A number of bishops assembled at Lyons for the purpose of discussing the best method of humbling the Jews, and disturbing their hitherto peaceful existence. They also considered how the emperor might best be influenced to adopt their resolutions. It was resolved at the meeting that a letter should be handed to the emperor, setting forth the wickedness and the danger of favoring the Jews, and specifying the privileges which ought to be withdrawn (829). The letter of the synod, as we have it now, is signed by three bishops, and is entitled, "Concerning the Superstitions of the Jews." Agobard wrote the preface, in which he explains his position in the quarrel. In it, after accusing the Jews, he blamed their friends as being the cause of all the evil. The Jews, he said, had become bold through the support of the commissioners, who had given out that the Jews were not so bad after all, but were very dear to the emperor. From the standpoint of faith and of the canonic laws the argument of Agobard and the other bishops was irrefutable, and had Emperor Louis the Pious set store by this logic, he would have had to extirpate the Jews, root and branch. Fortunately, however, he took no notice of it. This happened either because he knew Agobard's character, or because the letter containing the accusations against the Jews never reached him. Agobard's fear that the letter would be intercepted by the friends of the Jews at court may have proved well founded. The Jew-hating bishop of Lyons, however, had his revenge. In the following year (830), he took part in the conspiracy against the empress Judith, by joining the sons, who nearly succeeded in dethroning their father. Agobard was thereupon deprived of his office, and had to seek safety in Italy, but Louis soon restored him to his office, after which Agobard left the Jews unmolested.
Till the end of his life Louis remained well disposed toward the Jews. This is the more surprising as he felt very much hurt when one of his favorites became a convert to Judaism, which might easily have embittered him against them. The conversion of Bishop Bodo, who had hitherto occupied a high position, created a great sensation in its time. The chronicles speak of this event as they would of some extraordinary natural phenomenon. The event, indeed, was accompanied by peculiar circumstances, and was a great shock to pious Christians. Bodo, or Puoto, descended from an old Alemannic race, a man as well informed in temporal as in spiritual affairs, had become an ecclesiastic, and occupied the rank of a deacon. The emperor favored him, and in order to have him constantly near him, made him his spiritual adviser. Entertaining strict Catholic opinions, Bodo desired to go to Rome in order to receive the blessing of the Pope, and to make a pilgrimage to the graves of the apostles and the martyrs. He was given leave of absence, but in Rome, the stronghold of Christianity, Bodo conceived a strong liking for Judaism. Perhaps the favor shown to the Jews and Judaism at Louis' court had suggested to him a comparison of the two faiths, and his investigation may have led him to recognize the merits of Judaism. Besides, the immoral life of the clergy in the Christian capital, which had given rise to the satire about Pope Joan, who had defiled the chair of Peter, filled him with disgust, and attracted him to the purer religion of Judaism.
He himself wrote later, that he, in company with other divines, had used the churches for grossly immoral purposes. Christian orthodoxy, without inquiring into the true reason for Bodo's change of faith, had a ready answer, viz., that Satan, the enemy of mankind and of the Church, had led him to it. Bodo, without stopping at the court or in France, journeyed from Rome to Spain, and there formally became a Jew, giving up for the new faith his fatherland, his position, and his friends. He was circumcised in Saragossa, assumed the name of Eleazar, and let his beard grow (August, 938). He married a Jewess in Saragossa, and appears to have entered the military service of an Arab prince. He now conceived such hatred against his former co-religionists, that he persuaded the Mahometan conqueror not to tolerate Christians in his dominions, but to compel them to adopt either Islam or Judaism. Thereupon the Spanish Christians are said to have appealed to the emperor of the Frankish empire and to the bishops to use their utmost endeavors to get this dangerous apostate into their power. The emperor Louis was deeply moved by Bodo's conversion. He did not, however, allow the Jews to suffer on account of his grief, but continued to protect them against injustice. Of this we have a clear proof in his action in reference to a lawsuit which came under his notice some months after Bodo's conversion. It is probable that with Louis the Pious originated the theory, current throughout the later period of the Middle Ages, and doubtless inspired by benevolent desires, that the emperor is the natural patron of the Jews, and that they, being his wards, are inviolable.
With the death of the emperor Louis, the golden age of the Jews in the Frankish dominions came to an end, and their good fortunes were not renewed for a considerable time. Southern Europe, disturbed by anarchy, and ruled by a fanatic clergy, did not offer a favorable field for the development of Judaism. It is true that Charles the Bald, the son of Louis by Judith, who caused so much confusion in the Frankish dominions, that the subsequent division of the kingdom into France, Germany, Lorraine, and Italy ensued, was not hostile to the Jews (843). He appears, indeed, to have inherited from his mother a certain preference for Judaism. He had a Jewish physician, Zedekiah, to whom he was much attached, but whose skill in medicine was regarded, by the ignorant and superstitious people, as magic and the work of the devil, and also a Jewish favorite, whose political services won from his royal master the praise, "My faithful Judah."
Under Charles the Bald, as under his predecessor, the Jews enjoyed equal rights with the Christians. They were allowed to carry on their business unhindered, and also to possess landed property. Some of them controlled the tolls. But they had implacable enemies among the higher clergy. They had angered the dignitaries of the Church too much by their humiliation of Agobard, and the clergy, though they spoke constantly of love and kindness, would not allow the Jews to enjoy their advantages.
The bitterest enemy of the Jews was Agobard's disciple and successor, Bishop Amolo of Lyons. He had imbibed hatred of the Jews from his master; and he was not alone in this, for Hinkmar, the bishop of Rheims, a favorite of Emperor Charles, the archbishop of Sens, the archbishop of Bourges, and others of the clergy shared his anti-Jewish sentiments. At a council held by these prelates at Meaux (not far from Paris) in 845, for the purpose of exalting the spiritual power at the expense of the royal authority, and of repressing the riotous living of many clergymen, it was resolved to re-enact the old canonical laws and anti-Jewish restrictions, and to have them confirmed by Charles. The members of the council did not mark the limit of the revival of old restrictions, but on the list, similar to Agobard's, containing the spiteful ordinances from which the king was to select those to be enforced anew, were included some that dated from the time of the first Christian emperor Constantine. It also mentioned the decree of Emperor Theodosius II, according to which no Jew was allowed to occupy any office or position of honor. The decrees of the various councils and the edict of the Merovingian king Childebert, were also cited, by which the Jews were not permitted to occupy the positions of judges and farmers of taxes, nor show themselves on the streets during Easter week, and were required to pay the utmost respect to the clergy. They even cited synodal decrees which had been passed outside of France, and therefore had never been invested with the force of law, and also the inhuman Visigothic synod decrees, which had been directed more especially against baptized Jews who still clung to Judaism. The members of the council also mentioned the Visigothic synodal decrees, which prescribed that the children of converted Jews should be torn from their parents and placed amongst Christians. In conclusion, they laid stress upon the point that Jewish and Christian slave dealers should be compelled to sell heathen slaves within Christian territory, so that they might be converted to Christianity.
The prelates thought that they could cajole Charles into yielding to their wishes by representing to him that the Northmen's invasion was divine chastisement for his sinfulness. But Charles was not so humbled by state troubles as to allow laws to be dictated to him by a fanatic and ambitious clergy. Although his favorite, Hinkmar, took part in the council, he had the meeting dissolved. Later on, however, he summoned the members again for a new session, under his own supervision, at Paris (14 Feb., 846). The improvement of Church affairs was to be considered. They had to omit three quarters of the eighty decrees of the council of Meaux, amongst them the proposed anti-Jewish regulations. Thus neither under the Carlovingians nor under later rulers, was the degradation of the Jews in France decreed by law. Charles imposed upon the Jewish merchants a tax of eleven per cent. on the value of all merchandise sold, whilst the Christians had to pay only ten per cent.
Amolo and his colleagues could not forget the defeat they had suffered at the council of Meaux, where their plan to humble the Jews had been frustrated. Agobard's successor sent a letter to the spiritual authorities, reminding them that they ought to use their influence with the princes to deprive the Jews of all their privileges. Amolo's letter, full of virulence and calumny against the Jewish race, is a worthy appendix to Agobard's letter to Emperor Louis on the same subject. Much therein is borrowed from the latter. Towards the end of his letter, Amolo expresses his deep regret that the Jews in France were enjoying the rights of free speech, and that many Christians were well disposed toward them. The Jews were even allowed to have Christian servants to work in their houses and fields. He complains, too, that many Christians openly declare that the sermons of the Jewish preachers please them better than those of the Christian clergy, making it seem the fault of the Jews that the Christian clergy could not attract audiences. He also reproached the Jews with the fact that a noble Church official had gone over to Judaism, and now thoroughly hated Christianity. Amolo invited all the bishops of the country to do their utmost to re-introduce the old canonic restrictions against the Jews. He enumerated a number of anti-Jewish princes and councils that had insisted on the legal humiliation of the Jews, just as Agobard and the members of the council of Meaux had done before. Amolo, above all, reminded them of the pious Visigothic king, Sisebut, who had forced the Jews to adopt Christianity. "We dare not," ends his malignant letter, "either by our suavity, flattery, or defense, encourage the complacency of the Jews, who are accursed, and yet blind to their own damnation."
At the time, Amolo's virulent letter had as little effect as Agobard's letter and the decree of the council of Meaux. But gradually the poison spread from the clergy to the people and the princes. The division of France into small independent states, which refused allegiance to the king, was another unfavorable circumstance. Its effect was to leave the Jews at the mercy of the fanatical clergy and the tyranny of petty princes.
How malicious was the spirit animating the French clergy, can be judged from the fact that the successive bishops of Béziers were in the habit of preaching vehement sermons from Palm Sunday until Easter Monday, exhorting the Christians to avenge themselves on the Jews of the town, because they had crucified Jesus. The fanatical mob thus incited armed themselves with stones to attack the Jews. The mischief was repeated year after year for centuries. The Jews of Béziers often defended themselves, and on these occasions much damage was inflicted on both sides. The Jews of Toulouse, too, for a long time had to suffer numerous indignities. The counts of this town had the privilege of publicly giving the president of the Jewish community a box on the ears on Good Friday. This was no doubt meant as vengeance upon the Jews for Jesus' death; no doubt too in fulfilment of the precept, "Thou shalt love thine enemies." There is a story which tells of a chaplain called Hugh, who begged that he might be allowed to perform the office, and he dealt the victim so violent a blow, that he fell lifeless to the ground. Those who wished to find a justification for this barbarity alleged that the Jews on one occasion either had betrayed, or had intended to betray the town of Toulouse to the Mahometans. Later, the box on the ears was commuted to an annual money payment by the Jews. The great grandson of Louis the Pious, Louis II, son of Lothaire, was so influenced by the clergy, that as soon as he had the government of Italy in his own hands (855), he decreed that all the Italian Jews should quit the land where their ancestors had lived long before the arrival of the Germans and Longobards. No Jew should dare show himself after the 1st of October of that year. Any Jew that appeared in the street might be seized, and peremptorily handed over for punishment. Fortunately for the Jews this decree could not be carried out; for Italy was then divided into small districts, whose rulers, for the most part, refused obedience to the emperor of Italy. Mahometans made frequent irruptions into the land, and were often called in to help the Christian princes against each other, or against the king. This anarchy was the safeguard of the Jews, and the decree remained in abeyance.
Under Charles' successors, when the power of the king decreased greatly, and the bigotry of the princes increased, things came to such a pass that Charles the Simple granted all the lands and vineyards of the Jews in the Duchy of Narbonne to the Church, in order to show his great zeal for his religion (899–914). The French princes gradually accustomed themselves to think that the protection which the emperors Charles the Great and his son Louis had afforded the Jews, involved the inference that the wards and their property belonged absolutely to the guardian. This thought, at least, underlies the act by which the usurper Boso, king of Burgundy and Provence, who was greatly influenced by the clergy, presented the Jews as a gift to the Church, i. e., he considered them in every respect as his bondmen. This arbitrary treatment of the Jews came to an end only with the rule of the Capets.
Like their brethren in Western Europe, the Jews in the East, in the Byzantine dominion, had to suffer sad persecution. Despite forced baptism, and the oppression of the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, the Jews again spread over the whole Byzantine Empire, more especially over Asia Minor and Greece. Many Greek Jews occupied themselves with the cultivation of mulberry trees and with silk spinning. The Greek Jews in other respects were subject to all the restrictions imposed by the former rulers, and like the heathen and heretics, were not permitted to hold office. They were, however, granted religious freedom. Basilius, who ascended the throne in about 850, was comparatively a just and mild ruler. Yet he was resolved to bring the Jews over to Christianity. He therefore arranged that religious discussions should take place between Jewish and Christian clergymen, and decreed that the Jews should either prove by irrefutable arguments that their religion was the true one, or confess that "Jesus was the culmination of the Law and the Prophets."
Basilius, foreseeing that these discussions would probably lead to no results, promised appointments of honor to those who should prove themselves open to conversion. It is not known what punishment was inflicted on those unwilling to be converted, but they doubtless had to suffer severe persecution. Many Jews accepted or pretended to accept Christianity. Scarcely was Basilius dead (886), when they threw off the mask as they had done in Spain, France, and in other countries where they had been oppressed, and returned to the religion to which in reality they had never for a moment been unfaithful. But they had made a mistake. Basilius' son and successor, Leo the Philosopher – a title cheaply purchased in those times – excelled his father in intolerance. He decreed that those who had re-adopted the Jewish customs should be treated as apostates, that is, punished with death (about 900). Nevertheless, after the death of this emperor, the Jews returned to live in the Byzantine Empire, as they had done after the death of Leo the Isaurian.
In the lands of the Caliphate, especially in Babylonia (Irak), at that time the center of Jewish life, the Jews gradually lost the favorable position which they had hitherto enjoyed, although the intolerance of the Mahometan rulers was mild compared with that of the Christian princes. In the East, too, they were the prey of caprice, for the Caliphs resigned their power in favor of the vizirs, and thus deprived themselves of all power. The Caliphs after Al-Mamun became more and more the tools of ambitious and greedy ministers and generals, and the Oriental Jews frequently had to buy the favor of these ephemeral lords at a high price. The Caliph Al-Mutavakkil, Al-Mamun's third successor, renewed the laws of Omar against the Jews, Christians, and Magi, and compelled them to wear a characteristic dress, a yellow scarf over their dress, and a thick cord instead of a girdle. He, moreover, changed the synagogues and churches into mosques, and forbade the Mahometans to teach Jews and Christians, or to admit them to offices (849–856). A tenth part of their property had to be given to the Caliph; they were forbidden to ride upon horses, and were allowed to make use only of asses and mules (853–854). The Exilarchs had lost a part of their power, when Al-Mamun decreed that they should no longer be officially recognized and supported, and they lost still more through the fanaticism of Al-Mutavakkil. By and by they ceased to be officials of the state, invested with certain powers, and had to content themselves with the position which the Jewish communities gave them out of respect for old and dear memories.
As the Exilarchate declined, the respect increased for the school of Pumbeditha, because it was near the capital of the Bagdad Caliphate, whose Jewish community of influential men came under its jurisdiction. Pumbeditha now rose from the subordinate position into which it had been forced. It put itself on an equal footing with the sister academy of Sora, and its presidents likewise assumed the title of Gaon. It next made itself independent of the Exilarchate. Formerly the head of the school and the faculty of Pumbeditha had to go once a year to pay homage to the Exilarch, but now, if the Exilarch wished to hold a public assembly, he had to repair to Pumbeditha. This was probably brought about by the chief of the school, Paltoi ben Abayi (842–858), who heads the list of important Geonim, and who was noted for his free use of the Cherem (Excommunication). Dissensions about the succession to the Gaonate were not wanting during this period, although the Exilarchs could not make their influence felt.
A Gaon of Sora, Natronaï II, son of Hillaï (859–869), kept up a prolific correspondence with foreign communities in the Arabic language. His predecessors had employed a mixture of Hebrew and Chaldee as the medium of their communications. Natronaï II also corresponded with the Jewish-Spanish community at Lucena, whose members doubtless understood Arabic better than Hebrew. He opposed the Karaites as bitterly as the Geonim had done at the time of the rise of this sect, "because they despised the words of the sages of the Talmud, and set up for themselves an arbitrary Talmud of their own." His pupil and successor, Mar-Amram ben Sheshna (869–881), was the compiler of the liturgical order of prayers in use amongst European Jews. At the request of a Spanish community, preferred by their religious leader, Isaac ben Simeon, he collected everything that the Talmud and the custom of the schools had ratified concerning prayer and divine service (Siddur Rab Amram). The form which the prayers had assumed in the course of time was by him declared to have the force of fixed law. Every one that deviated from it was considered a heretic, and excluded from the community of Israel. The poetical compositions for the festivals were not yet in general use at this time, and Mar-Amram left the selection to the taste of the individual.
During Mar-Amram's Gaonate, there were two successive heads of the schools in Pumbeditha, Rabba ben Ami (869–872), of whom nothing is known, and Mar-Zemach I. ben Paltoi (872–890), who heads the list of literary Geonim. Hitherto, the leaders of the school had occupied themselves with the exposition of the Talmud, with the regulation of the internal affairs of the communities, and with answering questions which were submitted to them. The one or the other of them, it is true, made a collection of Agadic sayings, but for literary activity, they either had no leisure, or opportunity, or inclination. But when the zeal for the study of the Talmud increased in the different communities in Egypt, Africa, Spain and France, and students of the Talmud spent their time in studying obscure and difficult passages, they often had to appeal to the schools for the solution of their difficulties. Their questions soon concerned only theoretical points, and the Geonim found it necessary to write treatises on certain portions of the Talmud, instead of simple and short answers. These books were used by students as Talmudical handbooks. The Gaon Zemach ben Paltoi, of Pumbeditha, arranged an alphabetical index of difficult words in the Talmud, under the title of "Aruch." In it he shows acquaintance with the Persian language. This dictionary forms the first contribution to the constantly growing department of Talmudical lexicography. The second literary Gaon was Nachshon ben Zadok of Sora (881–889), Zemach's contemporary. He, too, wrote a book giving explanations of difficult words in the Talmud. Nachshon made himself famous through his discovery of a key to the Jewish calendar. He found that the order of the years and festivals repeat themselves after a cycle of two hundred and forty-seven years, and that the forms of the years can be arranged in fourteen tables. This key bears his name; it is known as the cycle of Rabbi Nachshon.
The third author of this time was Rabbi Simon of Cairo, or Misr, in Egypt, who, although not an official of the Babylonian school, was in a position to compose a code embracing all religious and ceremonial laws (about 900). This work, directed against the Karaites, bears the title "The Great Halachas" (Halachoth gedoloth), and forms a supplement to Jehudaï's work of a similar nature. The history of the post-exilic period till the destruction of the Temple was also written at this time; its author is unknown. It is written in Arabic, and is based partly upon Josephus, partly upon the Apocrypha, and partly upon tradition. It is called "The History of the Maccabees" or "Joseph ben Gorion." In later times an Italian translated it into Hebrew, and in its expanded form it bears the title Josippon (Pseudo-Josephus), and this work served to awaken in the Jews, who were ignorant of the original sources of Jewish history, interest in their glorious past.
The literary activity of the official heads of Judaism in the two schools confined itself to Talmudical subjects. They had no idea of scientific research, would have condemned it, in fact, as a leaning to Karaite doctrine. Outside of the Gaonate, in Egypt and Kairuan, there was a scientific movement among the Rabbanites, weak at first, but increasing in strength every year. The Rabbanite thinkers must have felt that so long as Talmudic Judaism maintained a hostile position towards science, it could not hold its own against the Karaites. Biblical exegesis and Hebrew philology formed the special studies of the Karaites, and in connection with these was developed a kind of philosophy, though only as an auxiliary science. It was in this branch that, towards the end of the ninth century, several Rabbanites emulated them. Famous amongst these was Isaac ben Suleiman Israeli (845–940). He was a physician, philosopher, and Hebrew philologist. He was an Egyptian, and was called to Kairuan about the year 904 as physician to the last Aghlabite prince, Ziadeth-Allah. When the founder of the Fatimide dynasty, Ubaid-Allah, the Messianic Imam (Al-Mahdi, who is said to have been the son of a Jewess), conquered the Aghlabite prince, and founded a great kingdom in Africa (909–933), Isaac Israeli entered his service, and enjoyed his full favor. Israeli had a great reputation as a physician, and had many pupils. At the request of the Caliph Ubaid-Allah, he wrote eight medical works, the best of which is said to be that on fever. His medical writings were translated into Hebrew, Latin, and part of them into Spanish, and were zealously studied by physicians. A Christian physician, the founder of the Salerno school of medicine, made use of his researches, and even republished some of his works without giving credit to Israeli for them. He was thus an important contributor to the development of medical science, but as a philosopher he did not do much. His work on "Definitions and Descriptions" shows scarcely the rudiments of philosophical knowledge.
His lectures must have made a greater impression than his writings. He instructed two disciples, a Mahometan, Abu-Jafar Ibn-Aljezzar, who is recognized as an authority in medicine; and a Jew, Dunash ben Tamim, who continued the work of his master. Isaac Israeli lived to be more than one hundred years old, and survived his patron the Caliph Ubaid-Allah, whose death was hastened by his disregard of the advice of his Jewish physician. When Isaac Israeli died, about 940, his example had made a place in the Rabbanite studies for the scientific method that shaped the activity of succeeding generations.
Whilst the Rabbanites were making the first attempt to follow a scientific method, the Karaites were disporting on the broad beaten path of Mutazilist philosophy. Although young in years, Karaism showed signs of advanced old age. All its strength was given to Biblical exposition, combined with philology, but even here it made no progress. In the central community of the Karaites, in Jerusalem, it assumed an ascetic character. Sixty Karaites agreed to leave their homes, their property and their families, live together, abstain from wine and meat, go poorly clad, and spend their time in fasting and prayer. They adopted this mode of living, as they said, with the object of promoting Israel's redemption. They called themselves the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem (Abele Zion), and every one of them added to his signature the term "The Mourner." It was through them that the religious life of the Karaites took on an ascetic tinge. They not only observed the Levitical laws of purity in the strictest manner, but they shunned intercourse with non-Jews. They would not buy bread from them, nor eat anything they had touched. The more rigorous the Karaites became, the more they looked upon the Rabbanites as reprobates and sinners, whose houses it was a sin to visit. The Karaites gradually spread from Babylonia and Judæa to Egypt on the one side and to Syria on the other, and northwards as far as the Crimea. There were large Karaite communities in Alexandria and Cairo, and also in the Crimea, on the Bosporus (Kertch), Sulchat and Kaffa (Theodosia). The zeal of individuals contributed much to spread Karaism. By means of disputations, sermons, and letters, they endeavored to secure followers amongst the Rabbanites. Like every other essentially weak sect the Karaites relied upon propaganda, as though numbers could atone for lack of real strength. There was amongst them a certain proselytizer, a cunning man, Eldad by name, who related wonderful adventures, and made a great stir in his day. Eldad's romantic travels throw a lurid light upon the Jewish history of the time. He belongs to that class of deceivers who have a pious end in view, know how to profit by the credulity of the masses, and can easily catch men in a web of falsehood. The Geonim themselves were almost deceived into believing his pretended traditions, which he affirmed had been received direct from Moses.
Meanwhile, the institution to which the memories of the former political independence of Judaism were attached was rapidly approaching dissolution. The Exilarchate fell into disregard through the rivalry of the school of Pumbeditha, and also lost the revenue which was its mainstay. Even though questions from abroad continued to be directed to the Geonim of Sora, the sister academy was considered even in Babylonia to be the chief authority, and to have most influence. This influence was increased still more through the choice as Gaon of Pumbeditha of Haï ben David (890–897), who had hitherto held the post of rabbi and judge in the capital of the Caliphate. It was just at this time, at the end of the 9th century, that the Jews again enjoyed a high position in the Caliphate, under the Caliph Al-Mutadhid (892–902). His vizir and regent Ubaid-Allah Ibn-Suleiman appointed Jews and Christians alike to state offices.
The community of Bagdad gained most through the favor shown to the Jews by the vizir. As Haï had occupied his post in the capital for a long time, and had made himself popular in the community, he was elected Gaon of Pumbeditha by the influential members. Their object was to make the school of Pumbeditha of greater importance, and the academy at Sora declined more and more. Haï's successors, who, like himself, had commenced their career with the rabbinate of Bagdad, worked in the same spirit, and were assisted by the powerful members of the community in the effort to make Pumbeditha the center of the Babylonian community and of Judaism generally, and to put an end to the Exilarchate as well as to the school of Sora. One of them was Mar Kohen-Zedek II. b. Joseph (held office 917–936). He was passionate and energetic, and was one of those who are, indeed, free from personal selfishness, but seek an increase of power for the community, regardless of every other consideration. As soon as he entered upon his office, Kohen-Zedek demanded that the school of Pumbeditha should have the greater share of the revenue which was contributed by the various communities. He based his demand upon the fact, that the pupils of the college at Pumbeditha were more numerous than those at Sora, and therefore deserved greater consideration. So many quarrels arose between the two schools in consequence of this demand that several important people found it necessary to interfere. A compromise was made, and it was agreed that in future the money should be equally divided, whereby the academy at Sora lost the last trace of its superiority. Kohen-Zedek then endeavored to deprive the Exilarchate of its little remnant of power. The Exilarch at the time was Ukba, a man of Arabic culture, who wrote poems in Arabic. Kohen-Zedek demanded that the appointment of judges in the communities of Khorasan should be vested in, and the revenues derived from the same, should be devoted to, the school of Pumbeditha. Ukba would not give up any portion of his dignity, and appealed to the Caliph. But Kohen-Zedek had friends at Bagdad, who had influence at court, and these succeeded in inducing the Caliph Al-Muktadir (908–932), or rather the vizir Ibn Furat, since the Caliph spent his time in riotous living, to deprive Mar-Ukba of his post, and banish him from Bagdad. The Exilarch went to Karmisin (Kermanshah, east of Bagdad), and Kohen-Zedek rejoiced that the Exilarchate was now destroyed. The weak president of Sora, Jacob ben Natronaï, permitted all these usurpations without interfering.