Josel of Rosheim (alternatively: Joselin, Joselmann, Yoselmann, , Joseph ben Gershon mi-Rosheim, or Joseph ben Gershon Loanz; c. 1480 – March, 1554) was the great advocate ("shtadlan") of the German and Polish Jews during the reigns of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Charles V. Maximilian I appointed him as governor of all Jews of Germany, a position which was confirmed after his death by his grandson, Charles V. His stature among the Jews, and the protected status he gained for himself and for the Jews within the Holy Roman Empire, rested in part on his skills as an advocate and in part from the Jewish role in financing the expenses of the emperor. Josel of Rosheim remains a major figure of the History of Jews in Alsace. Family background One of his ancestors was Jacob ben Jehiel Loans, personal physician to emperor Frederick III, ennobled for his medical achievements, and also Hebrew teacher of the well-known humanist, lawyer and philosopher Johannes Reuchlin. Despite the favor shown to this ancestor, his family history also shows the precarious position of Jews during this era. In 1470, three of his father's brothers, including Rabbi Elias, were prosecuted in Endingen, brought before the emperor on charges that eight years earlier they had performed a ritual murder at Sukkot. Also in 1470, Josel's father, Gerschon, settled in Oberehnheim (Obernai). In 1476, along with the entire Jewish community of that town, the family fled (pursued by Swiss mercenaries) to Haguenau, where Josel was born, possibly as early as that same year. Early life Nothing is known of Josel's childhood or youth. As a young man, he was a rabbi at the court of the Lower Alsatian Jewry, and made a living as a merchant and money lender. These three occupations would remain constants in his life. While still young, he worked for the welfare of his coreligionists, and, reportedly, was instrumental in thwarting the hostile plans of Johannes Pfefferkorn, a converted Jew who turned a rabid anti-Semite. In 1507, at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Colmar, a similar attempt was made at Oberehnheim. Josel successfully appealed to the imperial officials, and the Jews of Oberehnheim were allowed to remain. Soon after, in arguing for the right of Jews to participate in the market at Colmar, he invoked the Roman juridical concept of "civibus Romanis" (Roman citizenry) to argue that Jews,