[1] – See [Appendix F].
In the fourteenth year of this reign, the king was taken dangerously ill. On his bed of sickness he made a vow, if his health should recover, to undertake another crusade. Accordingly, when he recovered, he took the cross, but appointed no time for his departure. In fact, he could not conveniently leave his dominions; he, therefore, compromised his vow, by directing his zealous fury against the Jews of Guienne, whom he first plundered, and then banished. Alas! for his boasted laws and the splendour of his victories. It is a truth, an incontrovertible truth, that “there is no reign, from the Conqueror inclusive, blotted with greater violence than his. They were cruelties glossed over by ambition and thirst of empire, which were pursued at the expense of justice, humanity, and every other virtue.”[1]
[1] – Witherby.
The next act relating to the Jews occurred in the sixteenth year of this reign, when the king was yet on the Continent. In that year it is stated that the Jews were, on the same night, apprehended throughout England, and thrown into prison, and were only released upon payment to the king of the sum of twenty thousand pounds of silver as a ransom. The celebrated John Selden adduces the following curious evidence of that event:—
יום יא מי היו
תפוסים כל יהודים
בארצי הזי שנת
מ׳ז לפ׳ לאלף
שישי אני אשר
חקקתי.[1]
[1] – The inscription, as given by Selden, and copied by Tovey, is very unlike Hebrew. Dr. Jost’s improvement is ingenious; but according to his reading, the imprisonment took place in November, whilst Stow and Prynne state that May was the month. I propose therefore the above reading as the most likely to be correct: one could easily mistake י for ו, especially when scratched on a wall.
That is—“On the 11th day of May, were all the Jews in the counties of this island imprisoned: in the year of the world 5047 [A.D. 1287], I, Asher, inscribed this.” The inscription was discovered by Patricius Junius in an old vault at Winchester. Some historians relate that the Jews were subjected to this violence, in consequence of a promise made by the commons to the king, of a fifth of their moveables, provided he would banish the Jews from the island. When the Jews became acquainted with the reason of their imprisonment, they caused an intimation to be conveyed to the king, that they would pay a larger sum than the amount of the fifth part promised by the commons, if they might be released from their dungeons, and allowed to remain in England. This offer had the desired effect, and they were again restored to liberty, upon payment of the above-mentioned sum. Whether this statement of the circumstances under which the Jews were imprisoned be correct or not, it seems certain that from about this time, the clamour against them became daily more violent. It is not improbable that the edict, by which the exactions practised upon the Jews by the people were prevented, had rendered them, with many, still greater objects of hatred. It appears, however, that the clergy and gentry joined with the nation in general in desiring the expulsion of the Jews; and it is to inferred that they were induced entertain this wish, in a great measure, from the heavy debts they owed to the Jews, and expecting to be relieved of the payment, by the banishment of the creditors; which gave birth to all the monstrous accusations brought against them, which were still loudly repeated against the Jews, not only of their being continually clipping and depreciating the coin of the country, but also of being the cause of much hardship through their usurious dealings. But, though this may have been, in truth, the principal, as in fact, the only avowed reason for desiring that the Jews should be driven out of England, yet there can be little doubt that the evils which have been, in a former lecture, pointed out as resulting to the nation, in general, from the power continually exercised over the property, persons, and rights of the Jews, had some effect in increasing the wish to be relieved from the presence of that people.
Edward’s conduct towards the Jews, into his continental dominions, has already been noticed: he first fleeced them for the benefit of the state, and then banished them, to render heaven propitious to his government. This measure served greatly to raise his popularity; and upon his entry into London, he was received with every mark of joy and good-will by the clergy and people. Before this feeling could subside, he was induced to consent to the decree for the final banishment of the Jews from England, which his great grand-father, Henry II., was instigated to do, but was not prevailed upon.[1] In return for this favour, he received from the Commons the grant of a fifteenth part of their goods; and the clergy, at the same time, made a gift to him of the tenth part of their moveables. A very inadequate sum, when compared with the debts they owed to the Jews. The above-mentioned decree commanded that the Jews, together with their wives and children, should depart from the realm within a certain time—namely, before the feast of All Saints. As a matter of grace, on the part of the king, they were permitted to take with them a part of their moveables, and sufficient money to defray the expenses of their journey. Their houses and other possessions were seized by the king, and appropriated to his own use. The king wanted vast sums of money this year. Three of his elder daughters were married in the same year that the Jews were banished. The king’s seizing all the Jewish property will readily account for the magnificence displayed at the nuptials of these princesses. Agnes Strickland, in her second volume of “The Lives of the Queens of England,” expatiates not a little on the effect, but leaves the cause unmentioned entirely, viz., that of Edward’s banishing the Jews. She says, “A list of the plate used in the queen’s household will prove that the court of Eleanora had attained a considerable degree of luxury. The plate was the work of Ade, the king’s goldsmith, and the description of the rich vessels of the goldsmith’s company has been brought to light by modern research.[2] Thirty-four pitchers of gold and silver, calculated to hold water or wine; ten gold chalices, of the value of £140 to £292 each; ten cups of silver gilt, or silver white, some with stands of the same, or enamelled, more than one hundred and eighteen pounds each; also cups of jasper, plates and dishes of silver, gold salts, alms bowls, silver hanapers or baskets; cups of benison, with holy sentences wrought thereon; enamelled silver jugs, adorned with effigies of the king, in a surcoat and hood, and with two effigies of Queen Eleanora. A pair of knives with silver sheaths enamelled, with a fork of crystal and a silver fork, handled with ebony and ivory. In the list of royal valuables were likewise combs and looking-glasses of silver-gilt, and a bodkin of silver, in a leather case; five serpent’s tongues, set in a standard of silver; a royal crown set with rubies, emeralds, and great pearls; another with Indian pearls; and one great crown of gold, ornamented with emeralds, sapphires of the east, rubies, and large oriental pearls.” I have no hesitation in saying that a great part of the articles displayed were Jewish. The coincidence of their banishment with the above display, warrants such a supposition.
[2] – By Mr. Herbert, city librarian, in his History of City Companies.