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in the sack of London’s Jewry and the murder of many of its
inhabitants (September 1189). The example spread throughout
the country in the following spring. The leaders were in
many cases members of the lesser baronage whose religious
ardor was heightened by their financial indebtedness to the
Jews. At Dunstable, the handful of Jews saved themselves by
accepting Christianity. At Lynn (later *King’s Lynn), foreign
sailors exterminated the entire little community. At *Stamford
and Norwich, all who did not take refuge in the royal castle
perished. The most tragic episode occurred in York. There, the
community, headed by R. *Yom-Tov b. Isaac of Joigny, escaped
massacre by voluntary death (March 16–17, 1190).
These outrages had been accompanied everywhere by
the burning of the deeds of debts due to the Jews. The Crown,
which derived much revenue from the profits of the moneylenders,
thus suffered considerable loss. Accordingly, after his
return from captivity (to supply ransom the Jews of the country
had been made to contribute three times as much as the
citizens of London) Richard, by his “Ordinance of the Jewry”
(1194), ordered the establishment of an *archa or chirograph
chest in principal cities, under the charge of Jewish and Christian
“chirographers,” in which duplicate records of all debts
contracted with the Jews were to be deposited. Thus, whatever
disorders might occur, the Crown’s dues were henceforth
secure. As coordinating authority over these provincial centers,
ultimately some 26 in number, there came into being
the Scaccarium Judaeorum or “*Exchequer of the Jews” – an
institution with both judicial and financial functions. Closely
connected with it was the office of Presbyter Judaeorum or
*archpresbyter – not a chief rabbi, as once believed, but official
representative and expert on Jewish matters appointed by
the Crown. Of the occupants of this post, the names of Jacob
of London (appointed 1199), Josce (1207), *Aaron (fil’ (i.e.,
son of) Josce) of York (1236), *Elias le Eveske (1243), Hagin
(Ḥayyim) fil’ Moses of Lincoln (1258), and Cok Hagin fil’ Deulecresse
(1281) are known. In the Exchequer, the Jews of England
had an organization acting in the royal interest equaled
in no other European country. Its records, preserved in unparalleled
completeness, yield minute information as to their
condition.
The English communities never fully recovered from the
blow they received at the time of the accession of Richard I.
John indeed favored them at first and in 1201 confirmed their
charter of liberties. However, later in his reign he began to
squeeze money out of them by a succession of desperate expedients
culminating in 1210 in the harshly-exacted Bristol
Tallage of 60,000 or 66,000 marks (though this figure may
have been used merely to describe a vast sum) which reduced
them to the verge of ruin. Nevertheless, the barons viewed the
Jews with aversion, as instruments of royal oppression; in the
course of armed baronial resistance to the Crown, the Jewry
of London was sacked. A clause in the Magna Carta (omitted
in subsequent reconfirmations) restricted the claims of Jewish
creditors against the estates of landowners who had died
in their debt.
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During the minority of Henry III, the Jews recovered
some degree of prosperity. This was, however, counterbalanced
by the introduction at the Council of Oxford (1222) of
the discriminatory legislation of the Fourth *Lateran Council
of 1215, which was enforced in England earlier and more consistently
than in any other part of Europe. The most important
of these provisions was the wearing of the Jewish *Badge
which here took the form of the two tablets of stone.
From the beginning of the personal rule of Henry III in
1232, the condition of the Jews rapidly deteriorated. Tallage
succeeded tallage with disastrous regularity. A “Parliament
of Jews,” consisting of six representatives from each of the
major communities and two from the smaller centers, was
held at *Worcester in 1241 in order to apportion one such
levy. When nothing further could be extorted from the Jews
directly, Henry exercised his rights as suzerain by mortgaging
them to his brother, Richard of Cornwall. They were subsequently
made over to Edward, the heir to the throne, who
in turn consigned them to their competitors, the Cahorsins.
The Crown, however, resumed its rights before the expiration
of the period.
Meanwhile, ecclesiastical enactments against the Jews
were enforced with unprecedented severity. A new synagogue
built at London was confiscated on a frivolous pretext (1232).
There was a whole series of ritual murder accusations, culminating
in the classical case of Hugh of *Lincoln in 1255. In 1253
a decree was issued forbidding the Jews to live henceforward
except in towns with established communities. With the outbreak
of the Barons’ Wars in 1263, the Jews found themselves
exposed to the animosity of the insurgents who regarded them
as the instruments of royal oppression. From 1263 to 1266, one
Jewish community after another was sacked, with considerable
loss of life, including those of London (which suffered
twice, in 1263 and 1264), *Cambridge, *Canterbury, Worcester,
and Lincoln.
The Expulsion
On his accession in 1272, Edward I found the Jews so impoverished
that their importance to the treasury had become negligible.
Moreover, foreign bankers who enjoyed a higher patronage
had begun to render the services for which the Jews had
formerly been indispensable. By the Statutum de Judaismo of
1275, the king endeavored to effect a radical change in the occupations
and mode of life of his Jewish subjects. The practice
of usury was forbidden. On the other hand, they were empowered
to engage in commerce and (for an experimental period)
to rent farms on short leases. They were not, however, permitted
to enter the Gild Merchant, without which the privilege
to engage in trade was virtually useless; nor were they given
the security of tenure necessary for agricultural pursuits. The
Statutum failed in its purpose. A few of the wealthier began to
trade in wool and corn (though this was in many cases a mask
for moneylending) but others continued to carry on clandestinely
the petty usury now prohibited by law; while some eked
out a living from their capital by clipping the coinage. This led
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 411