It is observed that the Jews were expelled because they were not useful to Edward
anymore economically. Edward is, according to Richard Huscroft, considered to be the king
that is the most associated with medieval Jews because he ruled their final years in
England. 5 It is important for historians to examine how their lives were impacted by his
reign. As he was their king, they (and their property) essentially ‘belonged’ to him (which
dated back to William I who had brought them over from Rouen). In exchange, they were
protected. However, they did not live freely. R. I. Moore writes that the Crown was “ ruthless
in exploiting its rights over Jews” and they could not enjoy the “legal rights to hold land or
transmit property by inheritance”. 6 It is estimated that 1/7th of the Crown’s income came
from tallaging the Jewish community. P. Elman writes that “the Crown had become aware
that the Jews represented a source of ready money, upon which it could draw by means of
taxation”. 7 Christians were prohibited from lending money (with interest), according to their
religious laws. This is why “the classic profession of the medieval Jew was money - lending”. 8
They provided a major source of revenue for the Crown through high taxation and were
permitted to charge usury.
It has been alleged that in 1275, Edward’s mother Queen Eleanor of Provence,
persuaded him to issue the ‘Statute of the Jewry’. Paul Brand contends that it was the “most
radical of all legislation of the thirteenth century” that concerned the Jewish people, as it
significantly reduced their privileges. 9 It decreed that any loan was prohibited if usury was
5 Richard Huscroft, Expulsion: England’s Jewish Solution, (Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing Limited, 2006), p. 112. 6 R. I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250, (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2007), p. 10. 7 P. Elman, ‘The Economic Causes of the Expulsion of the Jews in 1290’, The Economic History Review, 7.2 (1937), 145-154 (p. 145). 8 Cecil Roth, ‘The Economic History of the Jews’, The Economic History Review, 14.1 (1961), 131-153 (p. 131). 9 Paul Brand, ‘Jews and the Law in England, 1275 - 90’, The English Historical Review, 115-464 (p. 1140).
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