“It Requires Privacy”: Sharing a House in Thirteenth-Century Paris

Analysis of a legal ruling by Yehiel of Paris (d. ca. 1260) in a rental dispute between two Jewish men sheds light on aspects of Jewish life in a major medieval European city. Two Jews rented an apartment from a Christian owner, and a dispute arose when one of the tenants left mid-term and his replacement, also a Jewish man, tried to renew the lease directly with the landlord. The original tenant claimed the exclusive right to renew the lease and that he was unwilling to share the apartment with the new tenant as this would impinge on his privacy in use of the lavatory. This article attempts to unravel the legal and cultural dimensions of the dispute and the demographic and architectural realities underpinning it. The article maintains that the disputants’ legal arguments drew upon both Jewish legal tradition and the legal norms of the rental market in Paris. The legal and cultural significance of privacy in the medieval urban context also plays an important role in the case.