A contemporary illustration showing the expulsion of the Jews. Image shows the white double tabula that Jews in England were mandated to wear by law.

The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I of England on 18 July 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England, the first time a European state permanently banned their presence.[1][2][3][4][lower-alpha 1] The date was likely chosen as it was a Jewish holy day, the ninth of Ab, commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem and other disasters that the Jewish people have experienced.[2][5] Edward told the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints' Day (1 November) that year.

Jews were allowed to leave with cash and personal possessions, but outstanding debts, homes, and other buildings including Synagogues and cemetries were forfeit to the King. While there are no recorded incidents during the departure on land, there were acts of piracy in which Jews lost their lives, while others were drowned as a result of being forced to cross the channel at an extremely dangerous, stormy time of year. There is evidence from personal names of Jewish refugees settling in Paris and other parts of France, as well as Italy, Spain and Germany. Documents taken abroad by the Anglo-Jewish diaspora have been found as far away as Cairo. Jewish properties were sold to the benefit of the Crown, Queen Eleanor and selected individuals given grants of property.

The edict was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of increasing antisemitism in England, especially during the reigns of Henry III of England and Edward I, where it was used as a political tool first by opponents of the Crown, and then by Edward and the state itself.[6] Edward took measures afterwards to claim credit for the expulsion, and to define himself as the protector of Christians against Jews, and was remembered and praised at his death for it. The expulsion had a lasting negative impact by embedding anti-semitism into English identity.[7][8][9][10][11] The expulsion edict remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages. The edict was eventually overturned more than 365 years later, during the Protectorate when Oliver Cromwell informally permitted the resettlement of the Jews in England in 1656.[12]

Background

The first Jewish communities came to England after 1066. Jews were direct subjects of the king,[13] unlike the rest of the population, making them subject to the whims of the king.[14]

The church had placed restrictions on Jews from mixing with Christians, including the wearing of Jewish badges. Allegations of child sacrifice by church leaders, including one at Lincoln which had been given credence by King Henry III, were widely circulated. Discontent was in part fuelled by the largest English landholders using Jewish loan defaults to purchase the land of smaller indebted gentry, a process that was exacerbated by the heavy taxation placed by the Crown on the Jewry. Leaders like Simon de Montfort then used anger at the disposession of middle ranking landowners to fuel anti-semitic violence, at London (where 500 Jews died), Worcester, Canterbury, and many other towns.[15] In the 1270s and 80s, Queen Eleanor amassed vast lands and properties through this process, causing widespread resentment and conflict with the church.[16]

Economically, Jews had played a key role in the country, but by 1275 this had been severely restricted as the result of punitive taxation, which had eroded the community's wealth.

Steps towards expulsion

The first major step towards expulsion took place in 1275, with the Statute of the Jewry. The statute outlawed all lending at interest and gave Jews fifteen years to readjust.[17] In 1282, John Peckham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, closed all synagogues in his diocese.[15]

Extract of the Statute of Jewry, c. 1275

Jews were targeted in the coin clipping crisis of the late 1270s, where over 300 Jews were sentenced to death for alleged interference with the currency, representing over 10% of the Jewish population at the time.[18] The Crown profited from seized assets, and payments of fines from those not executed, raising at least £16,500.[19]

While it is unclear exactly how impoverished the Jewish community was in these last years, it is telling that Edward did not impose any further taxation from 1278 until the end of the 1280s.[20] It appears that some Jewish moneylenders continued to lend money against future delivery of goods, as a workaround means to avoid usury restrictions, a practice that was wholly known to the Crown, as debts had to be recorded in the official archae.[lower-alpha 2] Others managed to find ways to enter alternative kinds of trading or business and it is likely that others left the country.

In late 1286, Pope Honorius IV addressed a special rescript to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury claiming that the Jews had an evil effect on religious life in England through free interaction with Christians and called for action to be taken to prevent it, and were restated at the Synod of Exeter.[15][22]

Expulsion of the Jews from Gascony

Expulsions of Jews in Europe from 1100 to 1600

Local expulsions of Jews were not new. They had happened frequently in many countries, and regularly in England. In 1275, Edward had permitted the Queen mother Eleanor, to expel Jews from her lands and towns.[23]

In 1287, Edward was in need of money to free Charles of Salerno and ordered the local Jews expelled from the duchy of Gascony.[24] His immediate motivation may have been the need to generate funds,[25][26] but some historians argue the money raised was negligible and given away to mendicant orders, and see the expulsion as a "thank-offering" for Edward's recovery from illness.[27]

Charles of Salerno expelled the Jews of Maine and Anjou in 1289, accusing them of "dwelling randomly" with the Christian population and cohabiting with Christian women. He linked the expulsion to general taxation of the population as "recompense" for lost income. Huscroft speculates that Edward and Charles learnt from each other's experience.[28]

Expulsion

By the time he returned to England in 1289, King Edward was deeply in debt.[29] At the same time, his experiment to convert the Jews to Christianity and remove their dependence on lending at interest could be seen to have failed; the fifteen years of allowing Jews to lease farms had ended. Moreover, it was increasingly impossible to raise money from the Jewish population; they had been repeatedly overtaxed.[30]

In 14 June 1290, he summoned Knights of the shires to attend Parliament by 15 July. Then, on 18 June, Edward sent secret orders to the Sheriffs of cities with Jewish residents that the archae[lower-alpha 2] containing records of Jewish debts be sealed. The reason for this is disputed: it could represent preparation for a further tallage to be paid by the Jewry, or it could represent a preparatory step for expulsion.[31][32]

Parliament met on 15 July. There is no record of the Parliamentary debates, so it is uncertain whether the expulsion of the Jews was offered by the Crown in return for a vote of taxation, or whether Parliament asked for it as a concession. Both views are argued. However the link between these seems certain, given the evidence of contemporary Chronciles and the speed by which orders to expel the Jews of England were made, presumably after an agreement was reached. The taxation granted by Parliament to Edward was very high, at £116,000, probably the highest of the middle ages.[33] Additionally, the Church later voluntarily agreed to pay tax of a tenth, in gratitude.[34]

Letter from King Edward I to the Sheriff of Gloucester, dated 18 July 1290

On 18 July, the Edict of Expulsion was issued, some three days after Parliament had gathered.[33][lower-alpha 3] On the Hebrew calendar, this date was 9 Av (Tisha B'Av) 5050, commemorating the fall of the Temple at Jerusalem; it is unlikely to be a coincidence,[2] and was noted "with awe" by Jewish chroniclers.[35] Writs were sent to Sheriffs on the same day, explaining that all Jews were to leave by All Saints' Day, 1 November 1290, and outlining their duties in the matter.

The Edict was implemented with some attempt to present fairness. Proclamations were made ordering the population not to "injure, harm, damage or grieve" the departing Jews. Wardens at the Cinque Ports were to told to make arrangements for their safe passage and cheap fares for the poor, while safe conduct was arranged for dignitaries such as Bonami of York.[30] There were limits on the property that Jews could take with them. Although a few favoured persons were allowed to sell their homes before they left,[15] the vast majority had to forfeit any outstanding debts, homes or immobile property, including Synagogues and cemeteries.[30]

Letter from King Edward I to the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer, dated 5 November 1290

Henry wrote to the Barons of his Exchequer on 5 November, giving us the clearest official explanation of his actions available. In it, he claimed that Jews had broken trust with him by continuing to find ways to charge interest on loans. He labelled them as criminals and traitors, and said they were expelled "in honour of the Crucified". Interest on their debts was to be cancelled.[36]

The Jewish refugees

The Jewish population in England at the time of the expulsion was relatively small, perhaps as few as 2,000 people, although estimates vary.[37] Decades of privations had caused many to emigrate or convert.

Although it is believed that most of the Jews leaving England were able to do so free from harm, there are some records of piracy leading to the death of some of the people forced to leave. On 10 October, a ship that was chartered by poorer London Jews, "bearing their scrolls of the law", sailed toward the mouth of the Thames, near Queenborough, en route to France. While the tide was low, the captain convinced the Jews to walk with him on a sandbank. As the tide rose, he returned to the ship, telling the Jews to call upon Moses for help. It appears that those involved were punished.[38][25]

This was in any case not the only incident. Another is recorded in Portsmouth, where sailors received a pardon in 1294.[39] A ship is recorded as drifting ashore near Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, and the Jewish passengers as being robbed and murdered.[40]

Perhaps more dangerous than the risk of piracy was the condition of the sea in Autumn, as around 1300 poorer Jewish passengers crossed the Channel to Wissant near Calais for 4d. Some ships were lost at sea, and others arrived with their passengers destitute.[41]

It is unclear where most of the migrants went. Those arriving in France were initially allowed to stay in Amiens and Carcassonne, but permission was quickly revoked. Given that most of the Anglo-Jewry still spoke French, Roth speculates that most would have found refuge within France. Evidence from personal names in records show some Jews with the appellation "L'Englesche" or "L'Englois" in Paris, Savoy and elsewhere. Similar names can be found among the Spanish Jewry, and the Venetian Clerli family also claimed descent from Anglo-Jewish refugees. Other evidence for the possible destination of migrants includes where Anglo-Jewish texts have been found, including in Germany, Italy and Spain; and finally the title deeds to an English monastery have been found in the wood store of a synagogue in Cairo, "obviously brought there by an English refugee".[42]

Disposal of Jewish property

167 and 169 King Street, The Music House, Norwich: one of two surviving Jewish houses dating from before the expulsion. Such properties were forfeit and sold or gifted by the Crown.

For the Crown, there was an immediate windfall in terms of Jewish property to be sold. Debts with a value of £20,000 were collated from the archae[lower-alpha 2] from each town with a Jewish settlement. In December, Hugh of Kendall was appointed to dispose of the property seized from the Jewish refugees, the most valuable of which was houses in London. Some of the property was given away to courtiers, the church and family, in a total of 85 grants. William Burnell received property in Oxford which he later gave to Balliol College, for example, while Queen Eleanor's tailor was granted the Synagogue in Cambridge. Sales were mostly completed by spring 1291, and around £2,000 was raised. £100 of this was used to glaze windows and decorate the tomb of Henry III in Westminster Abbey.[43]

It appears that there was no systematic attempt to collect the £20,000 worth of debts seized. The reasons for this are unclear, but could include the death of Queen Eleanor, concerns over war with Scotland, or perhaps an attempt to win political favour by providing benefit to those previously indebted.[44]

After the Expulsion

Jewish presence in England after the Expulsion

It is likely that the few Jews remaining in England were converts. At the time of the Expulsion, there were around 100 converted Jews in the Domus Conversorum.[45] The last of these, Claricia, the daughter of Jacob Copin, died in 1356, having spent the early part of the 1300s in Exeter where she raised a family.[46] Between the expulsion of Jews in 1290 and their informal return in 1655, there continue to be records of Jews in the Domus Conversorum up to 1551 and even later. Nevertheless, any expulsion is "unlikely to be absolute".[47] Four complaints were made to the king in 1376 that some of those trading as Lombards were actually Jews.[45]

Propagandising the Expulsion

After the Expulsion, Edward I sought to position himself as the defender of Christians against the criminality of Jews. Most prominently, he continued personal veneration of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, a child who whose death had been falsely attributed to ritual murder by Jews.

Drawing of the Shrine of Little St Hugh, Lincoln Cathedral. This shrine commemorating a blood libel was rebuilt by Edward I and bore his Royal coat of arms. It appears to have been designed to be seen as part of the Eleanor crosses memorials.

After his wife Queen Eleanor's death in late 1290, Edward reconstructed the shrine, incorporating the Royal Coat of Arms and memorialisation of Eleanor, in the same style as the Eleanor crosses,[48] it appears in a deliberate attempt to associate himself and Eleanor with the cult. Hillaby credits this "progaganda coup" with boosting the circulation of the Saint Hugh myth, the most famous of the English blood libels, repeated in literature and the Sir Hugh folk songs into the twentieth century.[49]

Other efforts to justify the expulsion can be found in the Church, for instance in the canonization evidence submitted for Thomas de Cantilupe,[50] images in the fabric of his cult at Hereford Cathedral,[51][52] and also on the Hereford Mappa Mundi.[53]

Significance

The permanent expulsion of Jews from England and tactics employed before it, such as attempts at forced conversion, are widely seen as setting a significant precedent, foreshadowing later events in Spain, for example.[2][3][4] While more traditional narratives of Edward I have sought to downplay the event, emphasising the peacefulness of the expulsion, or placing its roots in Edward's pragmatic need to extract money from Parliament,[2] more recent work on the Anglo-Jewish community's experience have framed it as the culmination of a policy of state-sponsored anti-Semitism.[54] They place the expulsion in the context of the coin clipping executions targeting Jews, the first Royally-sponsored attempts to force conversions, and emphasise that this was the first time a state had made such an expulsion permanent.[54]

Edward I was the first English monarch to use antisemitism as an instrument of state policy

For contemporaries, there is evidence that the expulsion was seen as one of Edward's most prominent achievements. It was named alongside his wars of conquest in Scotland and Wales in the Commendatio that was widely circulated after his death, claiming he outshone the Pharoes by exiling the Jews.[55]

The expulsion had a lasting impact on English identity. Rather than making anti-Semitic narratives less prominent, they became embedded in the idea of England as unique precisely because it had no Jews. Jews became an easy target within literature and plays, and tropes such as child sacrifice and host desecration persisted.[7][8][9][10][11]

Apology

A Church of England service was held in May 2022,[56] described by Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby as a formal "act of repentance", on the 800th anniversary of the Synod of Oxford in 1222. The Synod passed a set of laws that restricted Jews' rights to engage with Christians in England which contributed directly to the expulsion of 1290. Historically, the Synod predated the Church of England's split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534,[57] but the Archbishopric of Canterbury dates to before 600 CE.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Roth 1964, p. 90 notes that this was "fully appreciated" by Jewish writers; see also p.90 footnote 2
  2. 1 2 3 An Archa, or "chest" was kept by the sheriff in each town with an officially Jewry to record debts held by the Jews of the town. In this way, the Crown could easily assess the wealth and taxability of Jews across the country. They were frequently targeted in pogroms organised, for instance, by Simon de Montfort and his supporters.[21]
  3. ↑ The text of the edict is lost; see Roth 1964, p. 85, note 1.

Citations

  1. ↑ Roth 1964, p. 90.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Richmond 1992, pp. 44–45.
  3. 1 2 Skinner 2003, p. 1.
  4. 1 2 Huscroft 2006, p. 12.
  5. ↑ Roth 1962, p. 67.
  6. ↑ Stacey 2001, pp. 177, passim.
  7. 1 2 Richmond 1992.
  8. 1 2 Strickland 2018.
  9. 1 2 Shapiro 1996, p. 42.
  10. 1 2 Tomasch 2002, pp. 69–70.
  11. 1 2 Glassman 1975.
  12. ↑ Roth 1964, pp. 164–6.
  13. ↑ Glassman 1975, p. 14.
  14. ↑ Rubinstein 1996, p. 36.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Jacobs 1903
  16. ↑ Hillaby & Hillaby 2013, p. 13.
  17. ↑ Prestwich 1997, p. 345
  18. ↑ Rokéah 1988, p. 98.
  19. ↑ Rokéah 1988, p. 91-92.
  20. ↑ Richardson 1960, p. 216.
  21. ↑ Hillaby & Hillaby 2013, p. 95-7.
  22. ↑ Tolan 2023, p. 177-8.
  23. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 146–7.
  24. ↑ Prestwich 1997, p. 306.
  25. 1 2 Prestwich 1997, p. 346.
  26. ↑ Richardson 1960, pp. 225–7.
  27. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 145–6.
  28. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 146–149.
  29. ↑ Prestwich 1997, p. 307.
  30. 1 2 3 Roth 1964, p. 85.
  31. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 150–151.
  32. ↑ Richardson 1960, p. 228.
  33. 1 2 Prestwich 1997, p. 343.
  34. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 151–153.
  35. ↑ Quotation in Roth 1964, p. 85
  36. ↑ Hillaby & Hillaby 2013, p. 138.
  37. ↑ Mundill 2002, p. 27.
  38. ↑ Roth 1964, pp. 86–87.
  39. ↑ Roth 1964, p. 87, see footnote 1.
  40. ↑ Huscroft 2006, p. 157.
  41. ↑ Roth 1964, p. 87.
  42. ↑ Roth 1964, pp. 87–88.
  43. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 157–9.
  44. ↑ Huscroft 2006, pp. 160.
  45. 1 2 Roth 1964, p. 133.
  46. ↑ Huscroft 2006, p. 161.
  47. ↑ Roth 1964, p. 132.
  48. ↑ David Stocker 1986
  49. ↑ Hillaby 1994, p. 94-98.
  50. ↑ Strickland 2018, p. 463.
  51. ↑ Strickland 2018, p. 448, footnote.
  52. ↑ Brooks & Pevsner 2012, p. 277.
  53. ↑ Strickland 2018, p. passim.
  54. 1 2 Stacey 2001.
  55. ↑ Strickland 2018, pp. 455–6
  56. ↑ TOA Staff 2022.
  57. ↑ Gal 2021.

References

Medieval Anglo-Jewish history

  • Adler, Michael (1939), Jews of Medieval England, Edward Goldston
  • Hillaby, Joe (2003). "Jewish Colonisation in the Twelfth Century". In Skinner, Patricia (ed.). Jews in Medieval Britain. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 15–40. ISBN 978-1-84383-733-6.
  • Hillaby, Joe; Hillaby, Caroline (2013). The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-23027-816-5.
  • Hyams, Paul (1974). "The Jewish Minority in Medieval England, 1066-1290". Journal of Jewish Studies. xxv: 270–293.
  • Public Domain Jacobs, Joseph (1903). "England". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 161-174.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Parkes, James (1976), The Jew in the Medieval Community, Hermon Press, ISBN 0-87203-059-8
  • Mundill, Robin R. (2010), The King's Jews, London: Continuum, ISBN 9781847251862, LCCN 2010282921, OCLC 466343661, OL 24816680M
  • Richardson, Henry (1960). English Jewry under Angevin Kings. London: Methuen. OL 17927110M.
  • Roth, Cecil (1962) [Originally published July 1933 in the Jewish Chronicle]. "England and the Ninth of Ab". Essays and Portraits in Anglo-Jewish History. The Jewish Publication Society of America. pp. 63–67.
  • Roth, Cecil (1964). A history of the Jews in England (Third ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0198224884.
  • Rubinstein, W. D. (1996), A History of the Jews in the English-Speaking World: Great Britain, Macmillan Press, ISBN 0-333-55833-2
  • Scheil, Andrew P. (2004). The Footsteps of Israel: understanding Jews in Anglo-Saxon England. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11408-5.
  • Tolan, John (2023). England's Jews: Finance, Violence, and the Crown in the Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-1512823899. OL 39646815M.

Accusations of ritual child murder

  • Hillaby, Joe (1994). "The Ritual-Child-Murder Accusation: Its Dissemination and Harold of Gloucester". Jewish Historical Studies. 34: 69–109. JSTOR 29779954.
  • David Stocker (1986). "The Shrine of Little St Hugh". Medieval Art and Architecture at Lincoln Cathedral. British Archaeological Association. pp. 109–117. ISBN 978 0 907307 14 3.

Edward I to the Expulsion

  • Huscroft, Richard (2006). Expulsion: England's Jewish solution. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-752-43729-3. OL 7982808M.
  • Mundill, Robin R. (2003). "Edward I and the Final Phase of Anglo-Jewry". In Skinner, Patricia (ed.). Jews in Medieval Britain. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 55–70. ISBN 978-1-84383-733-6.
  • Mundill, Robin R. (2002), England's Jewish Solution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-52026-3, OL 26454030M
  • Rokéah, Zefira Entin (1988). "Money and the hangman in late thirteenth century England: Jews, Christians and coinage offences alleged and real (Part I)". Jewish Historical Studies. 31: 83–109. JSTOR 29779864.
  • Rokéah, Zefira Entin (1990). "Money and the hangman in late thirteenth century England: Jews, Christians and coinage offences alleged and real (Part II)". Jewish Historical Studies. 32: 159–218. JSTOR 29779885.
  • Stacey, Robert (2001). "Anti-Semitism and the Medieval English State". In Maddicott, J. R.; Pallister, D. M. (eds.). The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell. London: The Hambledon Press. pp. 163–77.
  • Stacey, Robert C. (1997). "Parliamentary Negotiation and the Expulsion of the Jews from England". In Prestwich, Michael; Britnell, Richard H.; Frame, Robin (eds.). Thirteenth Century England: Proceedings of the Durham Conference, 1995. Vol. 6. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 77–102. ISBN 978-0-85115-674-3.

Historiography

  • Skinner, Patricia (2003). "Introduction". In Skinner, Patricia (ed.). Jews in Medieval Britain. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. pp. 1–11. ISBN 0851159311.

General history

  • Powicke, Sir Maurice (1953), The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307, Clarendon Press
  • Prestwich, Michael (1997), Edward I, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07157-4
  • Brooks, Alan; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2012). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300125757.

English identity and Anti-semitism

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