This year will mark the 365th anniversary of one of the most remarkable turning points in English history: the readmission of Jews to England.
Early History of Jews in England
A small number of Jews lived in England since Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, but they only became an organized community under William the Conqueror in 1066. He encouraged Jewish merchants and artisans to move from northern France to England, where they fared very well financially.
Shortly afterward, English Jews began to experience severe anti-Semitism; they were subject to several blood libels and accusations that they desecrated Christian religious symbols. Concurrent with the coronation of Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) in 1189, anti-Jewish riots broke out in London and spread to other towns. The Jews of York were locked in a castle and, knowing that they were trapped, the Tosafist Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny urged them to kill themselves rather than face painful death at the hands of the mob or forced baptism.
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