Edward I of England

The reign of King Edward I (1272-1307) witnessed a heightening of tensions between the Christian and Jewish populations in England.

In 1275, King Edward I introduced a Statute of the Jewry with further rules and regulations for the Jewish community living in England.

by the usuries (lending money at interest) of Jews made in time past, and that various sins have followed thereafter; [and] although he and his ancestors have received much benefit from the Jewish people in all time past

And that each Jew after he turns seven years old, shall wear a badge on his clothes; that is to say, in the form of two tables joined, of yellow felt

were not allowed to be part of guilds (groups of craftsmen or merchants) or to own farmland.

for that they are taxable to the king and to no other but the king

As a result of these new laws, many Jewish families became poor and the king could no longer collect taxes from them: hundreds were arrested, hanged or imprisoned.

the Jews afterwards, maliciously discussing amongst themselves, changed the kind of usury into a worse kind

as a result the king, for this reason and for the honour of Christ, has caused the Jews to leave his realm as perfidious men

perfidious faithless and untrustworthy scot or lot a tax paid to the borough for local or national purposes Pleas of the Forest These records preserve the legal proceedings from forest eyres (the proceedings that dealt with offences concerning the royal forests).

On 18th July 1290, Edward I issued what came to be called the Edict of Expulsion.

writs (letters) were issued to the sheriffs of every county outlining that all Jews should leave England by All Saint’s Day (1 November 1290)

Jews were allowed to take their possessions with them, but the vast majority had their houses forfeited to the king.

In 1287, in the duchy of Gascony (an area of modern-day France under English rule), King Edward ordered the local Jews to be expelled. All their property was seized by the crown and all outstanding debts owed to Jews were transferred to the king’s name.

By the time King Edward returned to England in 1289, he was deeply in debt.

To make the tax more bearable Edward essentially offered to expel all Jews in exchange.

With time, however, Jews generally became associated with lending money at interest because the Papacy condemned usury as a sin (Exodus 22:25�27, Leviticus 25:35�37, Deuteronomy 23:19�20, Luke 6:35); Church councils later compared it to homicide, sodomy and incest.

In most places and times, medieval Jews were legally unable to participate in agriculture, the economic activity of the vast majority of both Christian and Muslim populations.