118 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
Lincoln, York, Norwich, and Bury St Edmund’s.84 ralph of diceto observed
that those intending to go on this crusade attacked the Jews because they saw
them as a legitimate target, claiming that many English crusaders in their quest
to re-capture Jerusalem believed that they had a duty to rise up against the Jews
before they invaded the lands of the Muslims.85 german crusaders also attacked
Jews in Mainz when the crusade was proclaimed. despite these attacks, by con-
trast to Eugenius III’s letter of protection for the Jews just before the Second
Crusade, no such letter was issued by gregory vIII on the eve of the Third.
So during the pontificate of Celestine III there were attacks on german and
English Jews in Mainz and York. In response, richard I issued strict orders to his
sheriffs that in future the peace of the Jews was not to be disturbed. Celestine
made no reference to these attacks in his correspondence but he must have been
aware of them: indeed his recognition of the potential for violence against Jewish
communities is clear from his re-issue of ‘Sicut Iudaeis’ in response to a specific
request for confirmation of papal protection.86 Furthermore, we know that
during the same pontificate a vassal of philip Augustus was accused of murdering
a Jew in the Champenois town of Bray-sur-Seine, that the Jewish community
sought the protection of Marie de Champagne, and that the king, recently
returned from the Third Crusade, hastened to the town—with the result that
approximately eighty Jews were massacred on royal orders. It is likely that this
event was brought to Celestine III’s attention and that it too encouraged him to
re-issue ‘Sicut Iudaeis’.87
84 ralph of diceto, Opera historica, ed. w. Stubbs, rolls Series 68 (London, 1876; Kraus
reprint, 1965) 2, pp. 68–9; william of Newburgh, ‘Chronicles of william of Newburgh’, vol. 1,
Bk 4, ed. r. Howlett, rolls Series 82 (London, 1884; Kraus reprint, 1964), pp. 293–9; roger of
Hoveden, Chronica 3, ed. w. Stubbs, rolls Series 51 (London, 1871; Kraus reprint, 1964), pp.12–13;
Gesta regis Henrici Benedicti Abbatis 2, ed. w. Stubbs, rolls Series 49 (London, 1867; Kraus reprint,
1965), pp.83–4; pp.107–8. See dobson, The Jews of Medieval York and the Massacre of March 1190 ,
pp.1–26.
85 ralph of diceto, Opera historica 2, ed. Stubbs, p.75.
86 Celestine III, ‘Sicut Iudaeis’ (1191–1198), Simonsohn, p.68. See Marie Therese Champagne,
‘Celestine III and the Jews’, in Pope Celestine III (1191–1198): Diplomat and Pastor, ed. J. doran, d. J.
Smith (Farnham, Burlington, 2008), p.278.
87 Champagne, ‘Celestine III and the Jews’, p.280. two letters of Celestine III show the pope’s
response to petitions from the French clergy since in both Capetian domain and in the duchy of
Normandy there were tensions and difficulties between Jewish communities and clerics over the
confiscation of several synagogues by philip II Augustus; see Champagne, ‘Celestine III and the
Jews’, p.281. The first letter confirmed the king’s decision to donate a synagogue to the dean and
canons of Saint-Sauveur in Orleans. See Celestine III, ‘Justis petentium desideriis’ (14 May 1193),
Simonsohn, pp.68–9. The second, Celestine III, ‘Cum Iudaice duricia’ (23 May 1193), Simonsohn,
pp.69–70, ordered that all financial and other relations with the Jews of rouen should cease until
they had compensated the parish church for loss of its customary dues from the Christian proper-
ties they were holding and enforced the prohibition by excommunication. See Champagne,
‘Celestine III and the Jews’, pp.281–2. It seems that these directives of Celestine in the rouen crisis
anticipated subsequent directives of Innocent III in dealing with the problem of excessive interest
on loans. See Champagne, ‘Celestine III and the Jews’, p.282. So at such a distance from rome and
in the face of the action of philip Augustus which was uncompromising, Celestine III failed to raise
the restrictions placed on Jewish communities in line with ‘Sicut Iudaeis’. See Champagne, ‘Celestine
III and the Jews’, p.283.