But Baldwin, with a clearer comprehension of the honor and interests of the city, which were identical with those of Sicily, answered him indignantly, and neither counsellors nor citizens hesitated for a moment whether to prostitute Messina to the stranger or bid her share the freedom of the sister-cities of the island. Rejecting, therefore, these deceptive arguments, Baldwin, in the presence of Matthew de Riso, solemnly renewed his oath to maintain the liberty of Sicily or perish, and exhorted him to join in support of the same sacred cause. In conclusion, he desired him to return to Herbert, and offer him security for his own life and that of his soldiers, if leaving their arms, horses, and accoutrements, they would sail direct for Aigues-Mortes in Provence, binding themselves not to touch anywhere on the Sicilian or other neighboring coasts. The Viceroy agreed to these terms, but had no sooner traversed half the strait with two vessels than he broke them, and full of hostile designs landed in Calabria in order to join Peter of Catanzaro, who being advised of what was going forward had embarked before them with his Calabrians, abandoning his horses and baggage to the fury of the people. Theobald de Messi, castellan of the fortress of Matagrifone, and Micheletto—with those who had taken refuge at Scaletta—subsequently surrendered, with all their followers, on the terms granted to the Viceroy. The former, having embarked on board a small vessel, set sail several times, but was driven into port by contrary winds or adverse fate. The latter was shut up in the castle, and his soldiers in the palace, to protect them from the fury of the multitude. But these precautions availed not to save them. On the 7th of May the galleys returned from Palermo, bringing captive with them two of those of Amalfi which had accompanied them in the expedition, and the crew, inflamed either by example or indignation at the unnatural and useless attempt in which they had been employed against their fellow-countrymen, loudly demanded French blood to slake their thirst for vengeance. The citizens, meanwhile, were no less exasperated by Herbert's breach of faith; so that, as the galley of Natale Pancia, entering the port, grazed the vessel of Theobald de Messi, the crew, on a signal from the shore, sprang upon her deck, seized and bound the prisoners and flung them overboard to perish.
On beholding this spectacle the former fury blazed up afresh within the city; the mob, rushing to the palace, massacred the soldiers taken at Scaletta; the alarm-bells rang; the few partisans of the French concealed themselves in terror; the armed and bloodstained people poured in torrents through the streets, even the rulers of the city made no attempt to quell their fury; for Neocastro, who undoubtedly shared in their counsels, writes that they, on the contrary, advanced the more boldly in the path of revolution when they beheld the multitude so inextricably engaged.
EXPULSION OF JEWS FROM ENGLAND
A.D. 1290
HENRY HART MILMAN
Long persecuted in so-called Christian lands, the people without a country—the Jews—first appeared in England during the latter half of the eleventh century, a colony, it is said, having been taken from Rouen to London by William the Conqueror. These first-comers were, we are told, special favorites of William Rufus. Little is seen of them under Henry I, but in the reign of Stephen they are found established in most of the principal towns, but dwelling as a people apart, not being members of the State, but chattels of the King, and only to be meddled with, for good or for evil, at his bidding. Exempt from taxation and fines, they hoarded wealth, which the King might seize at his pleasure, though none of his subjects could touch it. The Jew's special capacity—in which Christians were forbidden by the Church to employ themselves through fear of the sin of usury—-was that of money-lender.
In this status the Jews remained without eventful history until the latter part of the twelfth century, when the crusading spirit had aroused a more intense hatred of the race. At the coronation of Richard I (1189) certain of the Jews intruded among the spectators, causing a riot, in which the Jewish quarter was plundered; and this violence was followed by a frenzy of persecution all over the land. A rumor spread that the Jews were accustomed to crucify a Christian boy at Easter, and this aroused the populace to fury against them. Murder and rapine prevailed in several places. Five hundred Jews, who were allowed to take refuge in the castle at York, were there besieged by the townsmen, in whom no offers of ransom could appease the thirst for blood. These avengers were led on by their own clergy, with the cry, "Destroy the enemies of Christ!" A rabbi addressed his countrymen: "Men of Israel, it is better that we should die for our law than to fall into the power of those that hate it, and our law prescribes that we may die by our own hands. Let us voluntarily render up our souls to our Creator." Then all but a few of them burned or buried their effects, and, after setting fire to the castle in many places, the men cut the throats of their wives and children, and then their own.
Richard I had special dealings with the Jews, the effectual results of which were more securely to bind them as crown chattels and to add to the royal emoluments. King John, well estimating the importance of the Jews as a source of revenue, began his reign by heaping favors upon them, which only made his subjects in general look upon them with more jealousy. Under Henry III both the wealth of the Jews and the oppressions which laid exactions upon it increased; and during the half-century preceding their expulsion from the realm, their condition, as shown by Milman, became more and more intolerable.
Jewish history has a melancholy sameness—perpetual exactions, the means of enforcing them differing only in their degrees of cruelty. Under Henry III the Parliament of England began, 1250, to consider that these extraordinary succors ought at least to relieve the rest of the nation. They began to inquire into the King's resources from this quarter, and the King consented that one of the two justices of the Jews should be appointed by parliament. But the barons thought more of easing themselves than of protecting the oppressed. In 1256 a demand of eight thousand marks was made, under pain of being transported, some at least of the most wealthy, to Ireland; and, lest they should withdraw their families into places of concealment, they were forbidden, under the penalty of outlawry and confiscation, to remove wife or child from their usual place of residence, for their wives and children were now liable to taxation as well as themselves. During the next three years sixty thousand marks more were levied. How, then, was it possible for any traffic, however lucrative, to endure such perpetual exactions?
The reason must be found in the enormous interest of money, which seems to have been considered by no means immoderate at 50 per cent.; certain Oxford scholars thought themselves relieved by being constrained to pay only twopence weekly on a debt of twenty shillings. In fact, the rivalry of more successful usurers seems to have afflicted the Jews more deeply than the exorbitant demands of the King. These were the "Caorsini," Italian bankers, though named from the town of Cahors, employed by the Pope to collect his revenue. It was the practice of these persons, under the sanction of their principal, to lend money for three months without interest, but afterward to receive 5 per cent, monthly till the debt was discharged; the former device was to exempt them from the charge of usury. Henry III at one time attempted to expel this new swarm of locusts; but they asserted their authority from the Pope, and the monarch trembled.