Trade, towns and the expulsion of the Jews, 1290

Towns and trade in medieval England

England in 1272 had a functioning urban economy, dominated by the wool trade. English wool — particularly the long-fibre clip from the Cotswolds and Lincoln — was the finest in Europe and was exported in enormous quantities to the cloth-making cities of Flanders (Bruges, Ghent) and northern Italy. This wool trade was the backbone of the English economy and a primary source of royal customs revenue.

Market towns proliferated in the thirteenth century. A market required a royal charter (which Edward sold, generating revenue) and provided a regular trading point for the surrounding countryside. Fairs — annual events attracting merchants from across England and beyond — were the major commercial events of the year: Boston Fair, Winchester's St Giles Fair, and the Champagne fairs (in France) were the major nodes of European commerce.

London dominated English trade: it was the largest city, the main port, and the centre of banking and finance. Other significant towns included Bristol, York, Lincoln, Norwich, and Exeter.

Edward's legal reforms had direct commercial implications: the Statute of Winchester regulated local markets; the Statute of Merchants (1285) created more effective legal mechanisms for enforcing commercial debts; and his quo warranto proceedings clarified which lords could operate their own markets and which could not.

The Jews in medieval England

The Jewish community in medieval England was small — probably around 3,000 to 5,000 people at its peak — but played a significant economic role. Jews in England (as in most of medieval Europe) were barred from many occupations and professions, and were officially the property of the crown — "royal serfs" who could be taxed at will.

One area where Jews could operate was moneylending — lending at interest, which Christian teaching (at this period) condemned as "usury." Medieval England needed credit — for land purchases, business ventures, and royal borrowing — and the Jewish community provided it. This made individual Jewish moneylenders wealthy and the community as a whole necessary; it also made them hated, as debtors resented their creditors and antisemitism provided a convenient framework for that resentment.

The crown's relationship with the Jewish community was essentially exploitative: Jews could operate and accumulate wealth, but they were subject to periodic heavy taxation — "tallages" — that could take a large proportion of community assets. Between 1241 and 1290, the crown levied at least fifteen major tallages on the Jews.

The Edict of Expulsion, 1290

In 1290, Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion, ordering all Jews to leave England by 1 November. Approximately 2,000 people were expelled — the entire Jewish community. They were allowed to take their moveable property but nothing else. Some were murdered during the exodus; most made their way to France, the Netherlands, and Poland.

Why did Edward expel the Jews?

Several factors converged:

• Financial: The Jewish community had been so heavily taxed over preceding decades that it had relatively little wealth left. The community was no longer financially useful to the crown in the way it had been.
• Religious pressure: A series of anti-Jewish laws had been enacted since 1275, including a ban on Jewish moneylending (the Statute of the Jewry, 1275) that reduced the community's economic function. Popular antisemitism was intense.
• Political calculation: Expulsion was popular. It generated goodwill from the English nobility and people, who saw Jewish debts cancelled and Jewish property distributed. Parliament granted Edward a tax in return.
• Precedent: England was not alone — France had expelled Jews temporarily in 1182 and would do so again in 1306.

Jews were not allowed to return to England until Oliver Cromwell permitted their readmission in 1656 — a gap of 366 years.

Italian bankers and the replacement of Jewish credit

The expulsion of the Jews did not end the need for credit. Italian banking families — the Bardi and Peruzzi of Florence above all — stepped into the vacuum. They were Christian and therefore not subject to the same social hostility; they were also much more powerful, with networks across Europe.

Edward borrowed heavily from Italian banks, particularly to fund his Welsh and Scottish campaigns. By his death in 1307, the crown owed enormous sums to Italian creditors. The precedent of international banking as the solution to royal credit needs was established under Edward and would continue under his successors.

Revision checklist

Before moving on, make sure you can answer:

1. Why was the wool trade so important to medieval England?
2. What was the "Great Custom"? How did it benefit Edward?
3. What role did Jewish people play in the medieval English economy? Why?
4. What was a "tallage"? How often did Edward levy them on the Jewish community?
5. What was the Edict of Expulsion (1290)?
6. Why did Edward expel the Jews? Give at least three reasons.
7. What happened to the Jewish community? When were Jews allowed to return to England?
8. Who replaced Jewish moneylenders as sources of royal credit? Why?

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Article slug: gcse-history-medieval-england-trade-towns-expulsion-jews

Title: Wool, debt, and the first national Jewish expulsion in European history

England's medieval economy ran on wool — the finest in Europe, exported to Flemish cloth towns and traded at fairs from Boston to Winchester. The Jewish community, barred from most professions, provided the credit that kept the system running — and was taxed mercilessly for it. In 1290, Edward I expelled every Jew from England, cancelling their debts and pocketing the political reward. They were not permitted to return for 366 years.