Domus Conversorum

The Domus Conversorum (House of the Converts) was a building and institution in London for Jews who had converted to Christianity. It provided a communal home and low wages. It was needed because all Jews who converted to Christianity forfeited all their possessions.

It was established in 1232 by Henry III. With the expulsion of the Jews by Edward I in 1290, it became the only 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 also Master of the Rolls.

The building was in Chancery Lane. No records exist after 1609, but, in 1891, the post of chaplain was abolished by Act of Parliament and the location, which had been used to store legal archives, became the Public Record Office. The site is today home to the Maughan Library of King's College London.

"Domus Conversorum" was sometimes used also to describe the living quarters of lay brothers in monasteries.

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia
• City of London Archaeological Society October 2002
• Hospitals: Domus conversorum, A History of the County of London: Volume 1: London within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark (1909), pp. 551-554

Coordinates: 51°30′54″N 0°06′40″W / 51.5149°N 0.1111°W