When Richard had returned to his palace from his coronation in the church, there entered, among others who came to do homage to the king, a deputation of the richest and most prominent members of the congregations of England to hand in their presents. On their appearance, Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, a fanatical church dignitary, remarked fiercely, that no presents ought to be accepted from Jews, and that they ought to be dismissed from the palace, for on account of their religion they had forfeited the privilege to rank among other nations. Richard, who did not think of the evil consequences that might follow, innocently obeyed the instruction of the archbishop. The palace menials, who showed the Jews out of the palace, thought themselves privileged to abuse them. The gaping crowd likewise fell to, and pursued the Jewish deputies with blows of the fist, with stones and clubs. Soon there spread about in all parts of London the false report that the king desired the humiliation and destruction of the Jews, and immediately the mob and the crusading rabble banded together to enrich themselves with the possessions of the Jews. The pillagers made an attack upon the houses in which the Jews had sought refuge, and set fire to them. Meanwhile night had come, and covered with her shadows the ghastly butchery of the Jews. It was in vain that the newly-crowned king sent one of his courtiers, Ranulph de Granville, to make inquiries about the uproar, and put a stop to it. At first he could not make himself heard, and was moreover assailed with jeers by the raging mob. Many Jews were murdered; others killed themselves, because they were called upon to submit to baptism, among them Jacob of Orleans. Most of the Jewish houses were burnt, and the synagogues destroyed. The fire, which had been applied in order to destroy the records of the debts of Christians to Jews, spread, and consumed a part of the city. Only one Jew apostatized to Christianity, the wealthy Benedict of York, who with his fellow-deputy had been ejected from the palace, and dragged into a church, where he had pretended to submit to baptism. When Richard, however, learnt the real circumstances of the affair, he ordered those implicated to be executed. Richard was so careful of the welfare of the Jews of his realm that, fearing that the persecution in London might spread through England and his French dominions, he promulgated edicts that the Jews were to be inviolate, and even sent deputies to Normandy and Poitou to suppress any outbreaks against the Jews that might occur. He, moreover, allowed Benedict of York to return to Judaism, when he learnt that he had been baptized under compulsion, and heard from him the confession that he had remained a Jew at heart, and wanted to die as such. The fanatical Archbishop of Canterbury, who was present at the interview, being asked his opinion, answered, "If he will not remain a son of God, let him be a son of the devil." As long as Richard remained in London, the Jews were at peace; but as soon as he crossed the Channel, in order to inaugurate a new crusade together with Philip Augustus, the scenes of London were repeated all over England. It was not only religious zeal which incited the Christians against the Jews of England, but rather envy of their prosperity, and, above all, desire for their property. The first to suffer was the wealthy and notable congregation in the flourishing commercial city of Lynn. If we may believe Christian writers, it would appear that the Jews first provoked the fury of the Christians against themselves. They are said to have attacked a baptized Jew, and when he fled for refuge into a church, they captured it by storm. Thereupon the Christians are said to have been called to arms. At the time there happened to be crusaders in the city. The Jews, being defeated by the latter, took refuge in their houses, and there were assaulted with fire and sword, but few escaping with their lives. It is impossible, however, that the Jews should have been the first to attack, for the citizens themselves, when called upon by royal commissioners to explain these disturbances, fixed the blame on the crusaders, who, in the meantime, had decamped with the booty of the Jews. A Jewish physician, who, by his modesty and skill, had won popularity even among the Christians, was murdered by these ruffians for mourning too much for his people, and invoking the justice of heaven upon their murderers.
Soon after the Lynn massacre, the Jews of Norwich were surprised in their houses, and butchered (6th February, 1190). A month later (7th March), the Jews of Stamford were severely maltreated, because on the market day many crusaders and strangers happened to be in the city, who were sure to be in stronger force than their opponents, in case the Jews, assisted by the citizens, should offer them resistance. They believed that they were performing a godly act if they treated as enemies those whose property they were lusting after, and they hoped to extort from the Jews their traveling expenses for the crusade. Without the least provocation, they fell upon the Jews, murdered some, forcing others to flee to the royal castle, broke into the houses, and carried away everything valuable. The robber crusaders absconded from the town with their booty, so that none of it might fall into the hands of the royal judges. One of these brigands was all but declared a saint; he deposited his plunder at the house of a friend, who murdered him to get possession of his ill-gotten gains. The Jews of Lincoln nearly shared the fate of their brethren of Lynn, Norwich, and Stamford; but on getting wind of the danger threatening them, they betook themselves with their property to the royal castle for protection.
But most tragic of all was the lot of the Jews of York, because among them were two men, who enjoyed princely fortunes, had built magnificent palaces, and had accordingly aroused the envy of the Christian inhabitants. One of these was Joceus, the other was Benedict, who had been so brutally ill-treated at Richard's coronation. The latter, who had reverted to Judaism after his compulsory baptism, died from the wounds which had been inflicted on him in London. Crusaders who wanted to obtain wealth, citizens who were chagrined at the prosperity of the Jews, noblemen who owed money to them, and priests who were animated by a bloodthirsty fanaticism, all entered into a conspiracy to destroy the Jews of York. In the dead of night, during a conflagration which had either broken out by accident or been kindled by design, the conspirators broke into the house of Benedict, which was inhabited only by his wife and daughters, carried away all the valuables, and set the house on fire. Joceus, who had foreseen the danger threatening him, repaired with his family and most of the members of the congregation to the citadel, and demanded protection. But few Jews remained in the town, and these were attacked by the conspirators, who appeared openly on the day following their successful experiment, and offered the Jews the choice between baptism and death. The Jews in the tower, however, were besieged, by an immense multitude of people of all classes, and were called upon to embrace Christianity. One day the governor of the citadel sauntered out of the fortress, and as the Jews feared that he would betray them, and hand them over to their enemies, they refused him re-admittance into the fortress. The latter made complaint before a high royal official, the lord-lieutenant of the province, who happened to be present at the time, that the Jews had had the audacity to shut him out of the fortress which had been entrusted to him. Infuriated in the highest degree, the lord-lieutenant gave orders to the besieging multitude to demolish the fortress, and take vengeance on the Jews. He even brought up re-inforcements in order to ensure victory. The siege lasted six days; the Jews repulsed all attacks bravely. The governor was beginning to repent of having given orders to storm the place, and many noblemen and prudent citizens were withdrawing from an enterprise which promised so many evil consequences to them, if it became known to the king, when up rose a monk in a white robe, who exhorted the besiegers by voice and example to continue their work. He held a special, solemn service, read mass, and took the Host to assure himself that divine assistance would be rendered them in conquering the weak little troop of Jews in the castle. He was nevertheless struck to the ground by a stone hurled by a Jewish hand, and yielded up his fanatical spirit.
The Jews had, in the meantime, exhausted their provisions, and death stared them in the face. When the men were deliberating what to do, one learned in the Law, who had come over from France, Yom Tob, of Joigny, counseled them to slay one another, saying, "God, whose decisions are inscrutable, desires that we should die for our holy religion. Death is at hand, unless you prefer, for a short span of life, to be unfaithful to your religion. As we must prefer a glorious death to a shameful life, it is advisable that we take our choice of the most honorable and the noblest mode of death. The life which our Creator has given us we will render back to Him with our own hands. This example many pious men and congregations have given us in ancient and modern times." Many were of the same way of thinking; the timid, however, would not abandon the hope of being able to save their lives. In the meantime, the heroic rabbi made preparations for the sacrifice. All valuables were burnt, fire was applied to the doors, and the men with the courage of zealots passed the knife across the throats of those dearest to them. Joceus, the leader of the congregation, first slew his beloved wife Anna, and to him was allotted the honor of being sacrificed by the rabbi. Thus most of them perished at one another's hands, on the day before that great Sabbath which forms the introductory festival in celebration of the redemption from Egyptian bondage, at about the same time when the last Zealots had put themselves to death in a similar manner after the destruction of the Temple, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans. The few survivors had to contend during the night with the spreading fire, and secure for themselves some sheltered places. On the Sabbath (17 March, 1190), when the enemy advanced to the attack, the survivors declared their willingness to open the gate, and receive baptism; and to convince their foes of the shocking sacrifice that had been made, they threw the corpses of the suicides from the wall. Scarcely were the gates opened, when the leader of the Christian conspirators, together with his guardsmen, cut down the Jews, who were begging with tears in their eyes to be baptized; thus not a single member of the Jewish congregation of York survived; altogether about 500 Jews perished. On the following day, Palm Sunday (18th March), 750 Jews were butchered by crusaders in Bury St. Edmunds. Throughout England, wherever Jews were to be found, unless protected by the citizens, they met with the death of martyrs. A congregation of twenty families, consisting only of Jewish proselytes, likewise suffered martyrdom. King Richard was greatly enraged at these cruelties, and commissioned his chancellor to institute inquiries, and punish the guilty. But the crusaders had decamped, the guilty citizens and noblemen fled to Scotland, and the rest escaped punishment. Only the governor of York was deposed from his office.
But on the accession of Richard's brother, King John, who by his unprincipled conduct degraded England into a vassalage of the papal chair, the Jews were robbed even of the help of generous citizens. If John behaved ruthlessly towards all the world, the Jews certainly could not expect to be well treated by him.
Somewhat more fortunately placed than their co-religionists in France and England were the Jews of the German empire, which at that time was very extensive. The German nations, by nature more religious, and therefore more fanatical than the French and the other Romance nations, often indeed made existence for the Jews a veritable hell upon earth; but as emperors and princes protected them, the hatred against them could not produce any material effect. As Henry IV, during the first, and Conrad III, during the second crusade, protected the Jews, the notion arose that the German emperors had constituted themselves the guardians of the Jews, that any one who harmed them committed high treason, and that in return for his protection they became his "servi cameræ," the serfs of the imperial chamber. Frederick Barbarossa, the most powerful German emperor, who took Charlemagne for a model, was the first to begin the conversion of free Jews into "servi cameræ." The legend is interesting which characterizes the connection of the German emperor with the Jews in history. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a third of the Jews is said to have been sold as slaves at the rate of thirty for a bad penny. These, scattered throughout the Roman empire, were the property of the Roman emperor, and became his "servi cameræ." The emperor, however, had taken upon himself the duty of protecting them, as a reward for Josephus' service to Titus, whom he had cured of gout. The rights and obligations of the Roman emperors towards the Jews passed over, through Charlemagne, to the German emperors, and hence the latter were similarly constituted the protectors of the Jews, and the Jews became their "servi cameræ." The Jews had, in all essentials, been "servi cameræ" before, in France and England; that is, they were half-and-half the property of the king or the barons, and under one or another title they constantly had to hold their purses in readiness to replenish the empty coffers of their lords. In Germany, however, they had in return the protection of the emperor. It was certainly not to be expected that the successors of Vespasian, of the house of Teut, should fulfil this office of champion of the Jews quite disinterestedly. On the contrary, they needed more revenue than other princes, as they had no land, and received but little money from their vassals. It seemed, therefore, only right that the Jews should, in return for his imperial support, supply the emperor with pocket-money.
Although the Jews of Germany were "servi cameræ," they were not robbed wholly of their personal rights in the twelfth century. They were allowed to carry weapons, and even to fight single combats. During the siege of Worms, Jews fought side by side with Christians, and the rabbi even permitted them to use weapons on the Sabbath for the purpose of defense. They had their own jurisdiction, and were not compelled to appear before an alien judge. Now and again some of them attained a higher position. The brave Duke Leopold of Austria, renowned in history for his capture of King Richard of England, had a Jewish treasurer, who, in spite of the canonical resolution of the Lateran council, was allowed to keep Christian servants. In Silesia, in the neighborhood of Breslau, Jews owned several villages with the bondmen appertaining to them. But as the prohibition to keep Christian domestics gained ground, the Jews were obliged to sell their landed estates, to remove to the towns, and there to engage in business and money-lending. In spite of the imperial protection, they were often exposed to ill-treatment. The infamous invention that the Jews used Christian blood found credence also in Germany, and here more than in any other place, and wherever the dead body of a Christian was found, princes and people immediately laid the murder at the door of the Jews. A ship containing Jews was proceeding from Cologne to Boppard, and after it there sailed another with Christian passengers. The latter found the dead body of a Christian woman in Boppard, and forthwith they jumped to the conclusion that the Jews of the first ship had slain her; the Christians immediately pursued and overtook them, and called upon them to submit to baptism, and on their refusal hurled them into the Rhine. In the general peace which the emperor decreed before his expedition to the Orient, the Jews were also included. He warned priest and monk not to stir up the people against them; but they had to supply funds for the crusade.
Under Frederick's successor, Henry VI, a horrible massacre of the Jews took place, the fanatics breaking loose upon them at different places from the district of the Rhine to Vienna. Under such afflicting circumstances, when they were not sure of their lives for one moment, it was impossible for them to advance to a high degree of culture. They were deeply religious and beneficent, and they assisted one another, and foreign immigrants, with everything that they possessed. Religion and the cohesion of the members of the community were the pillars on which they had to lean for support; but they were without enthusiasm or taste for any branch of knowledge. The study of the Talmud continued to be the only occupation of the more intellectual among them; but even in this they only followed the road marked out by Rashi and the Tossafists, without ever diverging from it. Those who desired to give spiritual nourishment to their mind, as well as acquire intellectual acuteness, absorbed themselves in a kind of mystic lore, the import and significance of which is lost to us.
Ephraim ben Jacob, of Bonn (1132–1200), made a name for himself at about this time. He was not, indeed, a rabbi by profession, but was none the less adept in Talmudical lore, and in addition was an extraordinary linguist. At the age of thirteen he was shut up with his relatives in the tower of Wolkenburg during the persecution that attended the second crusade; there he saw the sufferings of his brethren in faith, and described them later on in an impartial, enthusiastic and vividly written martyrology, which he brought down to the year 1196–97. Ephraim was also a skilful versifier, and he composed many liturgical poems, particularly lamentations on the sufferings of his time. His verses possess no poetical beauty, but they are characterized by a certain wit, which is displayed in ingenious allusions to Biblical verses and Talmudical passages.
It seems scarcely credible that Germany, hostile as it was towards the Jews at that time, should have given birth to a Jewish poet who was able to sing in beautiful strains, knew how to handle rhyme, meter, strophes in the vernacular, and was so warmly appreciated that he was received into the circle of poets. Süsskind (Süzkint) of Trimberg, a small town on the Saale in Franconia, adopted the poetic style of Walter von der Vogelweide and Wolfram of Eschenbach. He was probably a physician by profession, but nothing is known of the events of his life. In the castle of the lords of Trimberg, which stood on the ridge of a vine-covered hill, and was reflected in the winding Saale, or in the neighboring castle, Bodenlaube, in the company of noble knights and beautiful dames, he poured forth, lute in hand, his melodious strains, and the largesses which were showered on him formed his sole means of support. Süsskind sang of the high worth of the pure woman, and pictured to the knights his ideal of a nobleman: "Who acts nobly, him will I account noble." He speaks of the freedom of thought, not yielding to force:
"No man can bid a fool or sage from thought refrain,
A thought can glide through stone, and steel, and iron chain."
Süsskind also composed a German psalm. He describes the awesome thought of death and dissolution, mocks at his own poverty, and prescribes a virtue-electuary. Once the noblemen, whose bread he ate, appear to have given him a bitter reminder that he, as a Jew, did not belong to their select circle. His despondency arising from this reminder he embodied in beautiful verses, wherein he bids farewell to poetry. With the best of intentions, the Jews could not cultivate German poetry, since the Jewish poets received kicks instead of the laurel crown, as their reward. Being shut up in their own circle, their sense for the euphony of language became blunted, and it is probable that German poetry has lost considerably by it.
Bohemia also must be enumerated in the list of Talmudical centers, for it produced some men famous for Jewish knowledge. Isaac ben Jacob Halaban of Prague takes an important place among the Tossafists; he wrote a profound commentary on several Talmudical treatises. His brother Petachya made distant journeys (about 1175–1190) through Poland, Russia, the land of the Chazars, Armenia, Media, Persia, Babylonia, and Palestine. His abridged description of his journeys gives interesting notices on the Jews in the East. Even the Jews living in Poland and Russia began to take part in Talmudical learning, which in later times they were to possess as a monopoly.
It is remarkable that the Italian Jews of this period seem more destitute of intellectual productions than the Bohemian or Polish Jews. They did not produce a single authority on the Talmud. When it was said in Tam's time, "The law goes forth from Bari, and the word of God from Otranto," it was meant ironically, for they did not advance the study of the Talmud in any way. The times were most favorable to them; certainly as favorable as to the Jews of southern France. With the exception of a single case, the expulsion of the Jews from Bologna (1171), the Jews in Italy were about this time remarkably free from persecution. The clever Pope Alexander III was well-disposed to them, and entrusted the management of his finances to a Jew, named Yechiel ben Abraham, a member of the family dei Mansi, and nephew of Nathan, the famous author of the Aruch. On the entrance of this pope into Rome, whence he had been banished for many years by a rival pope, the Jews among others came to meet him with a scroll of the Law and with banners, an honor to the pope shown by Jews which the chronicles do not fail to record. They were treated with respect, and were not obliged to pay any imposts or Jew-taxes. The favorable feeling of Alexander is proved in the resolutions of the great council in the Lateran Church (1179), at which more than three hundred princes of the Church were present. Several anti-Jewish prelates endeavored to pass certain mischievous laws against the house of Jacob. The Jews, who received information of their hostile intentions, lived in tormenting anxiety, and in many congregations a fast of three days and special prayers were ordained, that Heaven might frustrate the wickedness of men. History has not recorded the discussions of the great Church assembly, but the final decrees bear witness that the gentle spirit of tolerance prevailed over the mania for persecution. The council only forbade the Jews to keep Christian servants, or in other words, an old Church prohibition was renewed. On the other hand, it was particularly insisted upon that they were not to be forcibly baptized, nor to be apprehended without a judicial warrant, nor robbed, nor disturbed on their religious festivals. The limitation of a privilege of the Jews, that henceforth Christians were also to be competent witnesses against Jews, was justly decreed. It was said in explanation that the evidence of a Jew was valid against Christians, and it was surely not equitable that the Jews, who in reality were subject to the Christians, and were tolerated only out of pure humanity, should in this respect enjoy an advantage over the Christians. What a contrast to that old Byzantine law and the resolution of the Visigothic council, that Jews could not act as witnesses against Christians! Not that the spirit of the Church had grown milder during these five centuries; but the Jews had earned respect for themselves, and accordingly the representatives of Christianity durst not repeat that old charge, "He cannot be true to men who denies God," i. e., the Christian God.
In southern Italy, in Naples, and the island of Sicily, under the Norman dominion, Jews were still less fettered. Roger II and William II expressly confirmed the privilege of trial according to their own laws, equally with the Greeks and Saracens. In Messina they enjoyed equal rights with the Christians, and were eligible to office. A favorite minister and admiral of King Roger of Sicily had a leaning towards Judaism, frequently visited the synagogues, donated oil for their illumination, and in general subscribed money to meet the requirements of the community. Seeds of a higher culture were scattered in profusion at that time in Italy, in consequence of its close intercourse with the East during the crusades, and of the immigration of the Greeks and Arabs into the kingdom of Naples. The Jews, who have special facility in mastering foreign languages, spoke Arabic and Greek, in addition to the vernacular and Hebrew. The versatile Ibn-Ezra, during his residence in Rome, Lucca, Mantua, and elsewhere, was the means of spreading among them a loftier conception of the holy Scriptures and of Judaism. His disciple, Solomon ben Abraham Parchon, of Calatayud, stayed in the university town of Salerno for a long time, and endeavored to make the Italians acquainted with the science of the Hebrew language and Bible exegesis, they being very ignorant in these departments, and for this purpose he composed a Hebrew lexicon (1160). But all these incitements had no effect on the Italian Jews. They remained ignorant, and the history of Jewish literature is unable to mention even an insignificant literary production by an Italian till the second half of the thirteenth century. The land which in later times gave rise to a new style of Hebrew poetry, cannot at this period show one Hebrew poet.
In the circumstance that the northern and central Italian cities were mostly engaged in trade, is to be found the true reason why they were not so numerously populated with Jews as the southern Italian cities. The great commercial houses, which had a determining voice in the municipal council, would not suffer the competition of the Jews. In Genoa there lived only two Jewish families, who had emigrated to that place from Ceuta, on account of the oppression of the Almohades. Pisa, Lucca, and Mantua had only small congregations. The two largest, which consisted of 1300 and 200 families, dwelt in Venice and Rome respectively. On the other hand there were 500 families in Naples, and 300 in Capua, who were well treated and respected. The chief of the Neapolitan congregation was David, who bore the title of prince (principino). In Benevento there was a congregation of 200 Jews, in Salerno 600, in Trani 200, in Tarentum 300, and in Otranto 500. The Jewish congregations in the island of Sicily were still more numerous. In Messina there lived 200 families, and in the capital, Palermo, 1500. This congregation had been strengthened by the arrival of Greek Jews, whom King Roger, after his conquests, had transplanted to that place, in order to establish the breeding of silk-worms.
If one sailed from Brundisium across the Adriatic Sea, he landed in the Byzantine empire. Here were numerous and populous Jewish communities, especially in Greece proper, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace. In Arta (or Larta) there dwelt 100 families, whose president, curiously enough, was named Hercules; in Lepanto the same number; in Crissa, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, 200, who pursued agriculture. In Corinth there were 300 families, in Negropont 200, in Jabustrissa 100, in Saloniki 500, who had a Jewish mayor of their own (Ephoros), appointed by the Greek emperor. In Rodosto there lived 400 Jewish families, in Gallipoli 200, in the island of Mytilene there were 10 congregations, in Chios 400 families, in Samos 300, in Rhodes the same number, and in Cyprus several congregations, among which was one that had the custom of commencing the Sabbath in the morning, not in the evening, and continuing it till Sunday morning. The most important congregations in the Græco-Byzantine empire were those of Thebes and Constantinople, in both of which were nearly 2000 families, the latter containing 500 Karaites besides. The Theban Jews were the most skilful manufacturers of silk and purple in the whole of Greece. They had among them also rich merchants, silk manufacturers, and learned Talmudists. A wall separated the rabbinical from the Karaite community in Constantinople.
If the Byzantine empire in the time of its glory under Justinian and Alexius oppressed the Jews, we may be sure that it was not better disposed towards them in the time of its decline, when it lay in the throes of death. The principle that Jews and heretics were not to be admitted to any military post, or office, but were to be thoroughly despised, was, of all the enactments of this most erratic of states, the one most strictly and consistently adhered to.
The rich and the poor, the good and the bad Jews were, without distinction, hated most bitterly by the Greeks. No Jew was allowed to ride on a horse, the privilege of freemen; it was only by way of exception that the emperor Emanuel vouchsafed this privilege to Solomon, the Egyptian, his physician in ordinary. Any Greek might molest the Jews publicly, and in general treat them as slaves; the law did not protect them. Byzantium, from time immemorial celebrated for its avarice, imposed burdensome taxes on them. They endured this insolent brutality with the resignation of martyrs; nor did it make them forget to practise virtue, and extend charity to the poor. But the Greek Jews were unable to pay any attention to the cultivation of their minds. Not one of their Talmudists has immortalized his name by a work. There were indeed many skilful Hebrew versifiers among them, but their poems are ungainly, "hard as granite, without taste and fragrance." Charisi concedes merit to the verse of only one Jewish poet, Michael ben Kaleb, of Thebes, and he explains this circumstance by the fact that the poet had learned his art in Spain. In Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, the size of the Jewish congregation at a given place might have been taken as the criterion by which to compare Christian with Mahometan tolerance. Where the cross was supreme, there were but few and poorly populated Jewish communities to be found, but where Islam had the ascendancy, there were many and populous Jewish communities. In Antioch, which belonged to a Christian prince, there lived only 10 families, nearly all glass-workers. In Leda (Laodicea), 200; in Jebilé, which belonged to the Genoese, 150; in Bairut (Berytus), 50; in Saida (Sidon), 10; only in Tyre was there a congregation containing 400 members, and there the Jews possessed farms, and were even allowed to pursue navigation. At their head stood Ephraim of Cairo. On the other hand, in Haleb (Aleppo), which had been raised, through the great Mahometan prince, Nureddin, to the position of second capital after Bagdad, there lived 1500 Jewish families, among whom were many opulent men, respected at court. Here dwelt the Hebrew poet, Jehuda ben Abbas, the friend of the prince of poets, Jehuda Halevi. He had emigrated to this place from Fez on account of the religious persecution. In the neighborhood of ancient Palmyra there lived nearly 2000 Jewish families, whose men were warlike, and often carried on feuds with the Christians and Mahometans. The congregation of Damascus counted 3000 members, among whom were many learned Talmudists, one of them being the famous Joseph ben Pilat, who originally came from France. In Damascus there was also a Karaite congregation of some 200 families, and a Samaritan congregation of 400 families, who, although they did not intermarry, nevertheless carried on a peaceful intercourse with the Rabbanites. In the whole of that part of Palestine in the hands of the Christians, there lived scarcely more than 1000 families. The largest congregations, each of 300 members, existed at that time in Toron de los Caballeros, in Jerusalem and Askalon; in each of the most important towns of Judæa, on the other hand, there lived only about 200 Jews. The Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem were mostly dyers, having bought the exclusive right to exercise this trade from the Christian king; they lived at the end of the town to the west of Mount Zion. Between the years 1169 and 1175 they were all, except one, expelled from that city (probably under the youthful and leprous phantom king, Baldwin IV), and he had to pay a high price for the privilege of carrying on the dyer's trade. The Christians, deeply sunk in vice, believed the holy city to be polluted by the continent Jews. In Askalon there lived, at about this time, 300 Samaritan and 40 Karaite families. In Cæsarea, which had before harbored many thousands of Jews, there lived then only 10 families and 200 Samaritans. Of this sect there were many also in their aboriginal seat, Samaria and Neapolis (Shechem), with not one Rabbanite Jew among them. Minor congregations of 50 there were in Tiberias and Ulamma, 20 in Gischala, 22 in Bethlehem, and in each of the other towns from one to three families. Thus was the heritage of Israel given away to strangers. The Jewish inhabitants of Judæa vegetated rather than lived; not even the study of the Talmud was cultivated by them. Accho alone possessed Talmudists, one Zadok, and another Japhet ben Elia, and these were foreigners. About this time many emigrants from Europe, and particularly from southern France, settled in Palestine; and these enjoyed such recognition among the Jewish natives, by reason of their intellectual superiority, that they were able to move them to celebrate the New Year's festival for two days, which, till then, and from time immemorial, the Palestinians had been accustomed to solemnize, like the other festivals, for only one day.