ABSTRACT
Persecution of Jews in the medieval world took many forms. One of the most threatening to the future survival of the European Jewries came with the war against Islam. The crusades brought to Jews violence of hitherto unparalleled ferocity. Holy War against one sort of unbeliever seemed reason to attack another. Jews and their properties were accorded royal protection from arbitrary violence. They were granted freedom of trade throughout the kingdom. Their position at law was safeguarded: when there was litigation between a Christian and a Jew each could swear on his own sacred book and Jews were not to be subject to the proof-tests of hot iron or water. Behind a barrier of principles and practices erected by the authorities of Church and State, it might be expected that Jews would feel safe. Royal taxation records strongly suggest that York had become second only to London as the wealthiest Jewish community in the country.
