A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



still held out, and Mowbray urged King William to come to its relief. °' The king, however, hearing 

 that Yorkshire was in arms against him, declined to advance, and turned his attention to Alnwick. 

 The Yorkshire barons, under Ranulph de Glanville and Bernard de Balliol, did not wait to be 

 attacked, but joining forces with the loyalists of the northern counties, hastened to Alnwick, 

 surprised and captured the Scottish king, and brought him a prisoner to Richmond." The final act 

 of the rebellion was played at York on lo August 1175,'" when the King of Scotland did homage 

 to the King of England and placed his helmet, spear, and saddle upon the high altar of the minster 

 in token of his submission.'^ Mowbray's castles of Thirsk and Malzeard were dismantled, and 

 orders were given for the destruction of the Bishop of Durham's fortress at Northallerton,'' the 

 property of all Flemings resident in the county was seized, fines were inflicted upon those who had 

 assisted the rebels,'' and the county settled down to its normal life again. 



The reign of Richard I opened with a dramatic tragedy. York, as one of the great towns of 

 England, had become the centre of a wealthy Jewish colony, the heads of which were at this time 

 Benedict and Joce. These two men were in London at the time of King Richard's coronation 

 when a riot broke out which ended in the slaughter of most of the Jews and the plunder of their 

 houses. Benedict was wounded to death and forcibly baptized, but Joce escaped to York. The 

 report of the London massacres, coupled with the crusading enthusiasm of the time, so worked upon 

 the populace at York that certain men of position who were deeply indebted to the Jews found 

 little difficulty in provoking anti- Jewish outrages. First the house of the murdered Benedict was 

 broken into and robbed, and his widow and children slain. In alarm the Jews obtained leave from 

 the constable of the castle to store their treasure in part of the castle, probably the isolated tower 

 called CliflFord's tower. Shortly afterwards the mob besieged Joce's house, a massive stone building, 

 which resisted their efiForts for some little time. Joce had wisely moved into the castle with his 

 wife and children and most of his goods, and his example was followed by most of the other Jews. 

 In their fear of treachery the Jews rashly refused to admit the constable of the castle, and he at 

 once persuaded the sheriff, John Marshall, to order the capture of the castle. The people responded 

 gladly to the call to arms, urged on by a Premonstratensian canon and a gang of anti-Semitic 

 debtors, of whom the leader was Richard Malebiche, ' rightly called Evil Beast,' and although the 

 sheriff and some of the more responsible citizens tried to restrain them, they pressed the attack so 

 hotly that the besieged saw no hope of escape. Joce and Rabbi Yomtob of Joigny, who was on a 

 visit to York, addressed their followers, urging them to die by their own hands rather than at the 

 hands of the enemy ; most of the Jews agreed and perished by mutual slaughter, first setting fire to 

 their goods ; a few, whose courage failed them, surrendered and vowed to accept Christianity, but 

 were at once butchered by the mob. Altogether about 150 men, women, and children perished on 

 17 March 11 90, and very few Jews were left alive in the city. Malebiche and his confederate 

 debtors next turned to the minster and rushed the treasury, broke open the chests in which were 

 kept their bonds of indebtedness, and burned them. The king was furious, and sent his chancellor 

 with an army to York early in May, but Malebiche and the other leaders had retired to Scotland. 

 So many citizens were involved that it was difficult to make an example of any. Beyond removing 

 the sheriff from office and inflicting fines to the extent of some £,2'^0 on the more prominent rioters, 

 nothing was done.'* 



During the absence of King Richard, Yorkshire played a considerable part in the struggle 

 between the loyal party and the faction of John, Count of Mortain, the king's brother. At 

 Tickhill towards the close of 1 190 Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, John's firm supporter, was 

 entrapped by his rival Longchamp, the astute chancellor, and compelled to surrender his castles." 

 Tickhill itself was entrusted by the chancellor to Roger de Lacy, by whom Eudes de Dayvill was 

 put in charge. Next year Eudes, with the cognizance of Peter de Bovencurt, betrayed the castle to 

 John ; " but peace being soon afterwards patched up, John handed Tickhill over to William de 

 Wenneval to hold for the king." A little later Longchamp ordered Hugh Bardolf to surrender 

 the castle of Scarborough and the sheriffdom of Yorkshire to William de Stutevillc, but his orders were 

 not obeyed.'* Early in 11 93, while Richard was a prisoner in Germany, John attempted to seize 

 the throne. Geofifrey, Archbishop of York, with Hugh Bardolf and William de Stuteville put 

 Doncaster in a state of defence," but the archbishop could not persuade his colleagues to attack 



'=* Chron. Stephen, (Jc. (Rolls Ser.), i, 182. 



® Ibid. Bowes castle was strengthened 'against the coming of the King of Scotland' ; Pipe R. 20 Hen. II. 



'" Ciron. Stephen, i^c. (Rolls Ser.), i, 185. " Knighton, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 148. 



" Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, loi. " Pipe R. 21 Hen. II. 



'* Chron. Stephen, bfc. (Rolls Ser.) i, 312-24; Jacobs, Jem of Angevin England, 117-33, '4°. '54. 

 385-92- " Chron. Stephen, Uc (Rolls Ser.), iii, 390. 



" Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 134, 172. " Ibid. 144. " Ibid. 154. 



™ Ibid. 206. Twenty-six knights, fifteen serjeants-at-arms, and 140 infantry were placed in Doncaster 

 Castle ; Pipe R. j Ric. I. 



400 



