The Jews in Germany at this time of the Saxon emperors did not suffer oppression, though they were not specially favored. The feudal system which existed in Germany forbade them to possess landed property, and thus compelled them to be tradesmen. Jew and merchant were synonymous in Germany. The rich were bankers, those of moderate means borrowed money in order to visit the fair at Cologne, for which loan they had to pay a low, reasonable interest. The German emperors continued the custom, which had been introduced by the first Carlovingians, of exacting a fixed tribute from the Jews. When Otto the Great wished to grant a subsidy to the newly-built church at Magdeburg, he made it a present of the revenue he derived from "the Jews and other merchants" (965). Otto II likewise presented "the Jews of Merseburg" to the bishop of that town in 981. In the retinue of this emperor was an Italian Jew, Kalonymos, who was greatly attached to him, and on one occasion assisted him at the risk of his own life (982). But the much praised rule of the Ottos gave the Jews subject to them no chance of raising themselves from their lowly position. The Christian peoples had learnt much from the Arabs, but they had not learnt to encourage science amongst members of religions different from their own. The German Jews in consequence, although they led more moral and industrious lives than their Christian brethren, were not more cultured. They had not even any Talmudical teachers of note of their own, but got them from abroad. Their first Talmudical authority was Gershom. He, together with his brother Machir, spread the seeds of Talmudic knowledge from the south of France to the Rhine, and gave it an importance that it had not obtained even in the Gaonic schools. Gershom ben Jehuda (born 960, died 1028) was born in France, and emigrated for some unknown reason to Mayence. As was mentioned, he was a pupil of Leon. In Mayence, Gershom founded a school which soon attracted numerous pupils from Germany and Italy. The respect for Gershom was so great that he was named "The Light of the Exile." He expounded the Talmud to his pupils with a lucidity unattained by any of his predecessors, and his commentaries to the Talmud are also distinguished for clearness and directness.