Originally Posted By SmashinYoungVag⏩

Originally Posted By bsrkoacar2⏩

Originally Posted By SmashinYoungVag⏩

In 1290, the entire Jewish population of England (about 3,000 people) was expelled from the country on the orders
of Edward I.
Jewish people had only been in England since the Norman Conquest, invited to settle there by William the Conqueror.
From the late eleventh century onwards, the Jewish community quickly became an essential part of the English
economy: Jews were permitted to loan money at interest, something Christians were forbidden from doing. Jewish
settlements in important towns such as London, Norwich and Lincoln prospered. England’s Jews were skilled
individuals, who worked as doctors, goldsmiths and poets. But lending money was their primary source of income, and
Jewish people were fundamental to the working of the English economy. Jewish lenders provided loans for many of
the most important figures at the royal court (for the purchase of castles, payment of dues to the king, etc). They were
also exploited by kings, who were often in dire need of money.
How, then, do we explain the decision to expel the Jews, and the 1290 Edict of Expulsion?
Answering this question requires us to consider both long-term changes in Christian attitudes towards Jews and
immediate political circumstances. From the beginning, Jewish people were under the protection of the crown. This
meant they had a special relationship to the law: they were ‘servants’ of the king. They were administered by a special
court, and did not have the same legal status as ordinary English people. On one hand, this provided a measure of
protection for Jewish communities, but only so long as kings were willing to make good on this protection. The reign of
Henry II (1152-89) is generally seen as a time when Jewish privileges were protected.
But from the middle of the twelfth century, there was growing antisemitism in England and across Europe. In part, this
was fuelled by something called the ‘blood libel’: fabricated allegations that Jews abducted and murdered Christian
children for magical rituals. The official stance of the Church slowly shifted from tolerance of Jews to increasing
hostility. This influenced the views of ordinary people.
Anti-Jewish feeling was also linked to the crusades, which began in
1096. Christians trying to reclaim the holy land (including famous
crusading kings like Richard I) increasingly saw Jews as ‘Christ-killers’,
against whom violence could legitimately be used. There were
outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence in 1189 and 1190, at the death of
Henry II and when the crown’s power was weakest. Mob violence led
to attacks on the Jewish community in London, and the massacre of
the Jewish community in York (Figure 1).

Jewish lenders often sold on the debts owed to them by Christians, and the new owners of the debt pressured the
debtors to pay up. As English knights became increasingly indebted, Jewish lenders got the blame. In Parliament, from
the 1260s onwards, local representatives demanded measures be taken to curb Jewish lending. It is likely that these
changes contributed to several thousand Jews deciding to leave England.
By 1275, Edward I decreed that Jews could no longer loan
money for a living and would have to convert to being
merchants, labourers or owning farmland. This statute also
confirmed long-standing rules for Jews, e.g. requiring Jews to
wear badges (in the shape of stone tablets) to identify them
(Figure 2). By 1290, Edward was under pressure: having run up
large debts waging war abroad, he needed to negotiate a
financial settlement. But Parliament’s permission was needed
before a tax would be raised. One thing Edward was willing to
barter was the remaining Jewish population. In return for an
Edict of Expulsion, Parliament granted Edward a tax of
£116,000 – the largest single tax of the Middle Ages.

Originally Posted By lnvictus⏩

Originally Posted By Ausaric⏩

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