Editing Edict of Expulsion (section)

==Background==
{{main article|History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)}}

The first Jewish communities in the [[Kingdom of England]] were recorded some time after the [[Norman Conquest]] in 1066, moving from [[William the Conqueror]]'s towns in northern France.{{sfn|Roth|1964|p=4}} Jews were viewed as being under the direct jurisdiction and property of the king,<ref name="Glassman_1975_14">{{harvnb|Glassman|1975|p=14}}</ref> making them subject to his whims. The monarch could tax or imprison Jews as he wished, without reference to anyone else.<ref name="Rubinstein_1996_36">{{harvnb|Rubinstein|1996|p=36}}.</ref>{{efn|The Church held that Jews were condemned to servitude for the crime of crucifying Christ, while they did not convert. This carried over into legal formulations.<ref>{{harvnb|Langmuir|1990|pp=294-5}}, {{harvnb|Hyams|1974|pp=287-8}}</ref> Because Jews were treated as the sole property and jurisdiction of the Crown,<ref name="Glassman_1975_14">{{harvnb|Glassman|1975|p=14}}</ref> they were placed in an ambivalent legal position. They were not tied to a particular lord but were subject to the king's whims, which could be either advantageous or disadvantageous. Every successive king formally reviewed a [[royal charter]], granting Jews the right to remain in England; Jews did not enjoy any of the guarantees of [[Magna Carta]] of 1215.<ref name="Rubinstein_1996_36">{{harvnb|Rubinstein|1996|p=36}}.</ref>}} A very small number of Jews were wealthy because Jews were allowed to lend money at interest while the Church forbade Christians from doing so, which was regarded as the sin of [[usury]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=374-8}}, {{harvnb|Huscroft|2006|pp=76-7}}</ref> Capital was in short supply and necessary for development, including investment in monastic construction and allowing aristocrats to pay heavy taxes to the crown, so Jewish loans played an important economic role,<ref>{{harvnb|Mundill|2010|pp=25, 42}}, {{harvnb|Stacey|1994|p=101}}, {{harvnb|Singer|1964|p=118}}</ref> although they were also used to finance consumption, particularly among overstretched, landholding Knights.{{sfn|Hyams|1974|p=291}}

The Church's highest authority, the [[Holy See]], had placed restrictions on the mixing of Jews with Christians, and at the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran|Fourth Lateran Council]] in 1215 had mandated the wearing of distinctive clothing such as {{lang|la|tabula}} or [[Jewish badges]].{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=364–365}} These measures were adopted in England at the [[Synod of Oxford]] in 1222. Church leaders made the first allegations of [[blood libel|ritual child sacrifice]], such as crucifixions at Easter in mockery of Christ, and the accusations began to develop into themes of conspiracy and occult practices. [[Henry III of England|King Henry III]] backed allegations made against Jews of Lincoln after the death of a boy named Hugh, who soon became known as [[Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln|Little Saint Hugh]].{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=46-7}} Such stories coincided with the rise of hostility within the Church to the Jews.{{sfn|Langmuir|1990|p=298}}

Discontent increased after the Crown destabilised the loans and debt market. Loans were typically secured through bonds that entitled the lender to the debtor's land holdings. Interest rates were relatively high and debtors tended to be in arrears. Repayments and actual interest paid were a matter for negotiation and it was unusual for a Jewish lender to foreclose debts.<ref>{{harvnb|Tolan|2023|p=140}}, {{harvnb|Hyams|1974|p=289}}</ref> As the Crown overtaxed Jews, they were forced to sell their debt bonds at reduced prices to quickly raise cash. Rich courtiers would buy the cut-price bonds, and could call in the loans and demand the lands that had secured the loans.{{sfn|Hyams|1974|p=291}} This caused the transfer of the land wealth of indebted knights and others, especially from the 1240s, as the taxation of Jews became unsustainably high.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parsons|1995|pp=123, 149-51}}, {{Harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=13, 364}}, {{Harvnb|Morris|2009|p=86}}, {{harvnb|Tolan|2023|pp=140, 170}}, {{harvnb|Hyams|1974|p=291}}</ref> Leaders like [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]] then used anger at the dispossession of middle-ranking landowners to fuel antisemitic violence at London, where 500 Jews died; [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]; [[Canterbury]]; and many other towns.{{sfn|Mundill|2002|pp=41-42}} In the 1270s and 1280s, [[Eleanor of Castile|Queen Eleanor]] amassed vast lands and properties through this process, causing widespread resentment and conflict with the Church, which viewed her acquisitions as profiting from usury.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|p=13}} By 1275, as the result of punitive taxation, the crown had eroded the Jewish community's wealth to the extent taxes produced little return.<ref>{{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=364-5}}, {{harvnb|Huscroft|2006|pp=90-91}}</ref>{{efn|Taxation by the King of 20,000 marks in 1241, £40,000 in 1244, £50,000 twice in 1250, meant taxation in 1240-55 amounted to triple the taxation raised in 1221-39. Bonds were seized for a fraction of their value when cash payments could not be met, resulting in land wealth being transferred to courtiers. Further large sums were demanded in the 1270s, but receipts declined sharply.<ref>{{harvnb|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=364–5}}</ref>}}

===Steps towards expulsion===
{{see also|History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)#Edward I and the Expulsion}}

The first major step towards expulsion took place in 1275 with the [[Statute of the Jewry]], which outlawed all lending at interest and allowed Jews to lease land, which had previously been forbidden. This right was granted for the following 15 years, supposedly giving Jews a period to readjust;{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|p=345}} this was an unrealistic expectation because entry to other trades was generally restricted.{{sfn|Huscroft|2006|pp=118-20}} [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] attempted to convert Jews by compelling them to listen to Christian preachers.{{sfn|Tolan|2023|p=172}} 

[[File:Extract of the Statute of Jewry, c. 1275.jpg|left|thumb|alt=Text of a statute in Latin|Extract of the [[Statute of the Jewry]], {{circa|1275}}]] 

The Church took further action, for example [[John Peckham]] the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] campaigned to suppress seven London synagogues in 1282.{{sfn|Tolan|2023|pp=172-3}} In late 1286, [[Pope Honorius IV]] addressed a special letter or "rescript" to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury claiming Jews had an evil effect on religious life in England through free interaction with Christians, and calling for action to be taken to prevent it. Honorius's demands were restated at the Synod of Exeter.{{sfn|Tolan|2023|pp=177-8}}

Jews were targeted in the [[History of the Jews in England (1066–1290)#Coin clipping crisis|coin clipping crisis]] of the late 1270s, when over 300 Jews—over 10% of England's Jewish population—were sentenced to death for interfering with the currency.{{sfn|Rokéah|1988|p=98}} The Crown profited from seized assets and payments of fines by those who were not executed, raising at least £16,500.{{sfn|Rokéah|1988|pp=91—92}}{{efn|The total raised includes fines from Christians, but it is believed the vast majority of this sum was raised from Jews.{{sfn|Rokéah|1988|pp=91—92}} [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|UK's National Archives]] estimates £16,500 as being equivalent to around £11.5m in modern terms.{{sfn|National Archives|2024}}}} While it is unclear how impoverished the Jewish community was in these last years, historian Henry Richardson notes Edward did not impose any further taxation from 1278 until the late 1280s.{{sfn|Richardson|1960|p=216}} It appears some Jewish moneylenders continued to lend money against future delivery of goods to avoid usury restrictions, a practice that was wholly known to the Crown because debts had to be recorded in a government ''{{lang|la|archa}}'' or chest where debts were recorded.{{efn|The sherrif in each town kept an [[:wiktionary:archa#Latin|''archa'']] or "chest" with an official Jewry to record debts held by Jews of that town. Jews were only allowed to live in a town with an {{lang|la|archa}}; in this way, the Crown could easily assess the wealth and taxability of Jews across the country. {{lang|la|Archae}} had been seized and destroyed during pogroms organised by [[Simon de Montfort]] and his supporters in the 1260s.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=95-7}}}} Others found ways to continue trading and it is likely others left the country.{{sfn|Huscroft|2006|pp=140—42}}

===Expulsion of the Jews from Gascony===
{{see also|Expulsions and exoduses of Jews}}

Local or temporary expulsions of Jews had taken place in other parts of Europe,{{efn|In France and Brittany, for example, but usually Jews were able to return after a few years<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|2009|p=226}}</ref>}} and regularly in England. For example, Simon de Montfort expelled the Jews of [[Leicester]] in 1231,{{sfn|Mundill|2002|p=60}} and in 1275, Edward I had permitted the [[Eleanor of Provence|Queen mother Eleanor]] to expel Jews from her lands and towns.{{sfn|Huscroft|2006|pp=146-7}}{{efn|Eleanor's [[dower]] towns included Marlborough, Gloucester, Worcester and Cambridge. Other expulsions took place in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Warwick, Wycombe (1234), Northamptonshire (1237), Newbury (1243), Derby (1261), Romsey (1266), Winchelsea (1273), Bridgnorth (1274), Windsor (1283). Under their town charters, Jews were forbidden from entering any of the new north-Welsh boroughs Edward I created.{{sfn|Hillaby|Hillaby|2013|pp=141-43}}}}

In 1287, Edward I was in his French provinces in the [[Duchy of Gascony]] while trying to negotiate the release of his cousin [[Charles of Salerno]], who was being held captive in [[Aragon]].{{sfn|Huscroft|2006|p=145}} On Easter Sunday, Edward broke his collarbone in an {{convert|80|foot|m|adj=on}} fall, and was confined to bed for several months.{{sfn|Tolan|2023|p=180}} Soon after his recovery, Edward ordered the expulsion of local Jews from Gascony.{{sfn|Prestwich|1997|p=306}} His immediate motivation may have been the need to generate funds for Charles' release,<ref>{{harvnb|Prestwich|1997|p=346}}, {{harvnb|Richardson|1960|pp=225-7}}</ref> but many historians, including [[Richard Huscroft]], have said the money raised by seizures from exiled Jews was negligible and that it was given away to [[mendicant orders]] (i.e. friars), and therefore see the expulsion as a "thank-offering" for Edward's recovery from his injury.<ref>{{harvnb|Huscroft|2006|pp=145-6}}, {{harvnb|Tolan|2023|pp=180-81}}, {{harvnb|Morris|2009|p=226}}, {{harvnb|Dorin|2023|p=159}}</ref>

After his release, in 1289, Charles of Salerno expelled Jews from his territories in [[Maine (province)|Maine]] and [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], accusing them of "dwelling randomly" with the Christian population and cohabiting with Christian women. He linked the expulsion to general taxation of the population as "recompense" for lost income. Edward and Charles may have learnt from each other's experience.<ref>{{harvnb|Huscroft|2006|pp=146-149}}, {{harvnb|Tolan|2023|pp=181-82}}, {{harvnb|Morris|2009|p=227}}, {{harvnb|Dorin|2023|p=160}}</ref>