Medieval Migration: Jewish Communities (1066-1290)

Jewish communities arrived in England shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, initially invited by William I from Rouen (Normandy) because they could perform the economic function of money-lending — an activity forbidden to Christians by the Church, which condemned the charging of interest as sinful. By the twelfth century, Jewish communities (called Jewries) existed in London, York, Lincoln, Norwich, and Oxford. They financed royal building projects, crusades, and aristocratic borrowing.

However, their legal status was that of "royal chattels" — the property of the Crown. The Crown could protect them (profitably) or withdraw that protection at will. Ordinary English people resented Jewish money-lenders, fuelled by religious prejudice. In 1190, anti-Jewish violence erupted across England during the Third Crusade. At Clifford's Tower, York, approximately 150 Jews took refuge from a mob; most chose suicide rather than forced conversion. The Crown condemned this but took no meaningful action.

By the late thirteenth century, Italian and Flemish bankers had arrived to fill the money-lending role. The Crown's extortionate taxation had stripped Jewish communities of their wealth. In 1290, Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion — the first complete expulsion of a people from a medieval kingdom. Approximately 3,000 Jews were forced to leave. Jews would not be formally readmitted to England until 1656 under Oliver Cromwell — a gap of 366 years.