68 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
in england the situation for Jews varied considerably from decade to decade—
even from year to year. henry i (1100–1135), richard i (1189–1199), and John
(1199–1216) all issued charters which, similar to those of contemporary German
rulers, envisaged the Jews as primarily a community of merchants and recognized
them as a special group in the kingdom who earned their living primarily by
money-lending. richard granted Jews freedom of residence, freedom of passage,
the right to possess and inherit land, loans and property, and judicial rights. Yet
at other times the situation for Jews was dire.12 Since over time they came to be
exclusively identified with money-lending, they were regularly exploited by the
crown.13 They were also the target of violence. in 1189 a Jewish deputation
attending richard’s coronation was attacked by a mob in London and pogroms
quickly spread to other parts of england: Lincoln, York, and Bury St edmunds. in
the thirteenth century the situation for Jews only worsened. in 1231 they were
expelled from Leicester, while, according to The London Chronicle, in 1264 the
authority of Simon de Montfort (1208?–1265) inspired a massacre in London.14
There were also expulsions from Newcastle in 1234, Southampton in 1236,
Berkhamstead in 1242, and derby in 1263.15
in a bid to seize Jewish assets, in 1275 edward i (1282–1307) inspired ‘The
Statute of the Jewry’, a legal document which compelled Jews over the age of seven
to wear an identifying yellow badge and outlawed all usury.16 Many Jews were
arrested, three hundred being hanged and their property given to the crown. in 1280
edward ordered Jews to attend conversionary sermons by dominican friars and in
1287 arrested Jewish elders demanding that their communities pay massive ran-
soms for their safe return. in the same year he expelled Jews from Gascony—a
french province still under his control—and when he found this profitable, in
1290 ejected them entirely from england.17
Many explanations—social, political, economic, and religious—have been
advanced for this final expulsion. Some have argued that a renewal of crusading
enthusiasm played its part and that edward, a crusader king, aimed to expel Jewish
infidels from his lands just as he had tried to expel Muslim infidels from the Near
east.18 others have suggested papal influence and have argued it was no coinci-
dence that the expulsion coincided with the Second council of Lyons of 1274
which issued stringent decrees against usury.19 Yet, as we shall see in chapter four,
Lyons ii legislated against usury in general, not specifically Jewish usury; indeed
the major papal decree against specifically Jewish usury had been issued much
earlier at the fourth Lateran council of 1215. Thus at the beginning of the thirteenth
12 for documents relating to Jews in england in this period, see Joseph Jacob, The Jews of Angevin
England: Documents and Records (London, 1893), passim.
13 richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation, p.99.
14 Stephen inwood, A History of London (London, 1998), p.70.
15 richards, Sex, Dissidence and Damnation, p.112.
16 robin Mundill, England’s Jewish Solution. Experiment and Expulsion, 1262– 1290 (cambridge,
1998), pp.291–3.
17 Michael Prestwich, Edward I (London, 1988), pp.334–6.
18 Mundill, England’s Jewish Solution, p.253.
19 Mundill, England’s Jewish Solution, p.249; p.253; p.269.