Obs. (exc. Hist.) Also 4 kauersin. [a. OF. caorsin, caoursin, coursin, etc., in med.L. caorcini, cadurcini, caturcini, in Matt. Paris caursini, an inhabitant of Cahors, L. Cadurcum, in Languedoc, a famous seat of Italian money-changers and financiers in the Middle Ages; hence, banker, usurer, money-lender. Commonly mentioned along with Lombards and Jews. See Godefroy and Du Cange.]
A banker or money-dealer from Cahors; usurer.
The Caorsins were expelled from England by Henry III. in 1240, readmitted on the intervention of the Pope in 1250, and again proscribed and imprisoned ‘on account of their unbounded and detestable usury’ in 1251.
[a. 1259. Matt. Paris, Chron., an. 1235 (Rolls Ser.), III. 328. Caursinorum pestis abominanda. Ibid., an. 1255 V. 519. Qui [Judæi] si forte ab aliquibus Christianis plangerentur, ab æmulis eorum Cahursinis siccis lacrimis deplorabantur.]
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5555. Okerers, ande kauersyns, As wykkede þey are as sarasyns.
1340. Ayenb., 35. Þe heȝe men … þet hyealdeþ and sosteneþ Iewes and þe Caorsins, þet leneþ and destruiþ þe contraye.
