Having experienced such an especial favour from the hands of the king, their spirits were raised a little, and they even ventured to show their independence in the presence of their bitterest foes, viz., the ecclesiastics.
We read in Giraldus Cambrensis of “a certain Jew, who about this time chanced to travel towards Shrewsbury in company with Richard Peche (Sin), Archdeacon of Malpas (Bad-steps), in Cheshire, and a reverend dean, whose name was Deville. Amongst other discourse which they condescended to entertain him with, the archdeacon told him that his jurisdiction was so large as to reach from a place called Ill-street, all along till they came to Malpas, and took in a very wide circumference of the country. To which the infidel, being more witty than wise, immediately replied, ‘Say you so, sir? God grant me then a good deliverance, for it seems I am riding in a country where Sin is the archdeacon, and the Devil himself the dean; where the entrance into the archdeaconry is Ill-street, and the going forth from it, Bad-steps’—alluding to the French words peche and mal-pas.”
It was properly observed, that “it is perhaps too much to judge of the state and condition of a body of people by a casual jest which fell from an individual of that body, and yet we would not wish for better information concerning the actual condition of a small society of men, dwelling in and at the mercy of an alien country, than the manners and character of a single person out of the whole community.”[1]
[1] – Retrospective Review, vol. i., p. 207.
Dr. Jost thinks that the above piece of wit owed its existence to the French schools, and justly observes that it does not follow from it that the Jews were prone to abuse their fellow-creatures (as Dr. Tovey intimates), even if they disregarded the clergy. Truth to speak, they merited nothing else from the hands of the Jews but disregard and contempt.[1]
[1] – “Vor ihren Hange zur Witzelei, der sich bei allen, die aus der frazözischen Schule entsprossen sind und noch entspriessen, immer findet, hat uns die Zeit noch eine Anecdote erhalten, die wir als characteristisch nicht übergehen können.... Daraus folgt nun gerade nicht, was der Berichterstatter daraus entnehmen will, dass die Juden so gerne ihre Nebenmenschen beleidigten, da sie sogar die Geistlichen nicht geschont hätten.”—Jost’s Geschichte der Israeliten, vol. vii., p. 114.
The priests, however, did not appreciate the buoyancy of their spirits, and were not backwards in depressing them, and their indulgence therefore was but of short duration. They watched every opportunity for doing so, and the king’s extremity afforded them a convenient season. The king wanted money, and the monks knew it; they therefore accused the Jews of crucifying a boy at Bury St. Edmund’s, Robert by name, which proved a source of great income both to Church and State. Bury St. Edmund’s had already become famous for its monastic establishments, and the monks, it seems, who were settled there, did not fail to derive advantage from the feelings which the belief of the crime excited. They caused the body of the child to be interred with great ceremony and every mark of respect; the shrine was declared capable of producing supernatural effects, and speedily became renowned for the miracles which it wrought. Persons from all parts, either led by curiosity, or induced by feelings of superstition, visited the shrine. The offerings which were made on the occasion could not fail to be productive of considerable profit to the Church.
The king, on the other hand, took [♦]advantage of the supposed crime, and banished the wealthiest Jews out of this country, and, as a matter of course, confiscated their properties, and fined heavily those he allowed to remain.
[♦] ‘advanvantage’ replaced with ‘advantage’
This alone was enough to damp their spirits, and make them very low; but the measure of their sufferings was not as yet full in this reign. The crusading mania revived; King Henry determined to take an active part in that affair, together with Philip Augustus, King of France; the want of cash in such an expedition was inevitable. Though the Jews had by no means either any desire for, or any interest in, the planting of the cross at Jerusalem, the king saw fit, however, to assess them at £60,000 towards it, whilst the whole Christian population of England were only required to furnish £70,000. It is easy to imagine in what a state of consternation this poor, persecuted race must have been thrown.