XIII.

1275.

the English of that age, who chiefly employed cHA P. force and violence in their iniquities, were poffeffed of, the imputation fell upon the Jews'. Edward alfo feems to have indulged a ftrong prepoffeffion against that nation; and this ill-judged zeal for Christianity being naturally augmented by an expedition to the Holy Land, he let loofe the whole rigor of his juftice against that unhappy people. Two hundred and eighty of them were hanged at once for this crime in London alone, befides thofe who fuffered in other parts of the kingdom'. The houses and lands, (for 'the Jews had of late ventured to make purchases of that kind) as well as the goods of great multitudes, were fold and confifcated: And the king, left it should be fufpected that the riches of the fufferers were the chief part of their guilt, ordered a moiety of the money, raised by thefe confifcations, to be fet apart, and bestowed upon fuch as were willing to be converted to Chriftianity. But refentment was more prevalent with them, than any temptation from their poverty; and very few of them could be induced by in+ tereft to embrace the religion of their perfecutors. The miferies of this people did not here terminate. Though the arbitrary talliages and exactions, levied upon them, had yielded a conftant and a confiderable revenue to the crown; Edward, prompted by his zeal and his rapacity, refolved

T. Wykes, p. 107.

XIII.

1275.

CHAP. fome time after' to purge the kingdom entirely
of that hated race, and to feize to himself at once
their whole property as the reward of his labor ".
He left them only money fufficient to bear their
charges into foreign countries, where new per-
fecutions and extortions awaited them: But the
inhabitants of the cinque-ports, imitating the
bigotry and avidity of their fovereign, defpoiled
most of them of this fmall pittance, and even
threw many of them into the fea: A crime, for
which the king, who was determined to be the
fole plunderer in his dominions, inflicted a capit-
al punishment upon them. No lefs than fifteen
thoufand Jews were at this time robbed of their
effects and banished the kingdom: Very few of
that nation have fince lived in England: And as
it is impoffible for a nation to fubfift without
lenders of money, and none will lend without a
compenfation, the practice of ufury, as it was
then called, was thenceforth exercised by the
English themselves upon their fellow-citizens, or
by Lombards and other foreigners.
It is very

much to be queftioned, whether the dealings of
thefe new ufurers were equally open and unex-
ceptionable with thofe of the old. By a law of
Richard, it was enacted, that three copies fhould
be made of every bond given to a Jew; one to
be
put into the hands of a public magiftrate, an-
other into those of a man of credit, and a third

In the year 1290.

10

vol. i. p. 20. Trivet, p. 266.

Walfing. p. 54. Heming,

But as the CHA P.

to remain with the Jew himself ".
canon law, feconded by the municipal, permit-
ted no Chriftian to take intereft, all transactions
of this kind muft, after the banishment of the
Jews, have become more fecret and clandeftine,
and the lender, of confequence, be paid both
for the use of his money, and for the infamy and
danger which he incurred by lending it.

THE great poverty of the crown, though no
excufe, was probably the cause of this egregious
tyranny exercised against the Jews; but Edward
also practised other more honorable means of re-
medying that evil. He employed a strict frugality
in the management and diftribution of his revenue:
He engaged the parliament to vote him a fif-
teenth of all moveables; the pope to grant him the
tenth of all ecclefiaftical revenues for three years
and the merchants to confent to a perpetual im-
pofition of half a mark on every fack of wool
exported, and a mark on three hundred fkins.
He also iffued commiffions to enquire into all
encroachments on the royal demefne; into the
value of escheats, forfeitures, and wardships;
and into the means of repairing or improving
every branch of the revenue The commif-
fioners, in the execution of their office, began
to carry matters too far against the nobility, and
to question titles to eftates which had been tranf-
mitted from father to fon for feveral generations.
Earl Warrenne, who had done fuch eminent fer-

12

XIII.

1275.

XIII.

€ HA P. vice in the late reign, being required to show his titles, drew his fword; and fubjoined, that William, the Bastard, had not conquered the kingdom for himself alone: His ancestor was a joint adventurer in the enterprise; and he himself was determined to maintain what had from that period remained unqueftioned in his family. The king, fenfible of the danger, defifted from making farther enquiries of this nature.

1276.

Conqueft of
Wales.

BUT the active fpirit of Edward could not long remain without employment. He foon after undertook an enterprise more prudent for himself, and more advantageous to his people. Lewellyn, prince of Wales, had been deeply engaged with the Mountfort faction; had entered into all their confpiracies against the crown; had frequently fought on their fide; and till the battle of Evefham, fo fatal to that party, had employed every expedient to deprefs the royal caufe, and to promote the fuccefs of the barons. In the general accommodation, made with the vanquished, Lewellyn had also obtained his pardon; but as he was the most powerful, and therefore the most obnoxious vaffal of the crown, he had reason to entertain anxiety about his fituation, and to dread the future effects of refentment and jealoufy in the English monarch. For this reason, he determined to provide for his fecurity by maintaining a fecret correfpondence with his former affociates; and he even made his addresses to a daughter of the earl of Leicester, who was fent to him from beyond fea, but being intercepted in her passage

XIII.

near the ifles of Scilly, was detained in the court CHA P. of England". This incident increafing the mutual jealousy between Edward and Lewellyn, the latter, when required to come to England, and do homage to the new king, fcrupled to put himself in the hands of an enemy, defired a fafe-conduct from Edward, infifted upon having the king's fon and other noblemen delivered to him as hoftages, and demanded, that his confort fhould previously be fet at liberty". The king, having now brought the ftate to a full fettlement, was not difpleafed with this occafion of exercifing his authority, and fubduing entirely the principality of Wales. He refufed all Lewellyn's demands, except that of a fafe-conduct; fent him repeated fummons to perform the duty of a vaffal; levied an army to reduce him to obedience; obtained a new aid of a fifteenth from parliament; and marched out with certain affurance of fuccefs against the enemy. Befides the great difproporfion of force between the kingdom and the principality, the circumftances of the two ftates were entirely reverfed; and the fame inteftine diffenfions, which had formerly weakened England, now prevailed in Wales, and had even taken place in the reigning family. David and Roderic, brothers to Lewellyn, difpoffeffed of their inheritance by that prince, had been obliged to

"Walfing. p. 46, 47. Heming, vol. i. p. 5. Trivet, Rymer, vol. ii. p. 68. Walfing. p. 46.

p. 248.

14

1277.