The history of the Jews: From the war with Rome to the present time

by H. C. Adams

CHAPTER XIV.
A.D. 980-1100.
THE JEWS IN SPAIN.—IN ENGLAND.—THE CRUSADES.

With the downfall of the Carlovingian dynasty, a period of seven centuries began, during which the Jews underwent the most terrible wrongs and sufferings in almost every European country. In some lands persecution showed itself earlier, in others later; in some it reached a greater height, in others it lasted longer. But several generations passed before it was displayed in all its horrible deformity. During the interval we have now under consideration, A.D. 980 to 1100, though acts of injustice and cruelty were occasionally perpetrated, and a fierce spirit of intolerance manifested—which, it was but too evident, needed only to be roused by some popular tumult, to run to the most fearful heights—yet none of the terrible tragedies were enacted by which the succeeding generations were disgraced.

It is somewhat strange that the first massacre should have occurred among a people heretofore remarkable, not merely for their toleration of the Jews, but for the kindness and consideration uniformly shown them. But in 1068 an insurrection broke out in Granada, during which 1500 families were slaughtered. It had been caused partly by the pride of Rabbi Joseph, the chief minister of the Moorish king. His father, Rabbi Samuel, had gained the royal favour by his knowledge and ability; and at his death the same high office had been continued to his son. But the latter differed in character from his father, who had ever shown himself humble-minded and forbearing. The hauteur and implacable temper of the son raised him up enemies among the grandees, who were ever on the watch for an occasion to effect his fall. About the same time a fanatical zealot provoked an insurrection by attempting to convert the Moorish people of Granada to the Jewish faith. This is an act forbidden by the laws of every Moslem State, under penalty of death. The indiscretion was taken advantage of by the enemies of Joseph. He was assassinated by the insurgents; the preacher was hanged, and the mob, not satisfied with this revenge, and doubtless in no way unwilling to despoil the wealthy Jews, attacked and pillaged their houses, massacring them, as the reader has heard, to the number probably of seven or eight thousand persons.

Monstrous and barbarous as this outbreak was, it must be allowed that it was mainly provoked by the Jews themselves; but in what ensued a few years afterwards at the Court of Ferdinand the First, called the Great, the aggression was wholly unprovoked. This monarch, who united under his sway the crowns of Leon and Castile, had resolved on a religious war for the extirpation of the Moslem power in Spain. But, before entering on this, he was advised by his queen, Donna Sancha, that the surest way to call down the blessing of Heaven upon his enterprise, would be to massacre all the Jews in his dominions! It is a redeeming feature in the sad history of that time, that the Spanish bishops interfered, and forbade the massacre on pain of spiritual penalties, and the reigning Pope, Alexander II., upheld them in their action. Ferdinand’s successor, Alphonso VI., adopted a totally different policy. He found himself so hardly pressed by the action of the Moors in Africa, that the help of the Jews became a matter of pressing necessity with him.[100] He in consequence not only avoided all persecuting measures, but bestowed on them so many favours and privileges, that Pope Alexander’s successor severely censured him for his policy, which he declared to be ‘a submission of the Church to the synagogue of Satan.’

At this period we have to mention, as we have not done previously, the position of the Jews in England. It is a popular mistake to suppose that they made their appearance there, for the first time, in the train of William the Norman. Many Jews, no doubt, settled in England at that time; but others had been resident there, though probably in scanty numbers, before this date. A canon of Egbert of York (made A.D. 740) prohibits Christians from taking part in the Jewish festivals. There is mention of them a hundred years later in a charter granted to the monks of Croyland. The laws of Edward the Confessor (A.D. 1041) declare them to be the property of the sovereign, as was the case at that time in France. But it was not until the reign of William Rufus that they took any part in English history. Then we find that that king, who cared little for religion in any shape, and entertained a bitter dislike to the clergy, permitted the Jews publicly to uphold their religion in any way they pleased. Nay, he proclaimed a formal disputation between the advocates of the rival religions in London, and swore, if the Rabbins got the better of the Bishops, ‘by St. Luke, he would turn Jew himself!’ The Jews are said to have claimed the victory, though we do not hear of the king keeping his vow. At Rouen, afterwards, he entertained a complaint made by certain Jews, that their children had been beguiled into professing Christianity, offering at the same time to pay a handsome sum if the children returned to their ancient faith. The king took the money, and ordered the converts to abjure their new profession. Failing in one or two instances to effect this, we are told he was very unwilling to refund the money paid him.

These incidents, scandalous as doubtless they are, show nevertheless that the Jews at this time enjoyed immunity from persecution; unless, indeed, the heavy and lawless exactions made on them by the Norman kings themselves are to be regarded as acts of persecution. The property of the Jews was by no means secure from them, but it was secure from all other spoilers. We are told that in London and York they dwelt in splendid mansions, resembling the castles of the barons; while in Oxford they possessed three halls for the education of their youth,—Lombard Hall, Moses Hall, and Jacob Hall; nor does their presence seem to have been objected to.[101] They had a cemetery at St. Giles’s, Cripplegate.

But it will now be proper to enter on a consideration of the causes which led to the renewal of popular bitterness against the Hebrew race in all the countries of Europe. First among these must be noted the prevalence of the Feudal System. This singular institution was, we must allow, in theory, both comprehensive and consistent. The position and duties of every man were defined, the rights of every man secured and protected. The serf tilled his feudal superior’s lands; the freeman fought his battles. Both received in return maintenance and protection, while from the feudal baron there lay an appeal to the sovereign. But at the same time we must also allow, as a matter of fact, that under it the very extremity of lawless injustice prevailed—that every feudal castle was practically the stronghold of an arbitrary and irresponsible despot, whose soldiers executed his pleasure, however iniquitous or barbarous, without scruple and without remorse. Still, all classes had nominally the guardians of their rights and interests, with the single exception of the Jews. The latter could not be feudatories. The law of the land and the prejudice of the people would not have suffered that; nor could they be serfs or vassals. They never practised agriculture, and the noble profession of arms would have been thought disgraced by their admission to it. Consequently, they had no place in society, nor were there any to whom they could appeal for justice or protection, except where they were directly the dependants of the sovereign himself. But even where this was the case, any attempt to obtain justice was precarious and perilous. If one of the robber barons seized a Jew who might be travelling through his domains, and subjected him to agonizing tortures until he had obtained his release by paying a large sum of money—there was practically no remedy. The attempt to obtain it would probably end in twofold loss and suffering to himself. Any sympathy shown him by the peasantry or townsfolk would bring, in all likelihood, the vengeance of the aggressor on them. If they concerned themselves in any way with the sufferer, it would probably be by following the example set them by their superiors, and maltreating and plundering him. In this manner the Jews became the outcasts of society; and all classes of men were willing enough to adopt the ignorant and rancorous intolerance of the clergy of the day, who (with some noble exceptions) inveighed against them as the enemies of Christ, finding in the odium thus cast on them an excuse for them own lawless rapacity and violence.

Another reason for the general dislike in which they were held was their wealth, and the manner in which it had been amassed. They were, as has been already intimated, the only bankers, almost the only traders, of the day. They had become an absolute necessity of life to many classes of men. If the sovereign wished to negotiate a marriage, or embark in a foreign war, a large sum of money was required, which the Jews alone could supply. The same was the case with the nobles and land-owners of lesser rank; and even the Christian merchant could sometimes save his credit only by a timely loan, which was to be obtained from none but Hebrew coffers. It was affirmed that the usury exacted for these was inordinate; that the Jews took advantage of their opportunity to accumulate enormous gains, to the total ruin of their debtors. The rate of interest demanded was, as a general rule, extortionate. Yet it should be borne in mind that the monstrous injustice often shown them, when they were,—on any pretext, or on no pretext at all,—despoiled of their money, if it did not render the exaction of these terms necessary to secure to the lender, in the long run, his fair profit, it did offer a strong temptation for exaction, and gave him a ready excuse for offering only the hardest terms to the borrower.[102] Whatever value, however, this argument may possess, it was utterly disregarded by the enemies of the Jews in those days, who took into account only two facts—one, that the Jews demanded an enormous amount of usury, which brought them immense wealth, and the other, that its payment reduced themselves to poverty.

These influences had been for a long time at work, causing the Jews to be regarded with ever-increasing disfavour. But it may be doubted whether they would ever have burst forth into the furious volcano of persecution which the next generation witnessed, if it had not been that the element of religious fanaticism was now added to those already at work. The cry that Christ was dishonoured through the profanation of the scenes of His birth and crucifixion by the unhallowed rites of the Infidels, and that it was the bounden duty of all faithful Christians to wrest the holy places from their grasp, now resounded through Christendom, and roused an enthusiasm of which the world had never before beheld the like.

It may surprise us, not that this feeling should have been awakened, but that it should not have been awakened before. Three hundred and fifty years had elapsed since the conquest of Jerusalem by the Saracens; and ever since then it had been in the occupation of the unbelievers. Why was the possession of the Holy City by them a greater outrage on the feelings of Christian men in one generation than in another? Or are we to suppose that men were more zealous for God’s honour in the eleventh than they had been in the seventh century? No, not so. The causes which provoked the Crusades were different from these, and they are of importance to us, because they throw a light on the feeling which simultaneously arose against the Jews also.