Royal Letters Patent granting equal rights for Portuguese, Spanish and Avignonese Jews in France, Paris,...

Broadside proclamation documenting the first grant of equality of citizenship for Jewish people in Europe; at the time of the French Revolution, it is estimated that approximately 40,000 Jews were living in France, those of Spanish and Portuguese origin (Sephardic) living mainly in the South and South West; they had been living there since the 15th century, spoke French and had integrated into French life. In 1791, this emancipation was extended to the Ashkenazim Jews who lived mainly in Alsace and Lorraine and spoke mainly Yiddish. France was the first country in Europe to emancipate its Jewish population during the French Revolution, but, despite legal equality, anti-Semitism remained an issue, as illustrated in the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century;