Chapter VIII.--IMPOSTORS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

When Richard the First was making preparations for the Holy War, (as the Crusade was called,) his Christian subjects felt very angry that they, who looked upon themselves as the favourites of Heaven, should be obliged to deprive their families even of needful things, in order to fit themselves or others out to join in this war, whilst the enemies of Christ were left in peaceable enjoyment of their riches; and they persuaded themselves that it would be a meritorious act, acceptable to God, to destroy all the descendants of those who had crucified the Saviour, and then take their wealth to pay the expenses of the Crusade. Before his departure for the Holy Land, the King gave an order that the Jews were not to be disturbed in any way; but no sooner had he left England, than the fury of the people broke out afresh, and very many of the unhappy Israelites were destroyed in different places, and their property seized; whilst the magistrates, whose duty it was to keep order and protect _all_ the king's subjects, made little or no attempt to stop these acts of cruelty and violence.

At York, the most dreadful scenes took place. The Jews of that city were great money-lenders, or _usurers_, as they were called in reproach; and as they lived in a sumptuous manner, indulging themselves in every luxury, the people envied them for their riches, and hated them more and more; and hearing what had been done in other parts of England, they prepared to attack their victims. Upon this, the chief persons among the Israelites prevailed upon the governor of York to allow their countrymen to take refuge in the castle, as its walls were strong enough to protect those within them. Very soon, however, the Jews, seeing that the governor frequently went out of the castle into the city, suspected that he was plotting with their enemies for their destruction; and therefore, one day, when he had gone out as usual, they shut the gates, and refused to let him in again. The governor, very indignant, complained to the sheriff and to the heads of the Christian party, who, as they were the chief debtors to the Jews, were most anxious to destroy them. The sheriff immediately ordered the governor to attack the castle; but he soon repented of having given such a hasty order, and many of the principal citizens refused to join in its execution. It was, however, too late to check the populace, who were bent upon murder and robbery. The attack was made, the assailants encouraging each other by the cry, "Destroy the enemies of Jesus." The Jews offered to give large sums of money, on condition that their lives should be spared; but this offer was refused. When they saw that they could defend themselves no longer, one of their most esteemed rabbis proposed that they should kill themselves, saying, that it was better to die courageously for the Law than to fall into the hands of the Christians. Accordingly, these poor creatures killed their wives and children, set fire to the castle, and then slew themselves. In this way 500 perished. A few, who gave themselves up in hopes of meeting with mercy, were murdered, and all the houses belonging to the Jews were plundered.

Richard was very angry when he heard of such disobedience to his orders, and ordered the Bishop of Ely, as Chief Justice of England, to punish the guilty most severely. The chief offenders, however, had left York before the bishop entered that city; and he contented himself with depriving the sheriff and governor of their offices, and laying a fine upon some of the richest citizens.

Although so much has been said about the Jews in the twelfth century, there is still something more to be added, because during this period there were more impostors pretending to be the Messiah, than during any other similar period of time. The first of these impostors appeared in France A.D. 1137, and committed so many crimes, that the Government caused several synagogues to be destroyed, and at length the man himself was put to death, with a large number of his followers. The next year a false Messiah appeared in Persia, and collected a formidable army. The king of the country bribed him with a large sum of money to disband his followers, and then treacherously caused him to be beheaded, forcing the Jews to return to him the money, which he had given as a bribe to the unfortunate man.

Spain had also her impostor, who appeared in A.D. 1157, and was supported by one of the most learned rabbis of Cordova, who had just written a book to prove that the Messiah must shortly come--a work which had probably put it into the head of this man to assume the character. The greater part of the educated and sensible Jews looked upon this impostor as a madman; but the people in general believed in him, and suffered severely for their folly.

Ten years afterwards, a person appeared in the kingdom of Fez, in Africa, and declared that in the course of a year the promised Messiah would come. The conduct of this impostor greatly displeased the Mahometans, to whom the kingdom belonged, and brought persecution upon all the Jews scattered throughout the country.

In the same year in which a false Messiah appeared in Fez, another Jew of Arabia took the title of Messiah. He pretended to work miracles, and gained many followers. He was at length seized, and taken before the ruler of the country, who asked him, what had led him to try and impose upon his countrymen? He boldly answered, that he had not done so, for that he was indeed a prophet sent by God. Being then asked what miracle he could work to prove that he was really sent by God, he said, "Cut off my head, and I will come back again to life." The king took him at his word, and ordered him to be beheaded, promising to believe in him if he came to life again. His followers actually continued for some time to expect his re-appearance; but at last they were obliged to give up all hope: they were heavily fined, as a punishment for listening to this impostor.

We have now spoken of eight pretended Messiahs; but there is still one more, the most famous of them all: this was a Jew, named David Alroi, or El David, who, with about 1,000 of his countrymen, dwelt in a city subject to the King of Persia, to whom they paid tribute. In 1199 El David took the title of Messiah; and, being a learned and clever man, he deceived the multitude by his pretended miracles, and persuaded them to take up arms in his cause. The King of Persia, alarmed by the success of the rebels, commanded El David to go to Court, promising to acknowledge him as the Messiah, if he would give some miraculous proof of being so. Contrary to all expectation, the impostor appeared before the king, persisting in his claim to be the true Messiah. He was then put into prison, in order to see whether he could work a miracle to set himself free. Somehow or other, he did manage to escape, and those who were sent in search of him were unable to find him; but, through the treachery of his son-in-law, who took a large bribe to betray him, he was given up to the king, and put to death, with a great number of those who had been deceived by him.

Thus remarkably was fulfilled our Saviour's prophecy, that "false Christs and false prophets should arise and deceive many." It may seem strange to us that the Jews, after refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ, Who had given so many proofs of His Divine power, should afterwards have been so ready to follow any impostor who chose to style himself the Messiah, without being able to do one single thing to support such a claim.

The reason of this appears to be, that the Jews, in spite of all prophecy, still set their minds upon a Messiah, who could at once establish a kingdom upon earth; and they were, in consequence, always ready to take up arms, hoping that the time for establishing such a kingdom was now come.

Jesus, by His conduct, put an end to all hopes of the kind in Him; and therefore He was despised and rejected. The impostors who took His name promised to deliver the Jews from all their enemies, and restore them to their country; and therefore they were believed and followed.

The cruel treatment experienced by the Jews in England during the reign of Richard the First, led many of those who still possessed any property, to leave the country; so that when John became king, A.D. 1199, the absence of so many rich people and the falling off of trade were much felt in the kingdom; and, in the early part of the thirteenth century, the king used every means in his power to bring them back. He solemnly promised, that if they would give him a large sum of money, they should enjoy all their former privileges: he allowed them to possess lands, build synagogues, and even choose a High Priest. Great numbers of Jews then returned to England, where they were soon more cruelly plundered than they had been before. It was the old story; they were odious to the people on account of their religion, and still more so, perhaps, for the enormous usury which they exacted for money lent. Thus there was a continual cry for their banishment, or rather for their destruction; but the king found it more for his own interest to keep them in the country, where he could upon all occasions make them purchase his protection by paying a heavy fine; and the Jews, seeing that so long as they gave money to the king they might exact what interest they pleased for money lent to his subjects, acted accordingly, and became more and more oppressive to all who were so unfortunate as to be their debtors.

In the beginning of the thirteenth century, A.D. 1210, John wished to raise a large sum of money: as usual, he fell upon the Jews. The money not being readily paid, the king, in spite of the privileges which these unfortunate people had so dearly purchased, ordered men and women to be put into prison until he received the enormous sum which he now demanded. A Jew of Bristol was called upon to furnish such an immense sum, that he refused, declaring that the payment of it would reduce him to beggary. Upon this refusal, the king cruelly ordered that one of the poor man's teeth should be taken out every day until he did pay. This wretched Jew lost seven teeth, and then agreed to give the sum demanded by the king.