PROGRESSIVE WORLD STRUGGLE OF THE JEWS 



9 



art. They became ministers of the gov- 

 ernment and its representatives abroad. 

 The kindly Saracenic soil for their 

 growth gave a full development to the 

 race, and the Spanish, or Sephardic, Jews 

 were fine specimens of physical and in- 

 tellectual manhood. They became in a 

 way the aristocracy of the house of 

 Israel. 



This favorable condition continued 

 until the reconquest of Spain by the 

 Christians began, and lasted in lessening 

 degree to the expulsion of the Moors 

 from Granada, in the fifteenth century. 



Meantime every great upheaval seemed 

 to increase Jewish persecution and Jew- 

 ish misery. 



The First Crusade, in 1096, which de- 

 veloped such wonderful religious spirit 

 in the middle and upper classes, led the 

 scum and the rabble to a persecution of 

 the Jews. This recurred in the Second 

 Crusade, in 1146. 



MASSACRES OF THE JEWS UNDER THE 



PEANTAGENETS 



A cruel massacre of the Jews occurred 

 in 1 189 in England, at the time of the 

 coronation of Richard I, although the 

 king favored them and they had acquired 

 a hold in England to such an extent that 

 there had been established a Jewish ex- 

 chequer, where Jews had to register all 

 their transactions and through which the 

 financial troubles of the Plantagenets 

 were greatly remedied by Jewish gold. 

 They were, however, expelled in 1290 

 from England by Edward I, it is said 

 at the instance of the Queen Mother 

 Eleanor, whose religious intolerance 

 could not brook their presence. 



The Fourth Lateran Council, under 

 Innocent III, among many anti-Jewish 

 measures, required Jews to wear a dress 

 or badge indicating their race. Soon 

 after in all the cities of Europe they were 

 compelled to live in a particular quarter 

 surrounded by walls and were locked in 

 at night. Hemmed in and congested in 

 these ghettos, the Jewry of Europe lived 

 out their painful lives until the middle of 

 the eighteenth century. 



St. Louis of France expelled the Jews 

 in 1254, treated them badly, and then in- 

 vited them back. Philip IV expelled 

 them, and nine years afterwards, in 131 5, 



his successor, Louis X, recalled them. 

 They were finally expelled by Charles VI 

 in 1394. 



ACCUSED OE BLACK-DEATH SORCERY 



In 1348 and 1349 there came the plague 

 of the "black death" all over Europe. 

 Probably because of the hygienic effect 

 of the Mosaic and Talmudic law, to 

 which the Tews conformed with rigidity, 

 they escaped the ravages of the epidemic. 



This was noted among the people, and 

 at once the report spread that the plague 

 had come from wells poisoned by the 

 Jews, and another series of massacres of 

 these poor people followed everywhere. 

 During the plague, Pope Clement VI 

 issued two bulls in an attempt to protect 

 the Jews. 



The Popes in the course of the centu- 

 ries, however, issued many bulls against 

 the Jews. The bulls were enforced with 

 much greater severity in other countries 

 than by the Popes themselves, who in 

 actual administration often exhibited 

 much leniency toward this unfortunate 

 race. Canon law had forbidden the tak- 

 ing of interest or usury by Christians ; 

 but this did not apply to the Jews, and as 

 the Jews had the money, they did the 

 lending. 



They thus became objects of interest 

 to the kings of the various countries who 

 had to borrow money, and they were 

 made private servants of the monarchs, 

 servi camarcr, a position of apparent 

 privilege which, however, in the end only 

 subjected the Jews to greater persecution. 



CHARGED WITH HUMAN SACRIFICE 



An uncertain tolerance was the only 

 relief from constant persecution, which 

 was their usual condition after the cru- 

 sades and the black plague. Every ex- 

 cuse for attacking them was seized. Huss 

 in Bohemia proclaimed his adherence to 

 the teachings of Wycliffe in 1420. He 

 was persecuted by the church — but so, 

 too, were the Jews — for his agitation 

 among Christians, with which they had 

 naught to do. 



In 1481 the Inquisition was set on foot 

 in Spain, and in 1402. after Granada fell. 

 the Jews were expelled. They were 

 driven into northern Africa, into Turkey. 

 and into Italy. 



