Attacks on the Jews

Attacks on the Jews

There were a variety of reasons behind the attacks on the Jews during the Angevin Period. These stemmed from the hatreds held or perpetuated by several different groups, all of whom caused of carried out these attacks. These groups were the ordinary people of England, the church, both in England and abroad, the Crusaders who passed through England and the Nobility of England. It must also be added that these attacks were not exclusive to England. However, the way the attacks were carried out in England, and the special causes that lay behind several of them, were actually unique.

Ordinary people hated Jews because of the Jews wealth. Although Jews and their neighbors got on reasonably well for the majority of the time, particularly in London, when tensions and religious fervor rose, these basic hatreds and jealousies could come to the fore. Also, some poorer people did owe the Jews money. Although these loans were usually very small, they were usually given by poorer Jews. As such, these loans usually had a higher rate of interest and these Jews went to greater extremes to make sure the money was paid back. They could be quite ruthless, refusing to give any extra time for repayment, going immediately to the authorities if the loan wasn't paid on time rather than going to the debtor, or simply taking the law into their own hands and extracting the money by force. As such, there was a lot of resentment among the poor towards poorer Jews whom they were more likely to mix with.

The church hated Jews for obvious religious reasons, but also for fiscal reasons. The Jews were hated as those responsible for the death of Christ. As such, the church felt duty bound to perpetuate this myth, and also to create others. This they did with alarming skill and alacrity. It was an English Monk, William of Newburgh, who came up with the story of blood libel; although it was true that a local boy had been found dead, there had been absolutely no proof that...