'I am a Jewe, and by my lawe
I shal to no man be felawe
To kepe him trouth in word ne dede.'
In Piers the Plowman, B. xviii. 104, Faith reproves the Jews, and says to them—
'ȝe cherles, and ȝowre children · chieue [thrive] shal ȝe neure,
Ne haue lordship in londe · ne no londe tylye [till],
But al bareyne be · & vsurye vsen,
Which is lyf þat owre lorde · in alle lawes acurseth.'
See also P. Pl., C. v. 194. Usury was forbidden by the canon law, and those who practised it, chiefly Jews and Lombards, were held to
be grievous sinners. Hence the character of Shylock, and of Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Cf. note on the Jews in England in the Annals of England, p. 162.