Jewish Culture and History Abstracts

Jewish Culture and History

Abstracts of articles in Issue 3.2

Special Issue: The Jews in Medieval EnglandEdited by: Colin Richmond

Introduction: The Jews in Medieval England by Colin Richmond
The Medieval York Jewry Reconsidered by Barrie Dobson
- Thanks to the notoriety of their massacre on the site of Clifford's Tower in March 1190, the Jews of York remain the subject of more attention than any other provincial medieval English Jewry. This article begins with a brief account of how the massacre has become central to contemporary perceptions of Jewish-Christian relations during the last two decades. It continues by considering more recent research. Although the famous Jewbury excavation of 1982–83 produced fewer revelations than one might have hoped, the number of recent studies of other urban Jewries in Plantagenet England as well as the publication of important judicial and financial sources now makes it possible to recapture the environment of the York Jew in more detail than ever before. Illustrating this point, the article concludes with a discussion of Jewish wives and widows in York, especially during the final decades of their history (before 1290) when they were often persecuted as well as bereaved by the untimely deaths of their husbands, sons and brothers.
The Medieval Jewish Cemetary at Jewbury, York by Jane McComish
- The article concerns excavations which took place in 1983 on York’s medieval Jewish cemetery at Jewbury. The article details aspects of the burial customs seen at the site and how these differed from both contemporaneous Christian cemeteries and from present day Jewish practices. In addition the article covers aspects of the skeletal information recovered in terms of life expectancy, health and patterns of disease. Considering the Christian response to the Jews in their midst, the evidence for deliberately induced traumas present on the skeletons is also discussed.
Three Jewish Businesswomen in Thirteenth Century Winchester by Sue Bartlet
- While tracing the lives of three women and their families through the pipe rolls and other contemporary documents, it is possible to discover how they dealt with their business and family interests through the increasing persecution of English Jews during the thirteenth century. Whether single, married or widowed Jewish women were freer than their Christian counterparts to conduct their moneylending activities, and could operate legally through male attorneys or agents. In the cases of these three women they rose to head their own family consortia. They were in contact with many levels of the social strata, ranging from royalty and the upper eschelons of the Church to small farmers, tradesmen and Christian women. In times of upheaval and riot they attracted hatred and physical attack, and their fortunes diminished in the rising tide of anti-Jewish feeling.
Richard of Devizes and Fictions of Judaism by Anthony Bale
- It has long been thought that Richard of Devizes’ account of a ritual murder committed by the Jews of Winchester in the early 1190s refers to a ‘genuine’ allegation and crime. This article explores the ways in which the account is written and for the first time a literary source is suggested for Richard’s account. Richard’s Cronicon interrogates rather than consolidates fictions concerning Judaism; his account of a putative ritual murder is a sophisticated play on the very nature of textuality and cultural authority.
Edwardian Jewry: Usurers or Legal Merchants? by Robin R. Mundill
- This article interprets the subtle changes made to the provision of credit by Edward I’s Statute of the Jewry. It provides an analysis of the extracts of just over 1000 extant bonds which were confiscated by the crown in 1290 on the Expulsion of the Jews. The findings challenge the widely accepted view of the Jews as having avoided usury by registering false transactions during the period 1275–90. It indicates that at least some Jews became involved in the provision of credit in return for commodities of cereal and wool, and thus behaved as legal traders.
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