The Forgotten Port Jews of London: Court Jews Who were Also Port Jews

The Jews of London are neglected in histories of the city and the port, yet the development of the Jewish community since the readmission was shaped by its connections with both the court and the port. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the crown protected Jews from rival mercantile interests during conflicts which challenge the assumption that ports were automatically cosmopolitan, benign places for Jewish settlement. Jews occupied a precarious, marginal position in the city’s maritime economy. Later, economic and social change interacted with Jewish mass migration to foster a negative image of the Jew as port dweller.