York massacre

Jews had lived in York, as moneylenders under royal protection, since about the 1170s. After riots against the Jews at the coronation of Richard I in London in September 1189, and while crusading fervour ran high for the Third Crusade, attacks spread in early 1190 to King's Lynn, Norwich, Stamford and Lincoln. In York, a mob incited by local nobles who owed money to the Jews, led by Richard Malebisse, attacked the house of the late Benedict of York. On the night of 16 March 1190, Shabbat HaGadol, about 150 Jews who had taken refuge in the wooden keep of the royal castle were besieged there. Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny, a pupil of Rabbeinu Tam, urged them to take their own lives rather than accept forced baptism. Most did, setting fire to the tower; those who came out on a promise of safety were killed. The rioters then burned the records of the debts in York Minster.

Rabbi Yom Tov's hymn "Omnam Ken" is still sung on the night of Yom Kippur. The keep was later rebuilt in stone as Clifford's Tower, where a plaque now remembers the dead.