THE

Children's Jewish Advocate.

MARCH 1, 1865.

STORIES OF THE JEWS IN ENGLAND SINCE THE CONQUEST.

WHEN the riot was put down in London, which was not done without some trouble on the king's part, it was taken up in various country towns, and the Jews were treated in many places in the manner we have described in London.

Without the same excuse which the mob had there, of the Jews being present without leave at the coronation of the king, riots broke out at Norwich, at Stamford, at Lincoln, and other places.

At Stamford it was on the occasion of a great public fair, which drew together large numbers of people. Among the rest there came many persons who were preparing to go with king Richard to the Holy Land, to fight in the war

;1

of the Crusades. This war, as you know, was undertaken in order to rescue the Holy Sepulchre, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was buried, out of the hands of the Saracens, who were at that time in possession of the country of Palestine. The wars required large supplies of men and money, and in order to induce them to come forward with these, the people of England were wickedly taught to believe that the war was a holy one, and that those who were killed in fighting in the cause of the Crusades were sure to go to heaven. This made the ignorant misled people look on those who had devoted themselves to these wars as holy, and however wicked their actions might be, to look up to them with awe and respect.

These zealous Crusaders, then, thinking it not right that they, going to fight in this holy cause, should be obliged to take the very necessaries of life from their own families to supply the expenses of the voyage, while the Jews, whom they regarded as the enemies of Christ, had plenty of wealth, persuaded themselves that they should be doing well, if they first cut all their throats and then seized their money.

So ready are men to believe what seems to be for their own advantage!

Accordingly they flew upon them with great vigour, and finding very little resistance, quickly made themselves masters of their persons and fortunes. They put the poor wretches to death with the greatest cruelty, secured all the money they could, and without any delay set sail for Jerusalem.

One man, indeed, being heavily laden with treasure thus unjustly got, travelled no farther than Northampton, where he foolishly spent his money so fast that it attracted the attention of the master of the inn; he happening to have no more conscience than himself, killed him in order to possess himself of the money, and threw his body out upon a heap of rubbish, where it lay for many days; till the wise people of the town, hearing that the person so murdered was one who was setting out on the holy crusade, had him buried at some cost, called him a martyr, and began to perform their devotions at his tomb. But the bishop of the diocese happening to be a prudent man, declared him a rogue, which he certainly was, and forbade their foolish practices.

But the place where the most remarkable of these events took place was York, where the people attacked the house of a Jew named Benedict, who had already fallen a victim to their cruelty in London. They set fire to several

of

parts of the town of York, and then assaulted this house, where still lived the wife and children of the unfortunate Benedict, and many his relations. Having got into the house, they murdered every one they found, and burnt it to the ground.

This barbarous action alarmed the rest of the Jews in the town, and they, under the guidance of a friend of Benedict, one Jocenus, a man of great wealth, went to the governor of the castle, and put themselves under his protection.

This was no sooner done, than the house of Jocenus, which he had just left, was treated in the same manner as the other, and any persons who had not fled to the castle for safety were massacred and put to the sword, except those who would at once consent to be baptized; and so powerful is the fear of death, that several of them, it is said, consented.

The anger of the multitude in some measure subsiding, those in the castle began to think the storm over, and that it would be succeeded by a perfect calm. But while they thus waited in their stronghold till they could be quite sure it was safe to depart, the governor happened one day to go out some cunning person, contrived a plan by which they should make enemies of those who now so well protected