Nevers is a commune of central France, the capital of the Nievre département in the former province of Nivernais with a population of 43,000. Located on the slope of a hill on the right bank of the Loire River at its confluence with the Nievre River, Nevers is noted for its pottery and china industries. Other manufactures include metal products, mechanical and electrical equipment, chemicals, textiles, and printing. In the twelfth century Jews were permitted to reside at Nevers by paying a tax of five sous per family and twenty sous for each person, besides their tithes to the seigniors of the city. In a letter written by Innocent III to the Count of Nevers (Jan 1208) the pope reproved the latter for having treated the Jews on his estates with kindness and for having allowed them, to the great injury of the Church, to hold mortgages on Christian castles, fortresses, and villages. He threatened him with the utmost displeasure of the Church if he continued to afford his protection to the Jews, saying that it was scandalous to see Christians pressing the grapes and slaying the cattle of the Jews, who were permitted to take what they desired and to leave the remainder to the Christians. "It is above all a disgrace," continued the pope, "that it is the very wine prepared by the Jews that is afterward used for the sacrament of the eucharist." When in 1316 Louis X authorized the return of the Jews to Nevers, it was with the stipulation that they should be apportioned to the same seigniors as before their exile and that their confiscated goods should not be restored. On their expulsion from France in 1394 some Jews of Nevers took refuge in Provence. A descendant of one of these, Moses of Nevers, settled at Arles in 1464 with his brother, whom he calls "the good judge of Nevers". Another, Solomon of Nevers, a dealer in silks and gold, lived in 1494 at Tarascon. In the first half of the eighteenth century, several Jewish merchants visited the markets and fairs at Nevers, but the council of state, on the complaint of the Christian traders, forbade their engaging in commerce at Nevers under penalty of a fine of 1,000 livres and the confiscation of their merchandise (April 19, 1740). 1904 Jewish population was 27,108. Source: Jewish Encyclopedia. [January 2008]
Synagogue: A.C.I.N at 3, rue Henri Barbusse - 58000 NEVERS, Tél 03-86-59-74-82. [January 2008]
Carré au cimetière de l'Aiguillon: [January 2008]