Age of the Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp.7–15; B. Hettne, Development Theory and the Three Worlds, (Harlow, Essex: Longman Scientific & Technical, 1990), pp.36–88.

13 S. Faroqhi, Artisans of Empire: Crafts and Craftspeople Under the Ottomans (London: I.B. Tauris, 2009), p.11.

14 M. Rozen, ‘Contest and Rivalry in Mediterranean Maritime Commerce in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century: The Jews of Salonika and the European Presence’, Revue des Etudes Juives Vol.147/3–4 (1988), pp.309–52, esp. pp.310–14.

15 L. Valensi, ‘Islam et capitalisme: production et commerce des chéchias en Tunisie et en France aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles’, Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine Vol.XVII (1969), pp.376–400, esp. pp.384–7.

16 D. Quataert, ‘Ottoman Manufacturing in the Nineteenth Century’, in Idem (ed.), Manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1500–1950 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994), pp.87–121, esp. pp.93–6.

17 H.M. Miner, ‘Traditional Mobility among the Weavers of Fez’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Vol.117/1 (1973), pp.17–36, esp. pp.30–5.

18 R. Le Tourneau, Fès avant le Protectorat: étude économique et sociale d’une ville de l’occident musulman, (Casablanca: Société Marocaine de Librairie et d’Éditions, 1949), p.352.

19 H. Zafrani, ‘Artisanat des métaux précieux et problèmes monétaires dans les décisions des Tribunaux Rabbiniques de Fès aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, in Idem, Le Judaïsme maghrébin: Le Maroc, terre des rencontres des cultures et des civilisations (Rabat: Marsam, 2003), pp.227–37, esp. p.235.

20 B. Yaniv, ‘Women's Embroidered Donations to the Eastern and North African Synagogue’, in T. Cohen and S. Regev (eds.), Woman in the East, Woman from the East: The Story of the Oriental Jewish Woman (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 2005), pp.87–104, esp. 88–92; V.B. Mann, ‘Gold Embroidery from Spain to the Diaspora,’ in N.B. BarOz (ed.), Shimmering Gold: The Splendor of Gold Embroidered Textiles (Tel Aviv: The Tel Aviv Art Museum, 2007), pp.14–6.

21 H. Bentov, ‘Jewish Artisans in Fez during the 17^th and 18^th Centuries’, Sefunot Vol.10 (1966), pp.414–82, esp. p.430 [in Hebrew].

22 Y. Ibn-Tzur, Mishpat u-tzedaka be-Ya'akov [Law and Charity in Jacob] (Jerusalem: ha-Makhon le-Moreshet Yahaduth Marocco, 1981), I, #72, 64c–65a [in Hebrew].

23 D.J. Schroeter, ‘Jewish Communities of Morocco: History and Identity’, Mann, Morocco: Jews and Art, pp.31–41.

24 M. Vicaire and R. Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication du fil d'or à Fès’, Hesperis, Vol.24 (1937), pp.67–88, esp. pp.68–69.

25 Β. Guyot, L. Paye and R. Le Tourneau, ‘Les Relieurs de Fès’, Bulletin économique du Maroc, Vol.3 (1936) pp.107–14, esp. pp.111–12.

26 Le Tourneau, Fès, p.351.

27 B. Yaniv, ‘Golden Threads in Weaving, Embroidery and Lacework’, in Shimmering Gold, pp.9–13, esp. p.9.

28 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.73–6.

29 Y.K. Stillman, ‘A Moroccan Jewish Jeweller and His Craft, Continuity and Change’, Pe’amim, Vol.17 (1983), pp.96–111, esp. p.99 [in Hebrew]

30 Bentov, ‘Jewish Artisans’, 451, doc. num. 19.

31 Ibid. 452, doc. no. 24.

32 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.76–7.

33 Bentov, ‘Jewish Artisans’, 454, doc. num. 28.

34 Y. Berdugo and S.K. Yosef, The Book of Joseph’s Shirt (Lod: Orot Yahaduth ha-Maghreb, 1991), ΙΙ, # A, 67b [in Hebrew].

35 Bentov, ‘Jewish Artisans’, 454, doc. num. 28.

36 S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: An Abridgment in One Volume (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999), pp.238–39.

37 I. Sharoni, ‘Tel (Jap) Embroidery in Iraq’, Shimmering Gold, pp.21–9, esp. pp.23–4.

38 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.80–2.

39 Le Tourneau, Fès, p.350.

40 The concept of symbiosis between Jews and Muslims in the Souq was introduced by Shlomo Dov Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents the Cairo Geniza (Berkeley: University of California, 1967–1993), Vol.II, pp.289–99.

41 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.68–70.

42 M. Kenbib, Juifs et Musulmans au Maroc: 1859–1948 (Rabat: Université Mohammed V, 1994), p.vi.

43 R. Hasson, Early Islamic Jewellery (Jerusalem: L.A. Mayer Memorial Institute for Islamic Art, 1987), p.9.

44 al-Shayrazī Abd al-Rahmān b. Nasr, The Book of the Islamic Market Inspector: The Utmost Authority in the Pursuit of Hisba (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p.97.

45 Le Tourneau, Fès, pp.283–85.

46 J.S. Gerber, Jewish Society in Fez 1450–1700: Studies in Communal and Economic Life (Leiden: Brill, 1980), p.185.

47 Y.S.b.-Y. Abitbul and A. Shayish, Marble Stones (Lod: Orot Yahaduth ha-Maghreb, 2011) II, #37, pp.106–115 [in Hebrew]

48 Gerber, Jewish Society, p.186.

49 Kenbib, Juifs et Musulmans, p.410–1.

50 Abitbul and Shayish, II, #37, pp.106–15.

51 Zafrani, ‘Artisanat’, p.236.

52 Y.S. ben-Yosef and V.-Υ. Shlomo, And Solomon Gathered (Casablanca: Ch. Elbaz Frères, 1929), #8, 5b–6a [in Hebrew].

53 M. Amar, Sefer Takanot Chachmei Fes [The Book of Regulations of the Wise Men of Fez] (Paris: Or ha-Meir, 2012), Rabbi Shmuel Ibn Danan, #69, pp.537–8 [in Hebrew].

54 B. Barnes, ‘All About Gold Threads’, Embroidery Vol 42/2 (1993), p.83.

55 Commission Municipale Israélite Fès, à Monsieur le Consul, Chef des Services Municipaux, Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes Série Protectorat Français au Maroc (hereafter: CADN), 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

56 A. Moreno, ‘An Insight into the Course of European-Oriented Modernization among Oriental Jewries – the Minute Book of the Junta of Tangier’, in Eliezer Papo et al. (eds.), Dameta le Tamar: Studies in Honor of Tamar Alexander (Beer-Sheva: Merkaz Mosheh Daṿid Ga’on le-Tarbut ha-Ladino, 2015), pp.95–120, esp. pp.103–4; 108–12.

57 D.J. Schroeter, ‘The Changing Landscape of Muslim-Jewish Relations in the Modern Middle East and North Africa’, in S.R. Goldstein-Sabbah and H.L. Murre-van den Berg (eds.), Modernity, Minority, and the Public Sphere: Jews and Christians in the Middle East (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp.39–67, esp. pp.41–2; idem, Merchants of Essaouira: Urban Society and Imperialism in Southwestern Morocco, 1844–1886 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp.200–6.

58 S.G. Miller, A. Petruccioli and M. Bertagnin, ‘Inscribing Minority Space in the Islamic City: The Jewish Quarter of Fez (1438–1912)’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol.60 (2001), pp.310–27, esp. pp.313–14.

59 M. Abitbol, ‘Les Juifs du Maroc et leurs pauvres’, Les Cahiers du Judaïsme, Vol.29 (2010), pp.15–26, esp. pp.22–3; Y. Tsur, A Torn Community: The Jews of Morocco and Nationalism, 1943–1954 (Tel Aviv: Am-Oved, 2001), pp.33–6; 48–60 [in Hebrew]; L. Voinot, ‘La Réglementation du travail des indigènes au Maroc’, CADN, 1MA-285–444, May 1931.

60 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.83–5.

61 Moreno, ‘An Insight’, pp.100–1.

62 Anon, Africa-bijoux. Algérie, Tunisie, Maroc (Paris: [n.p.], 1923), p.110.

63 Guyot, Paye and Le Tourneau, ‘Les Relieurs’, pp.111–2.

64 O. Ouaknine-Yekutieli, ‘Rage Against the Machine in the Mellah of Fes’, Hespéris-Tamuda Vol.XLIV (2009), pp.89-108, esp.92.

65 Anon, Africa-bijoux (1923), p.I.

66 Ibid. (Paris, 1923), p.18.

67 Ibid. (Paris, 1928), p.20.

68 Ibid. (Paris, 1934), pp.84–5.

69 Ibid.

70 Ibid. (Paris, 1934), p.85.

71 Rapport sur la Corporation des Tréfileurs, suivi de nos desiderata, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

72 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘L’Industrie du fil d'or’, p.86.

73 ‘Rapport sur la Corporation des Tréfileurs’, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

74 H. Irbouh, Art in the Service of Colonialism: French Art Education in Morocco, 1912–1956 (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2005), pp.49–50; ‘Le commissaire du Gouvernement Chérifien, Fès, Attributions des mothassebs [mistake in original]’, CADN, 1MA-300-121, 28 April 1929.

75 Decroux, La vie municipale, pp.48–52; ‘Le commissaire du Gouvernement Chérifien, Fès, Attributions des mothassebs [mistake in original]’, CADN, Série Protectorat Français au Maroc, 1MA-300-121, 28 April 1929; Irbouh, Art in the Service, pp.47–50.

76 Anon, Africa-bijoux (Paris, 1923), part III, 2; Dahir du 1er Octobre 1925 (13 rebia I 1344) portant organization du contrôle des matières de platine, d'or et d'argent, in Empire Chérifien, Bulletin Officiel du Maroc, no. 678 du 20 Octobre 1925, 1667.

77 Rapport sur la Corporation des Tréfileurs, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

78 Commission Municipale Israélite Fès, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

79 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication du fil d’or à Fes’, Bulletin de l'enseignement public au Maroc, Vol.158 (1938), pp.120–1.

80 ‘La pénétration commerciale japonaise au Maroc’, Bulletin économique du Maroc, Vol.I (1934), pp.356-7.

81 Haut Comité Méditerranéen et de L'Afrique du Nord, ‘Les Caractères spécifiques et la situation présente de l'artisanat Marocain’, CADN, 1MA-200-406, Nov. 1938.

82 P. Ricard, ‘Production Indigène. L’Industrie Indigène au Maroc’, Bulletin économique du Maroc, Vol.I (1934), p.423.

83 ‘Rapport sur la Corporation des Tréfileurs’, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

84 Ibid.

85 Commission Municipale Israélite Fès, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

86 D.J. Schroeter and J. Chetrit, ‘Emancipation and Its Discontents: Jews at the Formative Period of Colonial Rule in Morocco’, Jewish Social Studies, Vol.13 (2006), pp.170–206, esp. p.197.

87 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La Fabrication’, pp.70–2.

88 Commission Municipale Israélite de Fès, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

89 Sûreté Générale de Fès, ‘Incidents à l'Occasion des èlections au Mellah’, CADN, 1MA-250-42, 8 February 1937.

90 Anon., Africa-bijoux (Paris, 1937), pp.84, 87, 88.

91 ‘Incidents à l'Occasion des èlections au Mellah’, CADN, 1MA-250-42, 8 Feb. 1937.

92 Commissariat divisionnaire Fès, ‘Note de Renseignements’, Ibid., 1MA-250-42, 9 February. 1937.

93 ‘Incidents à l'Occasion des èlections au Mellah’, Ibid., 8 February 1937.

94 Schroeter and Chetrit, ‘Emancipation’, pp.178–81; Paul Decroux, La vie municipale au Maroc (Lyon: Bosc frères, M. et L. Riou, 1931), pp.88–9; J. Vattier, ‘La Municipalité de Fez’, L'Afrique française, 12 (1924), pp.383–7, esp. pp.384–6.

95 Rapport sur la Corporation des Tréfileurs, CADN, 1MA-1-6BIS, 1936.

96 A.M. Benson, History and Underdevelopment in Morocco: The Structural Roots of Conjuncture (Munster: International African Institute, 1995), pp.140–41.

97 Hoisington, The Casablanca Connection: French Colonial Policy, 1936-1943 (Chapel Hill, N.C: University of North Carolina Press, 1984), pp.49–71.

98 Abitbol, Histoire du Maroc, pp.449–56; ‘Les Caractères spécifiques et la situation présente de l'artisanat Marocain’, CADN, 1MA-200-406, Nov. 1938.

99 Benson, History and Underdevelopment, pp.139–40.

100 Ouaknine-Yekutieli, ‘Narrating a Pending Calamity: Artisanal Crisis in the Medina of Fes, Morocco’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.47 (2015), pp.109–29, esp. p.122.

101 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La fabrication’, p.71, picture no. 1.

102 L'Artisanat Marocain: Catalogue (Rabat: Éd. Havas, 1939), item no. 948.

103 A.M. Goichon, ‘La Broderie au Fil d'Or à Fès’, Hesperis, xxvi (I), (1939), pp.49–85, esp. p.57.

104 Idem, ‘La Broderie au Fil d'Or à Fès’, Ibid, xxvi (III), (1939), pp.241–81, esp. pp.243–4.

105 Le Tourneau, Fès, p.297.

106 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La fabrication’, p.85.

107 Goichon, ‘La Broderie’, xxvi (1939), pp.273–4.

108 Vicaire and Le Tourneau, ‘La fabrication’, p.76.