were allowed to live. Josel's life as well as all of his belongings was thus protected by a special imperial order. Even in the last years of his life Josel was able to make himself useful to Charles V. In 1552 he sent to the emperor at Innsbruck by a special messenger a warning that Elector Moritz of Saxony intended to invade Tyrol, and the emperor was thus enabled at the last moment to effect his escape. Death Josel worked for the welfare of his people to the last, dying suddenly in March 1554. He is believed to have died in Rosheim, although there is no written record of his death, nor does a tombstone survive. No successor was able to win as favorable a status for the Jews of the Holy Roman Empire. His descendants include Elijah Loans, the wife of Rabbi Joseph Hahn, author of the Yosif Ometz, and their grandson Rabbi Joseph Kosman, author of Noheg Katzon Yosef. A biography of his life, titled ”Rabbi Joselman of Rosheim” was written by Rabbi Marcus Lehman. This work has been translated into English twice, the second time abridged. Literary activity In his active life, Josel always found time to study religious literature, and besides his apologetic pamphlets he wrote several religious and ethical works, which in part are still extant. His most important books are: Derek ha-Qodesh, written 1531 in Brabant, containing rules for a pious life, especially in cases where a Jew has to bear martyrdom. Two fragments of this work, otherwise lost, are retained in the book Yosif Ometz, by Joseph Hahn, Frankfurt am Main, 1723. Sefer ha-Miqnah, finished 1546, the first part of which contains words of admonition against traitors in the midst of Israel, the second part being cabalistic. A manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Neubauer, "Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. in the Bodleian Library" No. 2240), contains the greater part of this work. Josel's memoirs (printed in the Hebrew original with a French translation in Revue des Études Juives, xvi. 84) contain reports (incomplete) of some important events in his life until 1547, especially some relating to his public activity. They seem to have been written down soon after that year. Representation in fictional works Josel was the title character of the 1892 Yiddish operetta Melits Yosher: Rabbi Yoselman, or The Alsatian Decree by Abraham Goldfaden. References References and Further reading Selma Stern,