Jews were Expelled

Expelled
The Fourth Lateran Council restricted Jewish commercial advantage but it did not end the Jewish problem. Beginning in the latter part of the 13th century, one European country after another expelled its Jewish population as the only final solution to the problem. First to take the step was England which banned them in 1290. Fifteen years later in 1306 the French followed suit. In steady succession the various states of Europe emulated this example with Spain being one of the last to enforce the ban in 1492. The situation in Spain is worth noting. Says Encyclopedia Britannica: [page 57, vol. 13 - 1947]: "... The 14th century was the golden age of their history in Spain. In 1391 the preaching of a priest of Seville, Fernando Martinez, led to the first general massacre of the Jews who were envied for their prosperity and hated because they were the king's tax collectors." Ferdinand and Isabella, after uniting Spain and driving out the Moors turned their attention to the Jewish problem, with the result that they were evicted completely in 1492. In 1498 Portugal evicted its Jewish population also.

The Exploiters
A great deal has been said about the "persecution" of the Jews in Europe and elsewhere, and they have pretty well convinced the world (or at least Americans) that these hardships were inflicted on an innocent people. But these rich Spanish Jews we see being evicted in 1492 were not down-trodden folk. They were the wealthy, the privileged, the exploiters: they were the well-fed merchants and the gouging tax collectors ...

So it was in Portugal; in that country we find that the deportation of the Jews ... "deprived Portugal of its middle class and its most scientific traders and financiers." [Encyclopedia Britannica, page 279, vol. 18 - 1947.] Undeniably this class of traders and financiers was put to hardship by this banishment, but it does not follow that they were victims of discrimination in the accepted sense, nor were they underprivileged in any way. Rather we see a wealthy merchant group being ousted from its seat of vested privilege by a thoroughly outraged, and a thoroughly exploited Christian society ...

The situation in England was similar. The Jews had come to England in the wake of the Norman conquest and had quickly gained a position of wealth and prosperity. Says Valentine's Jewish Encyclopedia of this period: "Their numbers and prosperity increased, Aaron of Lincoln being the wealthiest man in England in his time ... his financial transactions covering the whole country and concerning many of the leading nobles and churchmen ... On his death his property passed to the crown and a special branch of the exchequer had to be created to deal with it."

England
England, ironically enough, was the last country to be invaded by the Jews and the first to evict them. After the Fourth Lateran Council the Jews had become increasingly difficult to deal with and there were a number of anti-Jewish riots. Perplexed by the problem posed by this alien minority which seemed well on its way to corralling the kingdom's wealth, and failing in an attempt to force its assimilation. Edward I confiscated all Jewish wealth and evicted them permanently in 1290. Not until 1655 was a Jew legally permitted to re-enter England. Britain thus established the precedent for the later eviction which soon followed on the continent.

France
In France too the Jews were dominant in trade and finance and had been since before Charlemagne's time. Under Philip the Fair (1285-1314) one of the last, and certainly one of the greatest of the Capetian line, France had become the greatest power in Europe. It was Philip's need for money which led him to seize Jewish wealth and drive them from the country. He had already before 1306 taken desperate measures to raise money, which was in short supply, by forbidding the export of gold and silver from France. The same need for money brought him into conflict with the Templars, whose wealth he also seized. But it was the Jews who controlled the greatest supply of floating wealth. In 1306 Philip solved his financial problem—and France's Jewish problem—by expropriating their wealth and evicting them. Thus ended the centuries-long commercial dominance of the Jew in France. Later a few were permitted to return and these were in turn ejected in 1394.

RETURN TO THE EAST
The Evictions
Space does not permit a detailed discussion of the other evictions which followed and which resulted in the banishment of the Jews from virtually every country in Western Europe in the succeeding centuries but here in chronological order is a list of the evictions:

ENGLAND: Jews expelled in 1290 by Edward I. Not permitted to re-enter till 1655.

FRANCE: Expelled in 1306 by Philip the Fair. A few were permitted to return but were again evicted in 1394. Jewish settlements remained in Bordeaux, Avignon, Marseilles, (from where they were evicted in 1682) and in the northern province of Alsace.

SAXONY: Expelled in 1349.

HUNGARY: By 1092 the Jews were in control of Hungary's tax collections. In 1360 they were expelled but later returned. In 1582 they were again expelled from the Christian part of Hungary.

BELGIUM: Expelled in 1370. A few settled there again in 1450, but no large numbers came till 1700.

SLOVAKIA: Ousted from Prague in 1380. Many settled there again after 1562. In 1744 Marie Theresa expelled them again.

AUSTRIA: Expelled in 1420 by Albrecht V.

NETHERLANDS: Expelled from Utrecht in 1444.

SPAIN: Expelled in 1492.

LITHUANIA: Expelled in 1495 by Grand Duke Alexander. They later returned.

PORTUGAL: Expelled in 1498.

PRUSSIA: Expelled in 1510.

ITALY: Expelled from Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia in 1540.

BAVARIA: Banned permanently in 1551.

Jews were not permitted to enter Sweden until 1782. None were permitted to enter Denmark before the 17th century and they were not allowed in Norway after 1814. Today only a handful reside in all Scandinavia.

Back to Poland
By 1500 all of Western Europe except northern Italy, parts of Germany, and the Papal possessions around Avignon, had been rid of the Jewish invasion. For a while, at least, Europe was free of the Jews; not until 1650 did they return in any numbers. Says Encyclopedia Britannica: [page 57-58, vol. 13 - 1947.] "The great mass of the Jewish people were thus to be found once more in the East, in the Polish and Turkish empires . . The few communities suffered to remain in western Europe were meanwhile subjected at last to all the restrictions which earlier ages had usually allowed to remain as an ideal; so that in a sense, the Jewish dark ages may be said to begin with the Renaissance."

THE RENAISSANCE
As the Jew Departed ...
The period marked by the evictions—1300 to 1650—also marks the period of the Renaissance which broke over Europe as the Jews departed. Starting at first in the trading cities of northern Italy in about 1300, there began a great rebirth of culture and learning which at first was based almost entirely on the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Very quickly this renascent culture spread over Europe and when the age had ended, in about 1650, Europe was by comparison with her former status, enlightened and civilized. Quite obviously all this could not have taken place had it not been for a great upsurge of commercial activity which occurred simultaneously with, and as an adjunct of, the Renaissance. Not until the nations of Europe had wrested commercial control from the ghetto did this rebirth of western civilization occur.