In 1280 Jean d‘Avenses, count of Hainault and nephew of the count of Flanders, fell gravely ill. With the local physicians unable to improve his condition, help was sought from further afield. In particular, the remedies of an English Jew named Master Elias, son of Master Moses, were obtained. Initially, Elias dealt indirectly with his patient, sending medicines which proved to be more effective than any which had previously been utilised. Even that assistance was insufficient and the count of Flanders requested that he travel to treat the ailing patient in person. Before he would consent to undertake the journey to Flanders, Master Elias sought to obtain letters of safe conduct from the chancellor, Robert Burnell, and it would seem that they were granted. What, if any, role Master Elias played in Jean's subsequent recovery is unclear, nor is it even certain that he travelled to Flanders. What is clear is that Elias was no ordinary doctor. Like many Jewish physicians of his day, he was also a rabbi and, in his case, a prominent intellectual whose writings were known even on the Continent. In his secular life, he also pursued a successful career as a leading Anglo-Jewish merchant and moneylender. As a result of his prominent position, he came into contact with many English Jews of his day. In particular, he had regular dealings with another, more obscure man, Deulecresse (usually contracted to Cresse in the records), son of Genta, from at least the 1260s onwards. Master Elias was one of the great Jews of thirteenth-century England, with a reputation which extended to the Continent. Cresse, by contrast, was not. Although he operated a lucrative moneylending business and was a prominent member of the London Jewry during the latter half of the thirteenth century, the scale and range of his activities never approached that of Master Elias. This disparity between the two men has been reflected in the historiography. Where Master Elias's career has been explored in several dedicated studies, a biography of Cresse has never been produced, and he is largely absent from explorations of the London Jewry.

This paper will concentrate on these two men, its purpose being to use Master Elias and Cresse as case studies to do two interrelated things.