A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France

A Jewish Princedom in Feudal France, 768–900 is a book about Frankish medieval history by Arthur J. Zuckerman (published 1972 by Columbia University Press).

According to Zuckerman's thesis presented in the book, a vassal Jewish princedom was established in Narbonne (Septimania) by the Carolingian king Pepin as a reward for Jewish cooperation in the Frankish conquest of the city in 759 CE from Muslim Al-Andalus. The dynasty of Jewish rulers was later also confirmed by Pepin's son Charlemagne and endowed with significant lands and privileges. He views later counts and dukes of Toulouse (Aquitaine) and Barcelona (Hispanic Marches) under the Carolingians as scions of these Jewish rulers. The first ruler was Makhir of Narbonne, a likely descendant of the Babylonian exilarch Bostanai, of the 7th century CE.

Zuckerman argues that the Princedom played an important role as a buffer zone in the border area between the Muslim caliphate south of the Pyrenees and the Christian Frankish Empire in the north. Its counts played influential roles in the imperial military campaigns in the Hispanic Marches, Aquitaine, and at the Carolingian court in Aachen.

Zuckerman's thesis has been contested by several scholars and criticized for its conjecture and lack of reliable evidence, particularly when identifying presumably Christian Carolingian nobles with Jewish members of the House of Exilarchs.