The Expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. This essay traces the long rise and fall of the Jews in medieval England, beginning with their arrival after the Norman Conquest and ending with their expulsion under Edward I in 1290. It asks a central historical puzzle: why a debt-ridden king would drive out a community that generated revenue and stood under royal chartered protection. The answer unfolds through a world of dependence and isolation, as Jewish families became indispensable lenders to kings, nobles, and litigants while remaining socially separate in language, religion, law, and daily life. Crusading fervor, the blood libel, and the murder legends around William of Norwich turned prejudice into violence, erupting in massacres at Richard I's coronation and spreading to York, Lincoln, Bury St. Edmunds, and other towns. Royal protection soon hardened into control, with the crown taxing, confiscating, and regulating Jewish wealth as a financial asset. Yet towns, barons, and poorer debtors increasingly sought to exclude or exploit them, driving Jews into dangerous financial practices, shrinking legal livelihoods, and finally forcing many toward trade in the wool market.