746 



J E W S. 



Temple 



burnt. 



Jews. As Titus wished, if possible, to preserve the city, he 

 "Y""'' sent the besieged offers of peace, but they were reject- 

 ed ; upon which he resolved to carry on the siege with 

 vigour a fortnight after it commenced ; a breach was 

 made in the outer wall, by which the Romans entered, 

 the Jews retiring behind the next inclosure. Five days 

 after gaining this advantage, the Romans entered into 

 the second inclosure. Famine and pestilence now ra- 

 ged in the city to a dreadful degree ; and these scour- 

 ges were increased by intestine feuds. As soon as 

 Titus learned their condition, he again offered them 

 peace ; but his offer was rejected. Upon this, he cau- 

 sed the city to be surrounded with a strong wall, which, 

 though nearly five miles in circuit, was finished in 

 three days. By means of it, the besieged could not es- 

 cape, nor receive provisions or succour. Nothing could 

 be more dreadful than the famished condition to which 

 they were now reduced. It was at this juncture, ac- 

 cording to Josephus, that a mother butchered and ate 

 her own child. When Titus heard of this horrid deed, 

 he swore he would effect the total extirpation of the 

 city and people. About the end of July, the Romans 

 gained possession of the fortress Antonia, which obli- 

 ged the Jews to set fire to the galleries which joined it 

 to the temple. The factious in the city, instead of mu- 

 tually yielding and opposing the nemy, grew more 

 embittered against each other ; and one of them actually 

 plundered the temple. On the 8th of August, Titus ha- 

 ving in vain endeavoured to save that edifice, ordered the 

 gates of it to be set on fire ; but he afterwards caused the 

 fire to be extinguished before the temple itself was de- 

 stroyed. On the 10th of that month, he determined on 

 a general assault ; but before this took place, the temple 

 was set on fire, whether by the Jews or the Roman sol- 

 diers is uncertain. Titus in vain endeavoured to ex- 

 tinguish the flames : his soldiers would not obey his 

 orders for that purpose. A dreadful massacre follow- 

 ed soon afterwards, in which many thousands perished. 

 In the meantime, great preparations were making for 

 nu attack on the palace, which took place on the 8th, 

 when the city was entered by Titus. The whole num- 

 ber of Jews who perished during this war is computed at 

 nearly 1,500,000. Three castles were still untaken, 

 two of which soon capitulated j but the third, Massa- 

 dor, made a desperate resistance. It was extremely 

 strong ; and the Roman general, having in vain tried his 

 engines and battering rams against it, ordered it to be 

 surrounded with a high wall, and the gates to be then set 

 Jerusalem ~ n ^ re> I* 1 this dreadful situation, the commander per- 

 taken. suaded the Jews to kill their wives and children, and 

 afterwards to choose ten men by lot which should kill 

 all the rest, and, lastly, one out of these ten to dispatch 

 them and himself, having previously to his own de- 

 struction set fire to the place. This was accordingly 

 done. Two women, however, who had concealed 

 themselves, came out, when the Romans were prepa- 

 ring to scale the walls, and acquainted them with the 

 fate of their town's people. Thus ended the Jewish na- 

 tion and worship in their own country. 



History of H. It is uncertain at what period the Jews first set- 

 the Jews lied in England. From the preface to Leland's Collec- 

 in England, tiont, it appears that Mr Richard Waller believed them 

 to have settled here during the government of the Ro- 

 mans. This opinion was founded on the circumstance 

 of a Roman brick having been found at London, having 

 on one side a bas-relief, representing Sampson driving 

 the foxes into a field of corn. From the elegance of the 

 sculpture, and other circumstances, it was inferred that 



this brick could not be the work of later ages ; and if Jew*. 

 Roman, of Roman Jews, from the subject. However this "*">"' 

 may be, it is certain that the Jews werenumerous in Eng. A> D- 7Vl< 

 land, so early as the year 740, since the 24th paragraph 

 of the Canonical Excerptions, published by Egbright, 

 Archbishop of York, in that year, forbids any Chris- 

 tians to be present at the Jewish feasts. In a charter 

 of Witglaff, King of Mercia, made to the monks of 

 Croyland, there are confirmed to them not only such 

 lands as had been given to the monastery by the kings 

 of Mercia, but all their possessions whatever, whether 

 they were originally bestowed on them by Christians 

 or Jews. During the feudal ages, the Jews, from their 

 aversion to war, and their love of gain, seem to have 

 been the most opulent, as well as the most polished and 

 enlightened portion of the laity. They were the only 

 bankers of the period. They conducted foreign trade, 

 and in the course of it often visited the countries of 

 southern Europe. Most of the gold and silver orna- 

 ments for altars were wrought by them. William Ru- Faroured 

 fus encouraged them to enter into solemn contests with by Williav 

 his bishops concerning the true faith ; swearing by the Rufi* 

 faith of St Luke, his favourite oath, that, if the Jews 

 were victorious in the dispute, he would turn Jew him- 

 self. Accordingly during his reign there was a public 

 meeting for this disputation, at which the Jews oppo- 

 sed the Christians with so much vigour, promptitude, 

 and acutenss, that the clergy felt considerable anxiety 

 respecting the issue. 



Henry II. in the 24th year of his reign, granted a Numbers 

 burial-place to the Jews on the outside of every city and wealth 

 where they dwelt. At this period, one Joshua, a Jew, in tne re 'g 

 furnished the rebels in Ireland with great sums of mo- f Heni 7ll 

 ney ; and another Jew of Bury St Edmunds took in 

 pledge certain vessels appropriated to the service of the 

 altar. Such was the confidence they felt either in their 

 numbers or their wealth, that at this time they under* 

 rated the highest dignitaries of the church. In the 

 year 1188, the parliament of Northampton proposed to 

 assess the Jews at 60,000, and the Christians at 

 70,000, towards carrying on a projected war. In the 

 reign of Richard I. the prejudices of the people of Eng- 

 land seem to have been for the first time generally and 

 strongly excited against them. A crusade had been re- plundered 

 solved on ; the populace, roused by the declamations of in the reign 

 the clergy, easily turned their zeal against the Jews.' of Richard I. 

 In London, their houses were broken open and plun- 

 dered. On this occasion, three persons only were pu- 

 nished, who through mistake had damaged the houses 

 of Christians. In the space of six months, the persecu- 

 tion of the Jews became general throughout the king- 

 dom. The most dreadful outrage against them was 

 committed at Stamford fair. Here were collected an 

 immense number of the populace, who were preparing 

 to go with the king to the Holy Land. As for this en- 

 terprise they had already expended the little property 

 they possessed ; they resolved to force the Jews also to 

 contribute their share. With this intention, they at- 

 tacked them when assembled in great numbers at this 

 fair, and quickly made themselves masters both of their 

 persons and fortunes ; the former of which they treated 

 with all kinds of barbarity. A few of them were so for- 

 tunate as to obtain shelter in the castle. The king did 

 not endeavour to prevent this outrage, nor did he pu- 

 nish it. At this period, it is supposed by some writers 

 that they invented bills of exchange, since mention 

 seems to be made of them by the name of Starra, (from 

 the Hebrew Shetar,) in certain Latin documents of this 

 By an edict of Richard I. for registering their 



era 



