A friend of ours, Naftali Gross recently participated in a debate about BDS in York, UK. While there he visited the local castle where the Jews of York were massacred in 1190.
At the foot of Clifford’s Tower a plaque marks the darkest chapter in the history of York’s Jewish community.
On March 16th 1190 a wave of anti-Semitic riots culminated in the massacre of an estimated 150 Jews – the entire Jewish community of York – who had taken refuge in the royal castle where Clifford’s Tower now stands. The chronicler William of Newburgh described the rioters as York acting “without any scruple of Christian conscientiousness” in wiping out the Jewish community. And William was not the only chronicler to record these lamentable acts, as the Chronicles of the Abbey of Meaux in East Yorkshire, and Roger of Howden include accounts.
Anti-Semitic feeling was running high throughout western Europe in the twelfth century, stoked by the Christian fervour of the Crusades, that directed aggression against Jews across England, France and Germany, as well as against Muslims in the Holy Land. England’s new king Richard I was about to set off on Crusade himself.
Rioting had spread throughout England since prominent Jews, including Benedict of York, had been denied entry to King Richard I’s coronation banquet in 1189. Benedict was the wealthiest Jew of York and he was mortally wounded in the rioting at Westminster.
