England's Jewish solution

Examines Jewish economic activities in England prior to the expulsion of the Jews from the country in 1290 by Edward I. Moneylending was the main trade of the Jews at the time; of all the operations carried out in this realm, mortgages of land and trafficking of Jewish bonds evoked the greatest aversion among non-Jews and stirred up conflict with the Jews. In the 13th century the Church increasingly condemned usury, which both clergy and laypeople associated with Jews and Judaism. Contends that Edward's "Statute of the Jewry, " issued in 1275, was an experiment aimed at limiting Jewish moneylending, thereby forcing Jews to convert. However, the Jewish community quickly recovered from it, as well as from other repressions; the king, as a good Christian, chose to expel them. The Court did not suffer financial losses from the expulsion of the Jews. The event should be viewed in the context of continental expulsions (albeit of a lesser scope) at the same time, such as the expulsion of Jews from Gascony. Pp. 291-302 contain the texts of three anti-Jewish edicts, including the "Statute of the Jewry" of 1275. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)