reat, whose _liaison_
with the Jewess Esterka has been shown by modern historians to be a pure
fabrication, confirmed the charter of liberties (_privilegium
libertatis_) held by the Jews of Poland from early times, and under
Sigismund I. they prospered, materially and intellectually, as never
before. Learning flourished among them, especially the study of the
Talmud being promoted by three great men, Solomon Shachna, Solomon
Luria, and Moses Isserles.

Henry of Anjou, the first king elected by the Diet (1573), owed his
election to Solomon Ashkenazi, a Jewish physician and diplomat, who
ventured to remind the king of his services: "To me more than to any one
else does your Majesty owe your election. Whatever was done here at the
Porte, I did, although, I believe, M. d'Acqs takes all credit unto
himself." This same diplomat, together with the Jewish prince Joseph
Nasi of Naxos, was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the election
of Stephen Bathori. Simon Guensburg, the head of the Jewish community of
Posen, had a voice in the king's council, and Bona Sforza, the Italian
princess on the Polish throne, was in the habit of consulting with
clever Jews. The papal legate Commendoni speaks in a vexed tone, yet
admiringly, of the brilliant position of Polish Jews, of their extensive
cattle-breeding and agricultural interests, of their superiority to
Christians as artisans, of their commercial enterprise, leading them as
far as Dantzic in the north and Constantinople in the south, and of
their possession of that sovereign means which overcomes ruler, starost,
and legate alike.[75]

These are the circumstances to be borne in mind in examining the
authenticity of the legend about the king of a night. As early as the
beginning of his century, recent historians inform us, three Jews,
Abraham, Michael, and Isaac Josefowicz, rose to high positions in
Lithuania. Abraham was made chief rabbi of Lithuania, his residence
being fixed at Ostrog; Isaac became starost of the cities of Smolensk
and Minsk (1506), and four years later, he was invested with the
governorship of Lithuania. He always kept up his connection with his
brothers, protected his co-religionists, and appointed Michael chief
elder of the Lithuanian Jews. On taking the oath of allegiance to Albert
of Prussia, he was raised to the rank of a nobleman. A Jew of the
sixteenth century a nobleman! Surely, this fact is sufficiently
startling to serve as the background of a legen