History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)
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The first Jews in England arrived after the Norman Conquest of the country by William the Conqueror (the future William I) in 1066,[1] and the first written record of Jewish settlement in England dates from 1070. Jews suffered massacres in 1189–90, and after a period of rising persecution, all Jews were expelled from England after the Edict of Expulsion in 1290.
In some accounts, the later half of the period is contrasted with the earlier half, in terms of rising persecution and violence, but evidence of tolerance between people living close to each other continues to be found throughout. Persecution and violence appear to have been imposed and incited by people with power, whether from the Church, crown or aristocracy. Plenty of evidence for peaceful coexistence of the different religious populations exists from the thirteenth century, such as mentions of gentile attendance at Jewish weddings. Ultimately, as Jewish people were dependent on the Crown for their presence and protection as non-Christians, the attitude and response of the English crown was decisive for their safety or lack of it.
The experience of English Jewry was particularly significant, both in terms of its political, economic, religious and social importance to England as a whole,[2] and in terms of the development of anti-Semitism; many false accusations and associations were developed in England in this period, and prejudices were more deeply felt, than in other parts of Europe.[3] Most notorious is the accusation of ritual child murder,[4] but also included an association of Jewry with international conspiracy and magic. Anti-Jewish prejudices were expressed in some of the "earliest and most elaborate" devotional artworks to do so, at Lincoln Cathedral and the Cloisters Cross, for example,[5] or, more recently identified, the Hereford Mappa Mundi.[6]
Edward I is also identified as internationally significant, as the first monarch to attempt state-sponsored conversions,[5] to permanently exclude Jews from his kingdom,[7] and the first English monarch to use anti-Semitism as an instrument of state policy.[8]
The Expulsion and its surrounding events also led to the formation of a strong strain of anti-Semitism within English identity that outlasted the period, including the idea that England was unique precisely because it did not include Jews.[9][6][10][11][12]
Nevertheless, treatment of Jewish aspects of English medieval history in mainstream texts is often held to be under-represented, despite the continuing significance of events such as the expulsion of the Jews, as the first statewide, permanent expulsion in Christian Europe[13] and for its impact on European anti-Semitism which ultimately led to the Shoah.[14]