IV.4 - The Jews

Summary

The Jews arrived in England in 1066 and succeeded in building up a successful livelihood. By the end of Henry II's reign some two dozen Jewish communities had come into being. By the end of the twelfth century a Jewish financial network had spread from London, where the first Norman Jews had settled after the Conquest, to Norwich and Lincoln and reached into the developing areas around York. Jewish prosperity owed much to Henry II's actions against the English moneyers and foreign Christian moneylenders like William Cade. By 1180 moneylending, rather than money changing or business in plate, had become the main financial occupation of English Jews. They enjoyed the king's backing, for rather than seek credit from them, he targeted their profits as a ready source for royal taxation. The complexities and shortcomings of this backing would become obvious in the pogroms of 1189/90. Richard's 1194 Ordinance of the Jews began to put in place the stringent royal control of all aspects of Jewish business which was to become the peculiar characteristic of English Jewish life before their expulsion in 1290.

It is likely that William the Conqueror brought Jews from Rouen to London on account of their expertise in trade of luxury items and their experience in money changing and supplying moneyers with plate to mint coins. The Anglo-Saxon kings seem to have decided not to follow this route.