Jacob OF London, a Jewish Rabbi who flourished in England at the opening of the 13th century, was ap- pointed by king John, at the commencement of his reign, when yet friendly to the Jews, and uninfluenced by the diabolical exertions of the Koman prelate Ste- phen Langton, as chief Rabbi of England (" presbytera- tus omnium Judteorum totius Angli;e"). Jacob was a man of great learning, especially conversant with Jew- ish tradition, and held in high esteem by Jews and Gen- tiles. Even the king hesitated not to call him fiis dear friend ("dilectus et familiaris noster"). Unfortunately, we have no knowledge of any of his literary ]ir<)duc- tions, which, by a man of his abilities, must have been valualde, especially as an index to the history of the JpAvs in England under king John. See Griitz, Gesch. d. Judiu, vii, IG. (J. H. W.)
Jacob or Mies {Jacobus de MUn, also called, on account of his small stature, Jacobellus, i. e. Jacob the Sliort), one of the most iiromincnt figures in the polem- ical controversy inaugurated by Huss, was born about the second half of the 14th century, at Misa, in Bohe- mia. He was educated at the University of Prague, and then became priest at Trina, and ultimately at Prague. At the instigation of Petrus Dresdensis, the Waldensian, he was led to inquire into the antiquity of the Roman Catholic mode of administering the sac- rament, and, after a careful study of the writings of the early Church, became convinced that the Roman Church had no right or authority to deprive the laity of the cup, and by his tongue and by his pen he preached against the malpractice, himself also deviating from the
usage, and administering the cup to the laity. Excom- municated by the archbishop of Prague, he chaUenged the university authorities to refute his arguments, and further defended his course by his pen : Vindicice scu Rejjlicatt. contra Andreas Brodam. The approbation which his course received from the people seemed rath- er serious to the Council of Constance, just then in ses- sion, and every effort was made to refute Jacob of Mies, But soon Huss also came forward, and declared that the early fathers had been taught by the disciples that Christ desired both the wine and the bread to be given to the laity, and when arraigned as a heretic before the bar of the council, he still continued to reiterate his for- mer statements (compare Hist, et Monum. J. Bus utque Hiei-on. Pragemis, Norimb. 1715, i, 52 sq. ; V. d. Hardt, Magnum (ecumenicum Constantiense Coimlium, etc., iv, 291). Jacob of Mies, thus encouraged by the attitude of Huss, a classmate of his at the imiversity, more vigorously than ever defended his position, and sought further to prove the accuracy of his statements in Dem,- onst ratio per testimonia Scrip turm patrum atque docto- runi communicationem calicis in plebe Christiana esse ne- cessarium (in V. d. Hardt, iii, 804 sq.). Of course his opponents could not long continue in silence, and they naturally, though awkwardly enough, endeavored to re- fute him by proofs from the Bible and the Church fa- thers. Perhaps the most able, i. e. the most ridiculous of all, and the most vehement of the opposition docu- ments, was an anonymous Epistola Elenchtica (in V. d. Hardt). There \vere even some who attempted to prove that the deprivation of the cup had its sanction in the Old-Test. Scriptures ! Thereupon the council convened at Constance (the 13th session, June 15, 1415) again con- demned the course of Jacob of Mies, although it virtu- ally admitted all that he claimed for the laity (see Giese- ler, Kirchen Gesch. H, ii, 227 sq., in the 4tli edit.). Ja- cob again defended his course by an Apologia pro com~ munione plebis, which was replied to by the celebrated Gerson in his Cone. publ. causam J. de Misa et Bohemo- ritm quoad communionis laicalis sub utraque specie neces- sitatem uberius discutiendi. Notwithstanding the fre- quent denunciations of his course, he continued to hold his parish, and even took up his pen in behalf of many other peculiar doctrines of the Romanists. Thus he opposed the Waldensians on the doctrine of purgatory and the mass, in De purgatorio animm post mortem (in Walch, Monum. medii avi, i, fasc. iii, p. 1 sq.). He also wrote De juramento, de antichristo, and prepared a translation of the works of ^\'ycliffe. He died at Prague, Aug. 9, 1429. The result of the controversy on the cup resulted, as is well known, in a triumph for Ja- cob of Mies and for Huss. See Martini, Diss, de J. de Misa, etc., jirimo Eucharist. Calicis per eccles. Boh. vin- dice (Altdorf, 1753, 4to) ; Spittler, Gesch. d. Kelchs i. heil. A beiulmahl, p. 49 sq. ; Schrcickh, Kirchengesch. xxxiii, 332 sq. ; Herzog, Reul-Encyklopddie, vi, 394 sq. ; Gillett, Life of Huss (1871, 2 vols. 8vo). (J. H. W.)
Jacob OF NisiBis (often surnamed Jacob the Greaf), the instructor of Ephraem the Syrian, and a relative of Gregory the illuminator, floui-ished as bishop of Nisibis (Zoba)"in the first half of the 4th century. The little that is known of him makes him out to have been a man " distinguished for ascetic holiness and for mirac- ulous works," clothed, of course, like many of the early characters, in such a mj^thical dress that the character is often placed in a most ridiculous light (comp. Stan- ley, Eastern Church, p. 193). In his early life he " sjjent many years as a hermit in forests and caves, and lived like a wild beast on roots and leaves," clothed in a rough goat's-hair cloak ; and this dress and mode of life he is said to have continued even after he became bishop of Nisibis. That he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his contemporaries is evinced by the fact that he was a member of the Coimcil of Nicrea (Assemani, Bibl. Or. i, 1G9; iii, 587), and by the distinction which he received at the hand of the emperor, who called him one of the three pillars of the world (comp. Schaff, Ch. History, iii.