Expulsion from England

Jews came to England from Rouen after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and lived as moneylenders under royal protection and heavy taxation. In 1144 Norwich produced the first known blood libel in Europe, over the death of a boy named William. In March 1190 about 150 Jews of York died in the royal castle, at the site of Clifford's Tower, many by their own hands, rather than face a mob. England required Jews to wear a badge from 1218. Edward I's Statute of the Jewry (1275) banned moneylending, and in 1278–1279 hundreds of Jews were hanged on charges of clipping coins.

On 18 July 1290, the 9th of Av in the Jewish calendar, Edward I issued the Edict of Expulsion. Some 2,000 to 3,000 Jews had to leave by 1 November, and they went mostly to France and Germany. It was the first general expulsion of Jews from a European kingdom. Jews were readmitted only in 1656, under Oliver Cromwell, after a petition by Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam.