THE JEWS OF YORK. 
485 
curled hair, with which the king and his courtiers were so much 
affected, that they consented to resign their flowing ringlets, of which 
they had been so vain. The prudent prelate gave them no time to 
change their minds, but immediately pulled a pair of shears out of 
his sleeve, and performed the operation with his own hand. Another 
incident happened about twenty-five years after, which gave a tempo- 
rary check to the prevailing fondness for long hair. 
“An event happened, a. d. 1129, says a contemporary historian, 
which seems very wonderful to our young gallants; who, forgetting 
that they were men, had transformed themselves into women by the 
length of their hair. A certain knight, who was very proud of his 
long luxuriant hair, dreamed that a person suffocated him with his 
curls. As soon as he awoke, he cut his hair to a decent length. The 
report of this spread all over England, and almost all the knights 
reduced their hair to the proper standard. But this reformation was 
not of long continuance, for all who wished to appear fashionable 
returned to their former wickedness, and contended with the ladies in 
length of hair. Those to whom nature had denied that ornament, 
supplied the defect by art.” 
The Jews of York. 
When jR,ichard the First ascended the throne, 1189, the Jews, to con- 
ciliate the royal protection, brought their tributes. Many had has- 
tened from remote parts of England, and appearing at Westminter, 
the court and the mob imagined that they had leagued to bewitch 
his majesty. An edict was issued to forbid their presence at the 
coronation ; but several, whose curiosity was greater than their pru- 
dence, conceiving that they might pass unobserved among the crowd, 
ventured to insinuate themselves into the Abbey. Probably their voice 
and their visage alike betrayed them, for they were soon discovered ; 
they flew diversely in great consternation, while many were dragged 
out with little remains of life. 
A rumour spread rapidly through the city, that in honour of the 
festival, the Jews w'ere to be massacred. The populace, at once 
eager of royalty and riot, pillaged and burnt their houses, and mur- 
dered the Jews. Benedict, a Jew of York, to save his life, received 
baptism ; and returning to that city, with his friend Jocenus, the most 
opulent of the Jews, died of his wounds. Jocenus and his servants 
related the late tragic circumstances to their neighbours ; but where 
they hoped to move sympathy, they excited rage. The people at 
York soon gathered, to imitate the people at London, and their first 
assault was on the house of the late Benedict ; which having some 
strength and magnitude, contained his family and friends, who found 
their graves in its ruins. The alarmed Jews hastened to Jocenus, who 
conducted tliem to the governor of York castle, and prevailed on him 
to aflord them an asylum for their persons and effects. In the mean 
w hile their habitations were levelled, and the owners murdered ; except 
a few unresisting beings, who, unmanly in sustaining honour, were 
adapted to receive baptism. 
The castle had sufiicient strength for their defence ; but a suspicion 
