Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Contributors
- Editor's Preface and Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Moment and Memory of the York Massacre of 1190
- Part I The Events of March 1190
- Part II Jews among Christians in Medieval England
- 6 Faith, Fealty and Jewish ‘infideles’ in Twelfth-Century England
- 7 The ‘Archa’ System and its Legacy after 1194
- 8 Making Agreements, with or without Jews, in Medieval England and Normandy
- 9 An Ave Maria in Hebrew: the Transmission of Hebrew Learning from Jewish to Christian Scholars in Medieval England
- 10 The Talmudic Community of Thirteenth-Century England
- 11 Notions of Jewish Service in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England
- Part III Representations
- Afterword: Violence, Memory and the Traumatic Middle Ages
- Bibliography
- Index
- York Medieval Press: Publications
11 - Notions of Jewish Service in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England
from Part II - Jews among Christians in Medieval England
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Contributors
- Editor's Preface and Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: The Moment and Memory of the York Massacre of 1190
- Part I The Events of March 1190
- Part II Jews among Christians in Medieval England
- 6 Faith, Fealty and Jewish ‘infideles’ in Twelfth-Century England
- 7 The ‘Archa’ System and its Legacy after 1194
- 8 Making Agreements, with or without Jews, in Medieval England and Normandy
- 9 An Ave Maria in Hebrew: the Transmission of Hebrew Learning from Jewish to Christian Scholars in Medieval England
- 10 The Talmudic Community of Thirteenth-Century England
- 11 Notions of Jewish Service in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England
- Part III Representations
- Afterword: Violence, Memory and the Traumatic Middle Ages
- Bibliography
- Index
- York Medieval Press: Publications
Summary
‘The King has provided and ordained etc.: That no Jew remain in England unless he do the King service, and that from the hour of birth every Jew, whether male or female, serve Us in some way’, were the opening words of Henry III's Statute concerning the Jews of 1253. Less than twenty-five years later in 1275 Edward I had forbidden moneylending, the very form of service with which Jews had paid for the privilege of residing in the kingdom. In 1290 Edward expelled what was left of the rapidly depleting Jewish community in exchange for a magnificent sum from his Christian subjects to reward him for his action. Ironically, the last time the Jews served the king they did this through the cancellation of their very service and their expulsion from the land. Although Henry II had exploited them ruthlessly enough for much of his reign, the Jews of England had at least benefited from the way he had favoured their stake in the business of moneylending over that of their Christian competitors. How and why did the notion of Jewish service change from the time of Henry II to Edward I? How could the same notion lead to such different conclusions? And, crucially, what did the Jews themselves think about the serving role Christians had created for them?
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- Information
- Christians and Jews in Angevin EnglandThe York Massacre of 1190, Narratives and Contexts, pp. 204 - 221Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013