Statute of the Jewry facts for kids

The Statute of the Jewry (also known as Statutum de Judaismo, 1275) was an important law made by Edward I of England in 1275. This law put many rules and limits on the Jews of England. The most important rule was that it made the practice of usury illegal. Usury meant lending money and charging a very high interest rate.

Why Was This Law Made?

The Role of Jewish Moneylenders

For a long time, since the Norman Conquest, Jewish people played a small but very important part in England's economy. At that time, the Catholic Church did not allow Christians to lend money and charge interest (usury). However, Jewish people were allowed to be moneylenders and bankers.

This allowed some Jewish people to become very wealthy. But it also made many people angry. Many non-Jewish people were in debt and losing their money. This led to more and more antisemitism, which is prejudice against Jewish people.

King Edward I's Return

Edward I came back from the Crusades in 1274. He had become King of England two years earlier. He saw that land had become very valuable. Many of his people had lost their land and were becoming very poor. Land was often used as a guarantee for loans from Jewish moneylenders.

In January 1275, King Edward's mother, Queen Eleanor of Provence, took action. She expelled Jewish people from all her own lands. This happened before the Statute of the Jewry was passed later that same year.

Taxation and Royal Power

Jewish people were special subjects of the King. This meant the King could tax them whenever he wanted. Some people thought this was like the King indirectly making money from usury. The King allowed Jewish people to lend money and then took a lot of their profits as taxes.

In the years before this law, Edward taxed Jewish communities heavily. He needed money for his upcoming military fights in Wales, which started in 1277. Some historians believe that by 1275, the King had already taken almost all the money the Jewish community had.

What Did the Statute Say?

The Statute of the Jewry had several key rules:

• Lending money with interest (usury) was completely forbidden.
• People who owed money to Jewish lenders no longer had to pay certain debts.
• Jewish people were only allowed to live in specific cities and towns.
• Every Jewish person over the age of seven had to wear a special yellow badge. This badge was made of felt and looked like two joined tablets. It had to be worn on their outer clothes and be six inches long by three inches wide.
• All Jewish people aged 12 and older had to pay a special tax of three pence every year.
• Christians were not allowed to live among Jewish people.
• Jewish people were given permission to buy farmland to make a living for the next 15 years.
• From then on, Jewish people in England could only earn money as merchants, farmers, craftspeople, or soldiers.

These rules applied to both men and women. The permission to buy land was included so that farming, along with trading, could help Jewish people earn money after usury was stopped. However, other rules and widespread prejudice made it very hard for many to do this.

After 15 years, it was found that many Jewish people were still secretly lending money with interest. This led King Edward I to issue the Edict of Expulsion in 1290. This edict ordered all Jewish people to leave England.