Write an account of Edward I's treatment of the English Jews. (8 marks)
Initial Underlying Reasons (long-term)
Royal Finance
Henry III
borrowed huge sums of money from Jews
taxed Jews around £250 000 during his reign
Christian Church
banned lending money for interest
landowners and merchants borrowed money from Jewish moneylenders to pay debts to the king, buy land, to go on a pilgrimage or to go on a crusade
Religious Differences
borrowers needed their money but despised being in debt to the Jewish moneylenders
Jews spoke a different language, dressed and behaved differently, and didn't attend church
they had their own services and beliefs
required to wear a yellow badge for identification
Blamed for crucifying Christ
'Blood Libel'
blamed for a boy's death in Norwich in 1144
myth spread about Jews crucifying a boy every Easter
Shorter-Term Factors
Jews were mainly moneylenders
some participated in the wool trade
Becoming less important to the king as a source of tax
poor because Henry III taxed them so much
also less important as moneylenders
Replaced by Italian bankers
more vulnerable and faced increasing discrimination and persecution
1275 Statute of Jewry made Jewish moneylenders illegal
designed to move them to trade or farming
Edward used a tax on Jewish moneylenders to finance his war with Wales
1278 and 1279 most Jews were arrested, houses and property ransacked and accused of money-clipping
Rich people bought debt from Jews then demanded full and instant repayment which landowners cannot do
Only thing that could be done was to hand over land to pay off debt
lost both land and status
Edward and Eleanor used this tactic to their advantage
Trigger
1289 - Edward deeply in debt upon his return from Gascony
asked Parliament for tax
Around £100 000 granted
in exchange for a law which expelled Jews from England
July 1290 - Edward signed law which required all Jews to have left the country by November 1, 1290
Could have been influenced by the case of Oscar de Pulet
June 1290 - accused of the murder of a young Christian boy in Oxford