 The Domus Conversorum, from a 13th-century sketch byMatthew Paris |
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TheDomus Conversorum ('House of the Converts'), laterChapel of the Master of the Rolls, was a building and institution inLondon forJews who had converted toChristianity. It provided a communal home and low wages. It was needed because, until 1280, all Jews who converted to Christianity forfeited their possessions to the Crown.[1]
It was established in 1232 byHenry III. With theexpulsion of the Jews byEdward I in 1290, it became the only official way for Jews to remain in the country. At that stage there were about eighty residents. By 1356, the last one of these died. Between 1331 and 1608, 48 converts were admitted. The warden was theMaster of the Rolls.[2]
The building was inChancery Lane. No records exist after 1609, but, in 1891, the post of chaplain was abolished byAct of Parliament and the location, by then known as the Rolls Chapel which had been used to store legal archives, became thePublic Record Office. The site is today home to theMaughan Library ofKing's College London.
"Domus Conversorum" was sometimes used also to describe the living quarters oflay brothers inmonasteries.
ADomus Conversorum was built in Oxford. The building was demolished in 1750.
51°30′54″N0°06′40″W / 51.5149°N 0.1111°W /51.5149; -0.1111