Why did the Jews come to England?
​William, Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1066. The Saxon infra structure disapeared. William was now a King, the King of England. To govern and get the most out of his new regime William needed ready money. It was no use giving lands to his family and favourite supporters without providing money. In order to keep control he needed to build castles, churches, Cathedrals. All this needs ready money, cash. The wood from a forest can be sold, the corn in a field is more difficult.
How many bales of wool can you exchange for a quarry of stone to build your castle? Does the owner of the quarry want or need your wool?
It seems that during the reign of William Rufus (1087-1100) Jews were encouraged to migrate from Normandy, and support the government by offering financial services. Certainly, by 1100 a small Jewish community had been established, notably in London, and soon in other county towns and cities.
One of the early rabbis of London, Joseph, who worked during the period 1128-1130, came from Rouen, and this Normandy city would continue to be closely linked to the English Jewish community. The English Jews maintained close contact with other Jews in northern France and the Rhineland cities of northern Germany. Several cities, like Rouen and Mainz, were important centres of Jewish life and learning, and the English Jews remained in contact with the Jews living in them, through trade and marriage. They also had contact with the larger and sophisticated Jewish communities of southern Spain, then living under Muslim rule.
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Connections with European Jews were maintained through travel: the famous Spanish-Jewish poet and philosopher Abraham ibn Ezra (died c. 1167) visited London in the 1150s, and visiting French Jews are known to have died in attacks on the Jews in London (1189) and York (1190). Books and letters moved between Jewish communities in Britain and the Continent. English Jews were multilingual: they spoke English and French, and read and wrote in Hebrew for both religious and business purposes: their contracts were often written both in Hebrew and in Latin. Many of the English Jews had French names, such as Bonefey (‘good faith’ or ‘blessed’, the translation of the Hebrew name ‘Baruch’) or Dieulecresse (from the Latin ‘Deus cum crescat’, ‘God has added/increased’, itself a translating a Hebrew name such as ‘Joseph’ or ‘Gedaliah’). In other words, the English Jews were a cosmopolitan immigrant community, with strong European ties. They were embedded in British communities, and probably shared a great deal with the French-speaking Norman elite that governed the country and in particular, closely managed the Jews and their affairs.
Jews as servants of the Crown
By the thirteenth century, there were probably about 3,000 Jews in England, mostly concentrated in the county towns – like Lincoln, London, Norwich, Oxford, Winchester, and York – but they also spread out through the entire country, even reaching Wales. English Jews lived among their Christian neighbours, but they maintained their own places of worship, synagogues, ritual baths, and cemeteries. Remains of their communities can often be seen in street-names. In Lynn Surry street was known as Jews Lane. Jews did not live in ghettoes – as was the case elsewhere in later centuries - but like other ethnic groups at the time they lived in particular parts of towns, as their trade required, and to make social and religious life easier. They usually lived in rented properties, as there were restrictions on their ownership of land.
The English Jews tended to live near the castles, which were centres of administrations.
We are concerned with the Jews of Castle Rising and Lynn
Here in Lynn there was a small Jewish Community a satellite to the larger community in Norwich with links to the Jewish Community in Castle Rising, Norwich , Cambridge, and from the port to the Baltic, Rhineland and Normandy. They were a settled community, with families, a synagogue plus a well respected physician to both Jewish and Christian communities. Jews and Christians lived together peacefully. But this was a small community, 50-100, the population of Lynn was 4-5,000 but growing.
LYNN
We start in Castle Rising built by William D’Aubigny, a loyal supporter of Stephen to celebrate his marriage to Henry 1 wife Queen Adeliza in 1138. (Dictionary Of medieval Anglo-Jewish History Hillaby) D’Aubigny founded a small town with Stephens agreement he established a small mint, this may explain why there was a small Jewish community. Jews were dealers in silver, they could exchange currency. As such they had a particular role in English Society where foreign coin was not legal tender. The port of Lynn only 4 miles away offered Risings Jews similar opportunities. Their clients would have been traders from the Baltic and Scandinavia, or even further afield in Europe. The d' Aubigny family had an interest in the Newlands development of Lynn and had been granted permission to trade from the port. Following the end of what we call the Anarchy 1135-53, Henry II ordered the mint at Rising to cease and perhaps this led to a more permanent settlement of Jews in Lynn.
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