This title considers the Jews of medieval England as victims of violence (notably the Clifford's Tower massacre) and as an isolated people. In July 1290, Edward I issued writs to the Sheriffs of the English counties ordering them to enforce a decree to expel all Jews from England before All Saints' Day of that year. England became the first country to expel a Jewish minority from its borders. They were allowed to take their portable property but their houses were confiscated by the king. In a highly readable account, Robin Mundill considers the Jews of medieval England as victims of violence (notably the massacre of Shabbat haGadol when York's Jewish community perished at Clifford's Tower) and as a people apart, isolated amidst a hostile environment. The origins of the business world are considered including the fact that the medieval English Jew perfected modern business methods many centuries before its recognised time. What emerges is a picture of a lost society which had much to contribute and yet was turned away in 1290.

This book examines the Jewish community in England from 1262 to 1290, during the reign of Edward I. Commencing with a survey of the historiography and heritage of medieval Anglo-Jewry, the book analyzes the Jews' financial value to the Crown and indicates that after 1275 some may have diversified into commodity broking. A further chapter examines the varying fortunes of seven provincial communities, which is followed by the most comprehensive study of debtors to Jews to date, showing the wider impact of Jewish lending. Finally, the reasons behind one of the first European expulsions of the Jews are considered in depth.

This is a detailed study of Jewish settlement and of seven different Jewish communities in England between 1262 and 1290, offering in addition a new consideration of the prelude to the expulsion of the Jews in 1290. The book estimates the extent of Jewish residence and settlement; evaluates the tallage payments made by those communities; and finally by a close discussion of prevailing attitudes towards usury and moneylending considers the Edwardian experiment of 1275. The impact of Edward I's legislation and Jewish policy on his Jewish subjects is then examined. It is possible to follow the business transactions of Jewish financiers in these different provincial communities over almost thirty years; and a thorough and detailed study is made of the type of people who borrowed from the Jews. Finally a survey is made of the possible motives and continental parallels which influenced the expulsion in 1290 and the subsequent dissolution.