In Russia, early in the twelfth century (A.D. 1113), there was a savage outbreak in the city of Kief, against the Jews. The same cry seems to have been raised which has so frequently been heard in other lands, their accumulation of wealth, at the cost, it was supposed, of their neighbours. The merciful Vladimir, who succeeded to the throne, tried to protect them, but could only do so by assenting to their expulsion from Russia. This was their first, and their longest, term of banishment from any European country. They were not allowed to return for 600 years.
During this period lived Solomon, called Rashi, or as it is more commonly written, Jarchi. He was the most renowned of the many commentators on the Talmud. It is said that no edition of that work has appeared since his time which had not his commentary appended to it. He was born A.D. 1040, and died A.D. 1105.
FOOTNOTES:
[103] Arnold, Archbishop of Cologne, also did his best to discountenance the persecutors. He gave them the fortress of Wolkenstein as a refuge, and they there made an armed and successful defence.
[104] They were not readmitted without the enactment of several laws which materially affected their future position. Among others, they were obliged to wear a distinctive badge; and the persons to whom they might lend money, the articles they might receive in pledge, and the amount of interest they might require, were all settled by statute.
[105] See a full discussion of this charge and its probable origin. Appendix V.
[106] Rabbi Joseph has given us (vol. i. 30, 35) a long and terrible picture of the barbarous cruelties inflicted at this period on his countrymen, in consequence of their refusal ‘to submit to the proud waters, or enter the House of Error’ (i.e., to be baptized, or be admitted to the Church). Comp. Psalm cxxiv. 4.
CHAPTER XVI.
A.D. 1100-1200 (continued).
THE JEWS IN ENGLAND.—JEWISH IMPOSTORS.
It has been noted in a previous chapter that, up to the end of William Rufus’s reign, the chief hardship that befell the Jews in England was, that the Norman kings extracted large sums from them, partly as loans—for which, perhaps, payment was hardly contemplated by either party—and partly as the price of the protection afforded them. The same state of things continued during the reigns of Henry I., Stephen, and Henry II. Throughout this long period,—not much less than a hundred years,—the Jews continued to gather in riches without molestation, to an extent which proved ruinous to themselves in subsequent generations, little as they anticipated such a result at the time.[107] There were not wanting signs, however, which might have indicated the approaching danger. During the reign of Stephen, A.D. 1145, the charge was made against the Jews,—for the first time in England, if not in Europe,—of having kidnapped and crucified a boy at Norwich, in contemptuous parody of the Saviour’s passion. The case was brought before the notice of the king, and the accused were adjudged to pay a fine to the Crown—a most suspicious termination of the inquiry. No further outbreak, however, occurred: and during the protracted reign of his successor, Henry II., the same condition of things continued. That able and powerful monarch, whatever might be his difficulties with the clergy, repressed with a strong hand all overt acts of violence against the peculiar people, who looked to him for protection.[108] But he could not prevent their growing unpopularity. Society had become largely influenced by the crusading spirit. The loss of Jerusalem,—which had been wrested by so large an expenditure of blood and treasure from the hold of the Infidel,—roused everywhere a more bitter feeling than ever against the enemies of Christ. It was mainly through the Crusades that the Jews had acquired their wealth; and the spectacle of unbelievers living in ease and luxury, at the cost of the faithful servants of Christ, whose bones were whitening the plains of Palestine, or who had returned to England to pine in poverty, stirred public indignation to the utmost. The train was already laid for a furious onslaught upon them. It needed but a spark to bring about the explosion.
The crisis came almost immediately after the death of Henry. Anxious at once to show their loyalty and secure the protection of the new sovereign, the Jews sent a deputation, consisting of men of the highest repute among them, to attend the coronation of King Richard, and present him with rich gifts suitable to the occasion. Their presence was regarded as a profanation of the ceremony, and orders were sent them to stay away. They obeyed, but a few of their number, supposing themselves unknown, or that they would not be noticed, ventured into the Abbey. They were detected and dragged violently out. The popular fury was inflamed. The houses of the Jews were everywhere broken open, plundered, and set on fire. The king endeavoured to put a stop to the riot, but in vain. The pillage and murder went on throughout the entire night. On the following day order was restored, many of the rioters were arrested, and a strict inquiry made. Three were hanged, but it is a curious illustration of the state of the public feeling of the day, that none of these were punished for injuries done to the Jews. Two of the three had robbed a Christian, pretending that he was a Jew, and the third had set on fire the house of a Jew, but, unluckily for the offender, a Christian’s house had been burned along with it. It would really seem that, in the existing state of public feeling, the government dared not punish any one for the simple offence of injuring a Jew!