out of greediness of gain rob rifle and pillage and setting them on fire get them to their ships hoise up sails and away they go Thus God raises up even strangers who came thither to trade to scourge this crooked and rebellious people The next place which took the alarum was S. Holinsh Edmundsbury in Suffolk on the 15 of March and the 2 of the King when they being no less hated for their cruel oppression are set upon by the people plundred and slain Things were sooner composed here by the care of the Abbot and the residue of the Jews expelled the Town never to return thither again At Stamford and at Lin also at the same time were great stirs all places desiring nothing more then to be rid of these their guests But the greatest commotion was at York Mat. Paris alii when the hand of God severely punished their stubbornness and cruelty There March the 17. in the same year the people envying the happiness of those Towns who so used them set most violently upon them forcing them for safety to take their heels Hence four or five hundred fly to Towers to save themselves where being besieged and seeing little hopes to escape the danger one of their Rabbies makes an Oration to them exhorting them rather to kill one another then fall into their hands who opposed their Law He begins first cuts his wives throat whose name was Anna next his childrens then his friends and lastly his own the rest follow his example throwing their slain relations over upon their Christians heads Some in another Tower hearing what was become of these set the place and themselves on fire calling upon their companions hard by to do the like but these esteeming better of their lives then so offer to yield on condition that for turning Christians and being baptized they might have them spared This is agreed upon and concluded but they coming out were most perfidiously cruelly butchered malice and passion breaking the bounds of faith given After this massacre the people run to the Cathedral get all their Bonds and Obligations into their hands by which they had bound many a man unto them so unreasonably as if the Authors were not of credit which report it it were incredible But all these a fire being made in the midst of the Church they reduce to ashes Now the King was beyond the Seas Mat. Paris alii on his way to Palestine but receiving this news hears it with great indignation fretting that his orders being so little observed his authority should be so much infringed as also for that he had received upon his setting forwards great sums of money from the Jews wherefore he sends his commands to the Bishop of Ely to see these insurrections severely punished The Bishop according to these injunctions marches down to York with agreat Army but mist his prey the chief Actors in the Tragedy being fled into Scotland upon the rumor of his coming The Magistrates and chief Citizens excused themselves as not accessary to the fact which was committed principally by the Souldiers who being crossed and gathered together were to pass over to the King and follow him on his expedition and other Countrey people which flocked thither from the Towns near adjoyning But the stout Bishop would not be satisfied with this put off but fleeced the Citizens the multitude being pardoned for that the Ring-leaders of the rout were fled away The Inhabitants of Lin excused themselves laying the matter upon the Sailers and had little said unto them In the fixth year of this Kings reign 1194. Rog Hoved. in Rich. 1. were Justices Itinerant sent throughout the Land in September Amongst other Instructions this is given them in charge to enquire diligently of murthers of Jews of the Jews Pledges Goods Lands and Writings Commissioners and places are appointed to inroll all their Debts Pledges Lands Rents and Possessions and great penalties appointed to the breakers of these orders according to that above-mentioned that they and all theirs are the Kings All this while these several Kings bore with them by reason of the profit which redounded to their coffers yet no great damage did they hitherto suffer But now their actions rendring them more and more obnoxious as well as their Religion and having hoarded up abundance of wealth to the undoing of the subject from henceforth they become a prey to the Prince as often as his necessities call upon him who knowing where to have supply forces them always by strong hand to disgorge themselves which provoking them for recruit to double their diligence the people come to pay for it at the last Now had King John succeeded his brother Matth. Westin a Prince sufficiently covetous and griping Being in want or at least pretending it in his eleventh year 1210 he commands all the Jews of both Sexes throughout his Kingdom to be apprehended imprisons them and inflicts great punishments upon them that they might empty themselves to fill his purse some he commands to have an eye pull'd out one at Bristol being more resolute then his fellows stands it out refusing to redeem his liberty at so great a rate as the King required He to take a speedy and certain way with him as he thought Matth. Paris K. John in the first of his raign granted them such a priviledge as can scarce be paralleld making one Jacob of Londâ—n High Priest that so they might acrifice which else could not be done J â—ook commanded he should every day as long as he refused to submit have a tooth pull'd out of his head The poor man had but eight in all stood out seven days then having but one tooth left him to save that agrees to the Kings demand and pays the money By this time their iniquities were grown so high that they were counted a burden to the earth on which they trod no rising no stir but part of it must fall upon them In the Wars betwixt the King and Barons the City of London was taken by the Barons men who presently breaking in fall upon the Jews destroy them as the common plague and rase their houses down to the ground Stows survey of the stones of which Ludgate was afterwards partly repaired as appeared by an inscription in a stone when the gate was builded the last time King John after this leaves this life Sâ—â—ed and his Kingdom also to a childe in a sad condition Now was Lewis the Dolphin in England and the royal prerogative in the hands of the Barons yet by the honesty and prudence of the Earl of Pembrook all things were reduced to a quiet state and condition the aliens expelled and peâ—ce setled The Jews during his non-age were little molested but in his 14. year 1230. they did sufficiently smart K. H 3. is for France and wanting money whither should be betake himself but to their purses he gets the third part of all their
Jews Matth. Westm as so many locusts had before commanded whilst beyond the seas that the parts of Aquitain should likewise be swept of them Thus I have proceeded as an Historian keeping close to that way according as I am informed by our Writers And hereupon I am not ignorant that some there are and that not without reason who may deny their assent to what is said concerning their expulsion being induced to believe the contrary by greater authority then this report The Oracle of Law in his time pronouncing no Statute to have been made for their banishment Judge Cook in the second part of his Institutes upon the Statute De Judaismo affirms there was none but onely that which was for the taking avvay their Usury upon vvhich they left the Land as he conceives being so deprived of their Trade or way of life I have not arrived at that height of arrogance as to oppose so great a man especially in his own way but yet shall tender something to consideration as I am warranted by History whereby I hope I shall escape the hazard of being thought to break the bounds of modesty being found onely in that way in which at first I set forward Our Historians all with joynt consent affirm them to have been actually banished or expelled many of whose words I shall first set down and then see onely what they might seem further to hint unto us Matthew of Westminster Vide Balecâ—n descript Ang. an approved * Augusti 31. Judaeorum exasperans multitudo quae per diversas urbes castra fortia habitabat per retroacta tempora confidenter jussa est cum uxoribus parvulis suis unà cuÌ„ bonis suis mobilibus cedere circa festum omnium Sanctorum quod eis prâ— termino ponebatur quem sub poena suspendii transgredi non est ausa quorum numerus erat ut credebatur 16511. Exierat antea tale edictum à laudabili rege Anglorum in partibus Aquitaniae à quâ omnes Judaei pariter exulabant Author in his Flores Historiarum at the 1290. year of our Lord hath these words Aug. 31. Judaeorum exasperans multitudo c. On the third day of August the exasperating multitude of Jews which in times past had lived confidently in divers Cities and strong Towns is commanded with their wives children and moveables to depart England about the Feast of All-Saints which is set as the utmost limit of their continuance which under pain of hanging they durst not pass the number of whom was thought to be 16511. Such a Decree had gone out before from the commendable King of England in the parts of Aquitain out of which in like maner the Jevvs vvere banished So he Thomas Walsingham in his Hypodigma Neustriae writes thus Rex Angliae reversus de Wasconia c. * Rex Angliae reversus de Wasconia Londoniis solemniter reeipitur à clero omni plebe Qui Judaeos omnes eodem anne expellens de Anglia datis expensis in Gallias bona corum reliqua confiscavit The King of England being returned out of Gascoign is solemnly received by the Clergy and all the people at London who the same year expelling all the Jews out of England giving them to bear their charges over into France confiscated the rest of their goods and Polydor. Virgil in his seventeenth Book at the 1290. year of Christ delivers the matter thus Anno deinde qui c. * Anno deinde qui insecutus est Concilium Londâ—â— ad Westmonasterium â—aâ—e â—aâ— in quâ— imgrimis agitata est Judaenum ejectio quorum erat per omnâ—m Angliam ingâ—â— multitudo quâ—â—â— oves abâ—aeâ—â—ts segregarentur Itaque publico edicto jussum est ut â—atra 〈◊〉 dies â—mpeâ— abiâ—ent cum bonis illi jussis concilii parentâ— aliâ—â—â—â— dis esserunt Then in the year which followed a Council was held at Westminster in which first of all is debated the ejection of the Jews of which there was throughout England a great multitude that so the sheep might be separated from the goats Therefore it is commanded by a publique Edict that within a few days all should depart with their goods they obeying the command of the Council went divers ways thus far Polydor who useth the word Concilium for that we call Parliament it with other words being as a great * 〈◊〉 R. Cotton Antiquary observes an usual term in ancient Authors for that thing Polychronicon lib. 7. cap. 38. saith the Jews were put out of England and never came again Stow in his Annals writes that this year all the Jews were banished this Land for which the Commons gave a fifteenth In like manner writes Hollnshead expresly that they were banished by act of Parliament and that a Fifteenth was granted to the King to have them expelled that all their goods not moveable were confiscate with their Tallies and Obligations all their other moveables of gold and silver the King licensed them to convey with them that they could never since obtain a priviledge to return and with these concurreth Speed who tels us that the King to purge England whither he was now returned from such corruptions and oppressions as under which it groaned and not neglecting therein his particular gain banished the Jews out of the realm confiscating all their goods leaving them nothing but money to bear their charges * Florilegus Dunstable Others might be brought who testifie the same thing neither is there any Historian that I know who denies it Now strange it is that all these should be misacquainted and mistaken that those of the near adjoyning times to their departure should so grosly erre and that those who lived in the same time should deliver to posterity so great a falshood For if any had reported their departure to have been voluntary it might have been found out by some of those who succeeded and had their gatherings from them Matthew of Westminster sets down the day the Act should be made for their expulsion mentions the time set as the utmost bound of their continuance and withall the penalty or punishment they were to suffer even hanging if found hereafter and that the King had made such a decree before for banishing them the parts of Aquitaine a strange thing that he should so grosly erre in so many circumstances Walsingham writes that the King returned home that he was met by the Clergy and all the people and that this year they were expelled Polydor * Illi jussis concilii parentes alii aliò discesserunt saith it was by Parliament by its publike Edict and that they obeying its commands departed hinting unto us the end that so the sheep might be separated from the Goats Polychyronicon saith they were put out of Stow that they were banished out of England Holinshead and Speed use the same term this last adding also the Kings design which was to purge the Land from such corruptions
movables Hollinsh and away he goes What people in the world would not have laid these things to heart and striven by the amendment of their lives to have hindred succeeding plagues but wretched is that people which commits iniquity by a Law and whose very principles of Religion prompts them to horrid and unlawful actions They count it no sin but rather the contrary even to commit murder so they can but thereby scoff at and deride the Christian profession Some five years after the Kings going into France keeping his Christmass at Westminster seven Jews are brought before him by one Tolie Matth. Westm and grievously accused They had gotten a childe at Norwich and had circumcised him calling him Jeremiah 〈◊〉 Virg. 〈◊〉 16. Mat. Paris kept him a year together intending to crucifie him at Easter when they should meet together for that purpose The thing was confessed by them and they thereupon cast into prison abiding there the Kings pleasure Now begun this Prince to be sore pinched with want Coming to the Crown so extream young Sir Rob. Cotton he wanted that experience which others might attain who having not so much of their will at first by discipline with years might gather experience His Minions cost him dear he flew to that height in lavishments that at last he was constrained to break up house and betake himself to the Monks to take his Commons This could not but turn to the Jews cost and disâ—â—â—â—â— He so orders the matter 〈◊〉 that one Abraham found to be a delinquent redeems himself with 7000. marks and Aaron protests the King hath since his last being in France taken from him at times 30000. marks besides 200. of gold given to the Queen In the year 1239. they are grievously fined again paying the fifth part of all their movables They had committed a murder secretly and the King takes hence occasion to empty their purses imploying Geofrey Templar Mat Paris one of his Minions in the Collection About this time also they are reported to have done over that at Norwich again which they did some 4. years before circumcising another childe whom they called Jurnin who is also destined by them to the Cross But the just God turned the mischief upon their own heads the childe being in time discovered whilest his father heard him crying in the Jews house William de Raele the Bishop with other of the Nobility being inraged for the fact apprehend all that live in the Town The Jews pretending the Kings protection the Bishop answers It belongs not to the King but to the Church to Judge this matter of Circumcision wherefore four of them being drawn at horses tails to the place of execution Krantzius 〈…〉 receive their reward At Prague also they are said this year to have crucified a Christian And that which shewed their faithfulness sufficiently and procured them hatred not in the least degree Holinâ—s h. 〈…〉 and Fox Acts and Woâ—â—n was that in the year 1253. at Northampton they combined together and that for the destruction of that City which first harboured them preparing to set even the City of London on fire This could not but enrage much yet having entred such courses as rendred them more then odious they are resolved to go on though to their own destruction But what they intended to do to the City they suffer themselves for many of them being taken in the same Town where they hatcht their design are themselves reduced to ashes in the time of Lent And this year also were they expelled out of France Matth. Westm by command of King Philip who then warred in their ancient Countrey Matth. Paris The Saracens there expostulating with him for his violence offered to themselves who never injured Christ upbraid him with the fostering them in his realm who were his murderers The cause was religion and he thought all things reflecting upon it were to be removed to stop therefore the Saracens mouths this people must quit their habitations King Henry was now about this time beyond the Seas making a visit to his French Dominions Matth. Paris and there wanting money sends over his brother Richard to procure it The Nobility for the most part plainly deny to help him with any but as for the Jews they are a sure refuge they are fleeced at all hands and they might thank their purses that here they lived Not long after returning home and having spent an incredible sum of money in his journey and thereby contracted a great debt being put off by his Barons he betakes himself again to his never failing treasury he squeezes the Jews again and yet having pressed out almost both blood and moisture turns them over unto his brother He pittying their condition little molests them but upon pawns supplies the King with a great sum of money But what shall we say to a people that is given up to a reprobate minde and commits iniquity with greediness whom neither fear of God of the Laws love unto mankinde nor the dictates of humanity can bridle and restrain whose blindness is such whose stubborness is so great that no experience can remedy no affliction can lessen They are not yet satisfied with Christian blood they will rather venture all then not vent their malice against Christian profession They have another annual Tragedy to act and Lincoln for this year must be the Stage There in that City in the year 1255. they get a child into their hands of eighteen years of age whom after many cruel whippings scourgings and tortures they again crucifie and murder Marth Paris Hollinsh alii In derision of Christ a Pilate is made before whom he is brought accused and condemned suffering their malice in the same manner as our Savior had done before they imitating as near as they can their ancestors in this their horrid and abominable act Being dead the childe is thrown into a well near the house where this butchery was committed The poor woman missing her son and inquiring after him finds he was seen playing last before that door with the Jews children and hence upon suspition the well is searched and the body found The man of the house being apprehended and examined by John Lexinton upon promise of pardon confesses the murder acknowledges it to be their custom every year to crucifie a child but very secretly and therefore not easie to be discovered The King would not suffer the man to live but presently commands his execution when coming to die he accuses most of the Jews in England as accessory to the Fact it being their custom upon notice given most of them to meet upon such a wicked occasion In Sovember an hundred two were carried up to the King being â—hen at Westminster thence were commanded to the Tower of these afterwards 18. were hanged the rest remain'd long time in prison The body of the child whose name was Hugh was honorably
buried in the Cathedral and he ever after accounted a Martyr About two years after hapned a thing in Teuxbury Hollinsh Mat. Paris which perhaps might as well be omitted as spoken of It chanced there that a Jew fell into a Jakes on Saturday which being their Sabboth he would not that day be drawn out for breaking of it The Earl of Glocester hearing this news forbids him to be taken out the next on Sunday for that neither he said should the Christian Sabboth be broken by him whereupon the poor man lying there till Munday miserably died Of this story I have read these verses rimed according to the Poetry of that age Christian Tende manus Solomon ut te de stercore tollam Jew Sabatta sancta colo de stercore surgere nolo Christian Sabatta nostra quidem Solomon celebrabis ibidem In the year 1262. and of this Henry the 3. the 47. Holinsh Stows survey a Jew little remembring into what a tickle condition their deserts had brought them wounds a Christian within Colechurch in the Ward of Cheap He is pursued home to his house by the multitude and there slain with whose life yet they would not be satisfied But going on in their fury they break up and pillage the houses of that Nation and kill divers so full were the Londoners of prejudice and spight against them that upon all occasions they could not buâ— discover it But not onely against their persons do they rage The publike toleration of their Religion was also a great offence to them running therefore to their Synagogue at the west side of Olaves Jury where they for the most part lived they utterly destroy it The ground being afterwards by the King given away became the seat of Friers next of a Nobleman then of a Merchant and since that of the Windmil Tavern But now ere long the sparks of discontent and grudges betwixt the King Barons were quite blown up into a flame Sir 〈◊〉 Conor His lavishments and neglect in administration of Justice had subjected him to their plots and combinations and betwixt both parties sprung a more then civil War The Barons had gotten the hearts of the Citizens who easily drawn with the promises of freedom and reformation of abuses took their part but the Jews loving neither in reality clave to the King sufficiently knowing their own interest in this matter though at other times they could take no warning but by their abominable actions drew still upon themselves one plague at the heels of another But here they saw on whom they depended what it was that kept them here and what they might expect if the Barons should prove victorious Holinsh 〈…〉 Accordingly therefore in the year 1264. they that inhabite in London resolving to do what they may plot the destruction of Barons and Citizens altogether But nothing except desolation and misery attending them they are detected hereof almost all slain their houses ransack'd abundance of treasure being therein found scraped up together But within a while providence had decided the civil quarrel Holiash giving the victory unto the King whereupon a Parliament was called and many turned out of their estates being proscribed by Law Divers of those disinherited Gentlemen being thus out-lawed and sore repining at their condition betake themselves to the Isse of Oxholm whither resorts a multitude of the baser sort who rob and risle the places near adjoyning and act according to the custom of men carried by necessity and desperation Now Lincoln being not far distant is taken and sacked by them wherein not unmindeful of the publique enemy the Jews they run to their Synagogue which they burn together with their Law and many of them in it thinking it even sin if to their other robberies they should not add this of spoiling them who in that place had broken the bounds of all humanity and thereby deserved many deaths And now we come to the last passage we meet with during the long raign of this King Things seeming to be prettily settled yet clouds begin to gather again The Earl of Glocester is unsatisfied with affairs and therefore must up and make way for better fortune by his sword He comes up to London and gets possession of the City The Jews then their wives and children being sensible of the approaching of their ruine with the Popes Legat flock into the tower of which they have a part assigned them to defend But things being after a while composed they also for a while enjoy quietness and security Now began the English liberty from these incroachers to draw on amain for in the year 1272. King Edward the first had ascended the throne succeeding his father Their oppressions were now grown so intollerable that longer they could not be endured the people of England being almost ready to quit their dwellings and leave them their habitations * Math. West Edv. rex ad Parlamentum Westmonasterii omnes Nobiles regnt sui jusserat congregari in quo Statuta multa ad utilitatem regni fuerunt publicata inter quae Judaeis fuit interdicta effraenatlicentia usurandi Et ut possent à Christianis discerni praecepit rex quod instar tabularum unius palmaelongitudinem signâ—i ferrent in exterioribus indumentis Therefore in the third of the King a Parliament is called and in it amongst other things their unreasonable usury is restrained by Law and for that they are accounted unworthy of any charitable thought they are ordered to wear plates in their clothes clear to be seen that every one might take notice who they were But that they cannot get one way they will have another the measure of their iniquities was not yet compleat and therefore they run on still to their own destruction Would any people under the cope of heaven having had so many warnings undergone so many troubles suffered such massacres yet go on as if to make amends and procure themselves safety was to heap guilt upon guilt and adde treachery to violence But in the year 1278. and the sixth of the King they wash Matth. Westm Paris clip and counterfeit his coyn as they had done before in the reign of Henry the second Being apprehended they likewise accuse the Christians as accessary At London nigh 300 are executed amongst whom there were three Christians many being also put to death in other places King Edward Holinshed according to the tenor of their hold here in England and their obnoxiousness to which their actions had reduced them counted all they had his own and for non-payment of what was demanded the whole generation scattered through the whole Land are shut up in one night where they enjoyed no day until they had fined at his pleasure The Commons now offered to the King the fifth part of their moveables to have them banished 〈◊〉 but this Prince having this opportunity his Predecessors wanted of their vying with one another
and oppressions as under which it groaned and also to fill his own Coffers which was done pretty well partly by the confiscating of their goods which all or most mention as also by the Fifteenth granted him by the Commons to purchase their banishment which some aver We read that about the year 1286. the Commons before offered the King the fifth part of their moveables to expel them and it cannot but be likely they would also desire the same at this Parliament for though usury was the main thing under which they groaned yet there were other things they could not but be sensible enough of viz. Crucisying of children and their great spight to Christian profession with their late spoiling of the coyn And scarce could this other Act against their usury only give them hopes sufficient that thence they would be driven away for as we see before in the third of the King their usury was restrained and bounded and other ways of life they might take up and rather stay here with what they had already got then by departing to lose all as it seems they did though Judge Cook tels us that there was provision made that no subject should hurt or molest them acknowledging also that the forementioned fifteenth was given Pro expulsione â—â—dâ—â—â—â—â—m and that too for their expulsion This reverend Lawyer tels us this act de Judaismo was made in the 18. year of the King but a little after the Feast of Hilary whence these perhaps impertinent thoughts have sometimes come in upon me that if there was no mistake of this year for the third of this King in which formerly we read their usury was restrained then perhaps this same act de Judaismo and the other for their banishment might be enacted in several Sessions of Parliament viz. this last the 31. of August after as Matthew of Westminster mentions and the record lost the act being omitted in the writings of Lawyers as deemed of no use And 〈◊〉 â—osing â—f the record I am easilyer induced to thin◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—sible because I am credibly informed that that 〈…〉 act for establishing the use of the Common-prayer Book was also missing heretofore and thereupon some non-conformists escaped that which else had light upon them And this I desire to tender as an excuse for my keeping close to History in which has lyen the work of this relation nothing desirous to impose upon the belief of any or hereby to contradict so worthy an Author Thus admitted by William the Conqueror about the year 1070. they were expelled in the year 1290. being here some 220. years longer by five or six then their Ancestors were in Egypt during which time we may easily see the English Nation was as in bondage And by this History impartially though truly related may that Book sufficiently be answered by occasion of which this was written the profit which redounded by them to this Nation their saithfulness also being sufficiently discovered upon which grounds the Rabbi raises his short discourse But because it may more clearly appear and the Case may be more fully debated we shall descend to his particulars and scan them fully The Author though perhaps learned enough in other histories yet seems either utterly to be ignorant of ours or else wittingly to decline that which he knew would injure his cause sufficiently In his Epistle to his Highness the Lord Protector he desires that all Laws may be taken away which stand in force against this innocent people made in times and during the government of Kings But if he please to turn his eye upon what hath been written he may easily see that it was not innocency but the clear contrary that drew out these Laws against them and for that he and his Country-men think this easier to be procured since the Kingly Government is taken away he may know that it was by the Kings alone they were kept here so long The people would gladly have been rid of them an hundred years before they were and desired their expulsion above all things Nay they offered a fifth part of their moveables to have them expelled but King Edward only sucking sweet from them and intending to make his Markets out of this contention upon their offering more gave them leave to buy their continuance for a little longer And in the War betwixt Henry the third and his Barons as is above declared they stood for him conspired the ruine of them and the Citizens of London and that more for their own ends then out of any faithfulness to him In his Declaration to the Commonwealth of England he acquaints us with the motives of his coming over the first is to obtain free exercise of his Religion for his Countreymen Here indeed it was anciently granted but what good came of it It s the desire of this people to be fishing in troubled waters they may have hopes in this juncture of time to catch proselytes what his own design may be I shall not question if we should trust him upon his word it might be unsafe to deal so well with all his followers Their Ancestors compassed sea land to make a proselyte and he confesses this to have been the cause of their expulsion formerly out of Spain but let us descend unto his second In this I cannot but wonder at the Rabbi It s believed that the time of their redemption is near saith he and that they must first be scattered throughout the world What then therefore if this be true they must first have a Seat also in England Why they had a Seat here once before for the space of above 200. years and must they needs come again or else their dispersion as to this place cannot be accomplished The third motive upon which he came over was for the benefit of our Nation which he so much desires that which truly if sincere we cannot but applaud it being a thing not usual for us to be so loved by that people We cannot but thank him for his affection but must a little question his grounds by and by when coming to his Book we shall descend with him to particulars His fourth motive is no less to be approved of His particular respect to this Commonwealth is a motive to his sollicitation for the readmission of his Country-men He might easilier if he so much love us have leave given him to continue but we cannot but suppose he can scarce promise the like affection in all his brethren and if he should it s sooner said then believed And whereas he commends hospitality and kindeness to strangers so much to our consideration our Nation was never unkind or churlish but the Jews too much familiarity with it heretofore has put them out of the influence of hospitality Now to come to the Book it self Three things he proposes to his Highness the Lord Protector as making a people well-beloved or desirable amongst all Nations viz. Profit accruing from them Faithfulnessin
them and Nobility of Extraction all which he attributes to the Jewish Nation Profit indeed is the thing that all Kingdoms and States much look after and with good reason for money is the comfort of peace and the sinews of war but such profit is onely desirable as is joyned with glory to God honor to the Magistrate and Countrey and the safety and prosperity of the subject Upon which grounds if I should grant him the application of profitableness to themselves yeâ— should I think it over-dear to be purchased with such essects as might accompany it God ought to be the beginning and the end and Religion the way of his Worship is principally to be regarded Now toleration of that which is contrary to it or a receiving of them which would endanger it which would not onely be a suffering of Superstition to be practised by oothers but be also an occasion to the Natives of this miscarriage is scarce to be warranted however there where as yet it is not admitted There be certain times and seasons which make that at one time dangerous which might at another be admitted with more security The truth is apt to have not onely fickleness weakness accompanying it but also great differences and dissentions although incorruptible in it self and many though not agreeing in all things yet may be contained within the verge of its necessaries and fundamentals Where the greatest power of Religion is there the Devil is the busiest sowing Tares amongst the Wheat and mixing the corn with his cockle This we must confess is the condition of our Countrey at present and I fear the Jews too well consider it By so much the more therefore as they may desire to come in doubtless in this respect the State hath as great to deny them Honor and Credit is the second thing by which a State ought to rule and according to which order and bound its profit It was a saying of that renowned Lord Burleigh 〈…〉 Lord Treasurer of England when about his Charge in the Revenue that nothing was sit for a Prince that was not also joyned with honor and that he did not like that the Treasury should fill like the Spleen when the whole body was worse for it Now what honor it would be to admit them who were once â—expelled before of whose worth * Judge Cook himself faith thâ—â— Act De 〈…〉 made â—â—â—â—onally to expell them and that the â—â—â—teeâ—th granted was pro â—xpâ—lsâ—â—ne Judaeâ—rum faithfulness and profitableness we have once experienced in our Ancestors I cannot determine But this second rule depends especially upon that which precedes and of this which follows I acknowledge that whilst they were here before much profit redounded to the Kings of England from them but in what way hath been declared not from their merchandizing upon which our adversary principally insists Our countrey is not so convenient for that way as others may be and if they should be here admitted again spread once more throughout the land thousands there would be which could not have opportunity to exercise that way through the inconveniences of their habitations They exercise themselves in that way of life which most suits with their profit and the commodiousness of the place wherein they live Usury was most practised by them here and is still in Italy and other parts where they have not such opportunity of trading But grant that the trade is now enlarged through the discovery of the â—ast Indies by sea and of America as it is enlarged so also more of our inhabitants follow that course then formerly being sufficient to satisfie for that business So that if the Jews be admitted to trade again our Merchants must needs be justled by them and what would redound to the State in Custom and Excise the Land being already sufficiently furnished would not compensate the damage of the subject If many should be suffered to trade this could not be avoided and if not then needs must they betake themselves their number encreasing to some other course of life which might prove no less dangerous they being * Perfida genâ— agens quod solet 〈◊〉 in pera c. Crantzius Saxon. lib. 11. cap. 7. noted to be as sucking Leaches where ere they come in some way or other But if they should trade with other Countreys rather in way of Sale and Exportation less profit would the State receive from them He magnifies the skill his Countreymen have in all kinds of merchandize and that is occasioned as he confesses by the opportunity they have being every where dispersed to serve one another And would not this turn to their own advantage more then to the benefit of their entertainers Might they not hereby ingross the Trade wholly to themselves and serving one another cheat the Natives in their Traffick And what would the English be better for their trafficking with their Countreymens money who live in Spain for larger their banks vvould be more they vvould engross the trading And if the King of Spain savv it profitable for him he vvould so far dispense in the Inquisition as to give them no occasion of removing from or keeping this treasure out of his Dominions And vvhat though they have not a Countrey to repair to as other strangers and thereby as he alledges are not likely to take avvay their riches Can they not transport it as they do he tells us in Spain They shortly also expect vve see their Messias to come and restore them to the Countrey of their Ancestors and being aliens they vvould little love the Countrey and so do little for it tending by their good vvills to any great advantage If they be so well received and live so happily all over as he instanceth for illustration of this branch or profit vvhy then are they not content to keep them vvhere they are already It must needs be their ovvn good or ours vvhich they so much desire or for that they must have a Synagogue here also not vvilling but that every place should be blessed with their Religion This he intimates expresly that they might have leave here also to serve God Is it the soil or the air they desire their Religion should be seated in why not as well serve God where they are There 's something more then this in the business But by whom is it they are thus received and entertained he confesses the people hate them generally and must this be for nothing In a fixed and established State where factions do not bandy such as they are generally where they live scarce is any grievously hated but there is some notable cause for it And if the King of Denmark hath invited them into his Dominions or the Duke of Savoy or of Modina it is for some respect or other Perhaps they may be admitted for the same ends our Kings formerly so long retained them viz. for their own gain though much to the Subjects discommodity and
trouble And if they chiefly abound in the Turks Dominions it s no wonder All the world knows the slavery of his Subjects he counting all their goods his own and they made for him not himself for them its no wonder if he care not how they be used how pillaged how oppressed If he imploys the Jews so much in gathering his money he knows them to be fit instruments for his purpose He knows how to press and squeeze out of them what they have before sucked up All his Subjects leave him their heir at their death no child having any of his fathers estate but what he bestows upon him There they cannot but be especially kept from risings and insurrections under that Government which having so many Officers subordinate to one another and the Countrey distributed to their charge all Insurrections except great indeed may be quickly dashed The Author goes not about to reckon up how many Bassa's Beglerbegs or Sansacks there are of his Nation they are exempted he saith from going to war and there 's very good reason for it For their Religion the Turks account of them worse then of Christians not suffering one of them to turn Turk till he first be baptized And when the Grand Signior dyes what pillaging of them as well as Christians uses there to be After this he reckons what numbers of Jews there are in Germany Poland Italy Barbary the Low-countreys and how many are preferred to places of great Trust and Influence still always acknowledging how they are despised of the multitude If they were profitable to these Countreys the contrary whereof is seen for the most part by the grudges of the subject he would scarce from thence necessarily make it follow that their reduction must also be convenient for this Nation If they have such experience of them as this Land hath had if gone I believe they would scarce recal them The Emperor of Germany and King of Poland have tolerated that which put to the voyce of the people for whose good they are and ought to reign would soon be removed and in Poland and those places so odious they are that as once here in England they are distinguished in their habits to be known from the Natives being noted also for that practice of Usury of which our adversary would clear them The Pope with other Princes of Italy sucks not little profit from their oppressing of the people he fares well by their extortion and therefore willingly suffers them especially since the Reformation of Religion out of emulation against the Protestants whom he hates worse then them or the Turks themselves as the Jew loves Turks above Christians The Republique of Venice and so that of the Low-Countreys tolerates them and they may have particular reason for it Their Government is such that those who are Merchants are also Senators and few but they are found in both these ways who are any thing considerable and therefore what they may hinder them in Trade it is supplyed in customs and other duties equally redounding to the profit of all whereas our Merchants being fewer in number if the State should be something benefited by their Trade and others thereby be something eased they alone would feel the weight of the burthen But neither in the Low-Countreys are they so exceedingly fond of their company though scarce can they with conveniency as things now stand turn them off divers of their families being matched to them covetousness procuring that which might be abhorred by Religion So are they likewise in Portugal intermarried the people being generally weary of their guests Reason of State makes the Dutch-men tolerate all Religions but the Popish From whence shall it not presently be concluded that all their neighbors should do the like And now I come to his second thing which he proposes as a motive to receive them and that is their Faithfulness and Honesty I think I might well spare my pains to answer this any further then by what hath been already shewed How faithful they have been to this English Nation let any impartial Reader Judge They who shall out of scorn and hatred of our Profession crucifie children lay violent hands on tender infants and that by common practice they who shall clip counterfeit and mangle our coyn shall rise up and butcher 200000 with unheard of cruelty send ambassages to Pagans to stir them up against the common name of Christianity wishing with Caligula it had but one head poyson fountains and the like shall we count them faithful They took part indeed with our Henry the third against his Barons but it is no uncharitableness to judge it done more for their own ends then any faithfulness to the then Magistrate If they have done sometime that which is good in it self yet they have done it with such malicious minds that God hath given them but the reward of wickedness So in the year 1421. they furnished the poor Christians of Bohemia with money and munition against their Antichristian Persecutors Krantzius l. 11 Saxon. cap. 7. and therefore were quite banished out of Bavere quite bereft of all their money and coyn And lastly banished all the Dominions belonging to Frederick Duke of that Province Indignities offer'd to Religion in such an horrid way as by the vile butchery of poor innocents upon a cross can no way come in upon the account of faithfulness and yet this they have ordinarily practised in other parts as well before as since their expulsion If they may finde an opportunity what their will may be we may gather from that their carriage during the troubles betwixt the Emperor and Pope Krantzius Wandal Hist l. 9. cap 23. Vide Baron in Annal. ad ann â—â— 1320. 13.48 when hoping Christian Religion would have dyed in those wars seeing the state of Christendom deeply indangered in these civil broils they according to their Jewish policy seek to thrust it over head and ears in blood poysoning the fountains throughout Germany offering like violence to the Sacraments as they had used to do before And we may further see their faithfulness and carriage what it hath been since their expulsion to go no further then to the days of Queen Elizabeth In the year 1568. and the ninth of her reign they were expell'd by Pius Quintus the then Pope Hieron Rub. lib. 11. Histor Ravennae and that even for their horrid and extravagant Usuries and Oppressions for their combining with Thieves and Robbers for Sorceries or Magical Charms in winning women to their own and others lusts And are we not satisfied with that horrid and abominable Treason of Lopez by whom we have warning enough never to meddle with them more as a people always working mischief to this Nation This Miscreant taken in by the Queen to be her Houshold Physitian conspires with her Spanish Enemies for money to work her destruction and promises to poyson her Cambden in Eliz. Accordingly for