“The weaknesses of Tudor and Stuart regulation were the result not only of inadequate enforcement by the executive branch but also of its drafting and maintenance by parliament. The ceiling on interest rates in the usury laws was bypassed by adding risk fees, by fictiously increasing the sum of the original loan, issuing bonds below par, playing with exchange rates on foreign bills or adding profit-sharing elements. When parliament drafted the usury laws, it did not sufficiently account for enforcement problems or for the complexity of the credit market.” [p.208]

However, it would be wrong to generalise from there to suppose a general laxity in fiscal administration for the same text reports that by 1782 there were almost 8,300 full-time tax collectors - Britain’s population at the time of the first census in 1801 was only 10-5 millions. Ireland’s population at the time was five millions.

The usury laws were repealed in 1854. They had become irrelevant. Indeed, much inherited Tudor and Stuart regulation was repealed in the first half of the 19th century, the general presumption being that laissez-faire works best but then we may also note that Parliament in 1802 passed the first of many subsequent factory acts to regulate working conditions: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/factmine/factleg.htm

Sorry. I hate it when other people make that mistake.

-M.

Bob’s reply notwithstanding please, note the other fact relating all victims of your atrocity catalogue: they were owed money by the perpetrators. These crimes, and there were many, were not anti-jewish (as a religion) but debt-cancelling in a time when courts could not be relied upon by either party.

Bob, as a Lancastrian, I can assure you that generalizations about Yorkshiremen, or tykes as they are more familiarly known, are all totally correct…
For our European readers: the Wars of the Roses between Lancashire (red rose) and Yorkshire (white rose), 1453 - 1485, is still remembered with a passion and fought annually to this day, though less bloodily, on the cricket field. So for those that think the British Pythonesque attitude to Germany may go away soon, think again. However, football may be the better for it.

Michael.

The only reason we can suppose England was a “hot-bed of anti-semitism” in medieval times is because a few surviving texts from those times included anti-semitic passages and, in that, followed the mainstream, orthodox teaching of the universal church then.

My knowledge of medieval history is sparse so I thought to look up entries for jews in: Ben Weinreb amd Christoper Hibbert (eds): The London Encyclopaedia (1993), an ever fascinating source of information and perspectives, admittedly from a London perspective but then London is approaching 2000 years old and it is the greatest city in Europe in terms of population - as well as much else. Of course, there is an entry for the Jewish Museum in London but there were few relating entries beyond this, which also related to medieval times:

“Jewin Street - Barbican: By the middle of the 12th century Jews had settled in the street in considerable numbers. In 1177 Henry II granted them a patch of ground here for burying their dead. The Barons desecrated the graves in 1215 [NB the year of the signing of Magna Carta] and took some of the head stones to repair Lud gate. When the Jews were expelled from England in 1290, their burial ground was granted to William de Monte Forte, Dean of St Paul’s . . ”

Significantly, the worst anti-semitic atrocity you mentioned was in York, in the north of England, but perspectives there were and are very different. London has always been a cosmopolitan city - as Disraeli wrote in 1847: London is the modern Babylon. It was founded by the Romans. An archeological dig a few years ago of a Roman cemetry in London turned up remains of a young woman, almost certainly of north African origin, in a tomb with artefacts suggesting a relatively affluent social standing. That is not altogether surprising.

Other London digs indicate regular trade in imported wines and olive oil from the Mediterranean region in Roman times. A few years back, an archeological dig in my neighbourhood uncovered the foundations of a substantial Roman villa. But then a few hundred metres away from where I sit there is a bricked-up cave which was found to have evidence of human habitation going back to the middle stone age. Just a few miles away there are the are the ruins of Nonsuch Palace, a sumptuous palace built for Henry VIII. The local church is part Norman and the place name has a Saxon ending, as have most place names hereabouts. The foxes, which still roam the neighbourhood, are probably the surviving indigenous inhabitants.

Europe’s history has a very bloody narrative. Historic manifestations of anti-semitism need to be seen in the context of recurring wars over territory and religions and periodic bouts of persecution of ethnic or religious minorities, often intigated by civil or ecclesiastical authorities, quite possibly for self-serving motives. There were periodic bouts of persecuting folk deemed to be “witches” right up to the 18th century for reasons which we have great difficulty in comprehending nowadays.

Pray consider this relating to Hartlepool, a small town by the sea, not very far from York, and which was the Parliamentary constituency of Peter Mandelson, who has just become the UK Commissioner in the EU:

“The monkey-hanging legend is the most famous story connected with Hartlepool. During the Napoleonic Wars a ship was wrecked off the Hartlepool coast. During the . . Wars there was a fear of a French invasion of Britain and much public concern about the possibility of French infiltrators and spies.

“The fishermen of Hartlepool fearing an invasion kept a close watch on the French vessel as it struggled against the storm but when the vessel was severely battered and sunk they turned their attention to the wreckage washed ashore. Among the wreckage lay one wet and sorrowful looking survivor, the ship’s pet monkey dressed to amuse in a military style uniform.

“The fishermen apparently questioned the monkey and held a beach-based trial. Unfamiliar with what a Frenchman looked like they came to the conclusion that this monkey was a French spy and should be sentenced to death. The unfortunate creature was to die by hanging, with the mast of a fishing boat (a coble) providing a convenient gallows.”

- from: http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/history/thehartlepoolmonkey.asp

But then, anyone can makes a mistake.

Btw Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament at its state opening in 1605, came from York but any generalisations about Yorkshire people would probably be over-hasty.

In modern times, there have been no remotely comparable anti-jewish riots in Britain.

In medeival times England was a hotbed of anti-semitism:

1144 - (Passover - the first blood libel apparently). Jews of Norwich are accused with both ritual murder and blood libel after a boy (William of Norwich) is found dead with stab wounds. The legend gets turned into a cult, William acquires status of martyr saint and crowds of pilgrims bring wealth to local church. In 1189, Jewish deputation attending coronation of Richard the Lionheart is attacked by the crowd. Pogroms in London follow and spread around England. On Feb 6 1190 all the Norwich Jews found in their houses were slaughtered, except few who found refuge in the castle.

1190 - (York Massacre) 500 Jews of York massacred after 6-day siege by departing Crusaders, backed by a number of people indebted to Jewish money-lenders.

1275 - King Edward I of England passes anti-Jewish statute forcing Jews over the age of seven to wear an indentifying Yellow badge, and making usury illegal (linked to blasphemy), in order to seize their assets. Scores of English Jews are arrested, 300 hanged and their property goes to the Crown. In 1280 he orders Jews to be present at Dominicans preaching conversion. In 1287 he arrests heads of Jewish families and demands their communities to pay ransom of 12,000 pounds.

1290 - King Edward I of England expels all Jews from England, allowing to take only what they could carry, all the other property became the Crown’s. Official reason: continued practice of usury.

Sarcastically one could say this that a referendum on every joining countries is not such a bad idea if apparently the mp’s are hardly better informed than the people in general…
But my conclusion is different. (fill in my hobby horse)

*shudder* At least Mann learnt from the next four years, unlike that man with the moustache.

BTW, looking for something else, I just found that there was Western European armed conflict in 1680 and 1681 after all. The Reunions, France’s bit-by-bit conquering of the Alsace was finished in these years (tough in 1681, Strasbourg was taken without a shot).

Russians’ view of history is like a Russian novel: grave, fatalistic, violent, and laden with shades of grey. Ukrainians expect to make history that’s more like an operetta.

Interesting observation! Bob quoted from Geoffrey Elton, who said Central Europe has too much history - that is quite right I can say; and true for Eastern Europe too. Here history is everything. To understand the Orange and Blue sides’ expectations of the other (or the others’ outside superpower backers), Western observers should bear that in mind.

Krieg! Es war Reinigung, Befreiung, was wir empfanden, und eine ungeheure Hoffnung.

There’s also an amusing analysis by Oles Donii in Ukrayinska Pravda today (in Ukrainian) of why there has been much talk in Russia about a Ukrainian civil war and almost none in Ukraine itself.

The author looks at the images that defined for Russians their recent history in the making. Crowds facing tanks on the streets of Moscow in 1991. Yeltsin making a victory speech mounted on one of them. Tanks firing on the pariliament building. Russian soldiers being pulled out of tanks and paraded on camera by Chechen guerillas, and tanks rushing back to reoccupy Chechnya.

He then looks at the unifying image of disturbances in Ukraine in 1990, 2000, and 2004: a tent city pitched in the center of Kyiv.

To generalize the authors’ words a bit, Russians’ view of history is like a Russian novel: grave, fatalistic, violent, and laden with shades of grey. Ukrainians expect to make history that’s more like an operetta. People in bright costumes walk out singing upbeat songs, and in the end the villains are banished amidst much dancing.

Once in the middle of the 90s I said that the “regime ought be toppled in good fun!” Essentially, what we’re having is a fun toppling of the regime. We are a jolly nation. Our countenance is marked by a grin. Our Tent turned out to be stronger than their Tank!