A Curious Nullity Suit. said in Hebrew, " Thou hast long been my betrothed wife, continue so by virtue of this that I now give thee," and added in Provencal, " By this thou art my wife." The witness Mordecai alleged that this took place about two months before Biongude's marriage with Isaac bar Simson. Samuel alleged that at this time another contract of marriage had been written, but he could not produce it, saying that it had either been lost or stolen from him. He said, however, that many people of Marseilles had seen it and that they were deterred from testifying by fear of the powerful and in fluential family of Biongude. He suggested that they might be induced to testify if summoned by the Court under penalty of excommunication. Samuel's allegations concerning the third marriage were supported by two witnesses, one of whom was the said Mordecai bar Yekutiel, who rebutted the presumption arising from the youth of the girl by stating that this third marriage took place in 1253 when she was about thirteen years of age, hence of the age of consent. The records show that Samuel cut a very poor figure in court and the judges did not conceal their disapproval of his cause. The marriage contracts on which he relied had all been lost or stolen; most of his witnesses were dead or were unwilling to testify; the names of other witnesses escaped his memory. He attempted to explain his contradictions by pleading lapse of memory, or that the judges applied to one marriage what referred to another. All this served to throw doubt upon the good faith of his charges, and all of the points that arose for decision during the trial were decided against him. Biongude was represented by counsel, Rabbi Abraham bar Jonathan. At Jewish law, women had to be represented so that
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their causes might be properly presented, whereas men were obliged to conduct their own causes. By her counsel she ridiculed the assertion that she had been betrothed to Samuel in Naples when his father was there, as at that time she was only three years old and still in the arms of her nurse. She denied any knowledge of the second and third marriages, calling the Court's attention to the fact that the second marriage was entirely unsupported by testimony and ac cusing the principal witness to the third marriage, Mordecai bar Yekutiel, of perjury. Witnesses were called to prove that this Mordecai had stated that he had never seen the marriage celebrated, and that he had been forced to sign the document which he was supposed to have attested. He was also proven guilty of usury and robbery. Samuel tried to save his witness by ac cusing one of Biongude's witnesses of breach of faith and of slander, alleging that he had promised a certain physician not to do any thing thereafter to injure him and had then accused him of poisoning his Christian patients. But this and other countercharges of Samuel were utterly refuted. The important question of Biongude's age was finally resolved against Samuel's contention. He alleged that at the third marriage she was twelve years old and hence could legally consent to the marriage. He stated that he had a letter from his uncle, a distinguished Rabbi, which fixed her age by reference to the date of her father's death, but he regretted exceedingly that he could not produce it. Nor could he offer anything definite to the Court from the information he had gleaned in Naples and elsewhere. He charged her with a statement made by her in the Court of the Bishop of Marseilles in which she gave her age as twelve. She admitted the statement and claimed that it was a mistake and that
