JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

figure far higher. They formed, intellectually as well as politically,
an offshoot of the neighboring Franco-German center,
even speaking French among themselves. Their interests were
accordingly halakhic rather than literary, though no name of
the first importance figures among them. Outstanding scholars
included *Jacob b. Judah of London, author of the ritual
compendium Eẓ Ḥayyim; the grammarian Benjamin of *Cambridge;
Isaac b. Perez of Northampton; *Moses b. Ha-Nesi’ah
of London who wrote the grammatical work Sefer ha-Shoham;
*Meir of Norwich, a liturgical poet; *Moses b. Yom-Tov
of London, halakhist and grammarian; and his sons *Benedict
of Lincoln (Berechiah of Nicole) and *Elijah Menahem
of London, physician, scholar, and financier, the greatest luminary
of medieval English Jewry.
Their expulsion in 1290 cleared England of the Jews more
completely than was the case in any other European country.
The *Domus Conversorum founded by Henry III in London
in 1232 continued indeed to function until the beginning of
the 17th century, but ultimately its few inmates were in every
case foreigners. The only professing Jews known to have come
to the country were half a dozen individuals in 1310 (perhaps
to negotiate conditions for readmission), one or two physicians
who were invited professionally, and occasional wandering
adventurers.
The Resettlement Period
This almost absolute isolation was broken by the repercussions
of the expulsions from Spain and Portugal and of the activities
of the Inquisition in the Iberian Peninsula, which drove
refugees throughout Western Europe. A small *Marrano settlement
was established in London in the reigns of Henry VIII
and Edward VI but broke up on the accession of Mary in
1553 and the Catholic reaction which ensued. In the reign of
Elizabeth, a semi-overt congregation existed for some years
in London and Bristol, comprising among others Dr. Hector
*Nunez whose commercial connections were found useful
by the government in Spanish affairs, and Roderigo *Lopez,
the queen’s physician, who was executed in 1594 on a charge
of having plotted against her life. The latter was connected by
marriage with Alvaro Mendes (Solomon *Abenaes), duke of
Mytilene, who sent diplomatic missions to the English court
on more than one occasion. Although this Marrano community
at one time numbered approximately 100 persons, it had
no legal guarantee of existence. With a change in political and
economic conditions in 1609, it disappeared.
Toward the middle of the 17th century, a new Marrano
colony grew up in London, partly of refugees who had been
settled for a time at Rouen and the Canary Islands. The revolution
and the spread of extreme Puritan doctrine among
the English people led to the development of a spirit more
favorable to the Jews, which increased proportionately with
the importance attached to the Old Testament. Sir Henry
*Finch, Roger Williams, Edward *Nicholas, and John Sadler
were among the notables who joined in the agitation for the
formal readmission of the Jews into England, whether as a
england
measure of humanity or in the hopes of securing their conversion.
The economic revival under *Cromwell, coupled with
his anti-Spanish policy, combined to create an atmosphere
more and more favorable to the Marrano merchants, some of
whom, such as Antonio Fernandez *Carvajal, rendered the
government valuable service in obtaining intelligence from
the continent.
Meanwhile, the reported discovery of Jews in America
by Antonio (Aaron) de *Montezinos had led *Manasseh Ben
Israel, the Amsterdam rabbi and mystic, to look forward to the
millennium which would be ushered in by the completion of
the dispersion through the official introduction of the Jews to
the “end of the earth” (Keẓeh ha-Areẓ = Angle-Terre). Negotiations
with him, which had been going on fitfully since 1650,
came to a head with his arrival in England in the autumn of
1655. A petition presented on behalf of the Jews was backed up
by his eloquent plea in the “Humble Addresses” (Amsterdam,
1655), presented to the Lord Protector. On December 4, 1655, a
conference of notables met at Whitehall to consider the whole
question. The judges present decided that there was no statute
which excluded the Jews from the country. On the other hand,
a large body of theological and mercantile opinion manifested
itself, which would consent to readmission only on the severest
terms. After four sessions, Cromwell dissolved the conference
before it arrived at a positive conclusion. In the following
March, the London Marranos presented a fresh petition,
merely asking for permission to have their own burial ground
and to be protected from disturbance in the performance of
their religious ceremonies. Their position was meanwhile
strengthened by a judicial ruling which restored the property
of Antonio *Robles (seized on the outbreak of war with Spain
because of his Spanish nationality), mainly on the grounds
that he was a Jew. In July, as it seems, the petition of the previous
March was at last taken into consideration and assented
to by the Council of State. Although the relevant pages were
subsequently torn out of the minute book, the settlement of
the Jews in England was never thereafter seriously questioned.
This was far from the formal recall for which Manasseh Ben
Israel had hoped, but its very informality secured its continuance
even after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and
saved English Jewry from that special and inferior status which
was the rule elsewhere in Europe.
The easygoing King Charles II was indeed little disposed,
on his return to England, to reverse the arrangement which
had become established under the Protectorate, in spite of
anti-Jewish agitation fostered by Thomas Violet and embodied
in a petition by the City of London. In 1664, in consequence
of an attempt at blackmail made by the Earl of Berkshire and
Paul Ricaut, the community received from the Crown a formal
promise of protection, and in 1673, after another petty
persecution, a guarantee of freedom of worship, which was
confirmed in similar circumstances in 1685. This pragmatic
policy of protection for the Jews was continued throughout
the reigns of the later Stuarts. Suggestions for special taxation
(which must inevitably have led to special status) were not im-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 413