Wine and Vineyards in Jewish–Christian Business Transactions from Late Medieval Austria

In late medieval Austria, Jewish businessmen and -women quite frequently came into possession of (former) Christian vineyards, either as forfeited pledges that they kept in their possession for a longer period of time, or by buying or renting them from Christian owners. In this paper, I will analyse source material from the late medieval Duchy of Austria that stems from Jewish-Christian business transaction to show how Jews coped with these forfeited pledges and how they bought and rented vineyards according to local laws. Another focus of the paper will be on the production of the wine itself on those shared vineyards, its distribution among the Jewish and Christian (co-)owners, and how it is reflected in sources of Jewish-Christian interaction.