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endeavoured to restrain the fanaticism of their persecutors. Honorius III. issued a bull, forbidding the use of force in converting them to Christianity, and menacing excommunication against those who insulted or injured them on account of their religion. Gregory IX., when a sudden burst of bigotry threatened the extermination of the Jews in every country in which they had settled, not only protected them in his own states, but wrote urgent letters in their behalf to all the monarchs of Europe. When the Holy See was transferred to Avignon at the commencement of the fourteenth century, the favour shown to the Jews in Italy was continued, and the lot of those in France greatly alleviated. Avignon itself became the chief residence of the wealthy Jews, and their riches contributed not a little to the splendour of the pontifical

court.

After the popes had returned to Rome, several pontiffs exhibited a less wise and humane policy towards the Jewish race. Gregory XIII., who celebrated the atrocious massacre of St. Bartholomew with public thanksgivings, was of course a persecutor of the Jews. He ordained that they should be subject to trial before the Inquisition, for blasphemy, for ridiculing the ceremonies of the Catholic religion, or for reading the Talmud and similar prohibited books. He further enjoined that all the Jews in Rome, above twelve years of age, should be assembled once a week to listen to a sermon in condemnation of their religion. Sixtus V. was a pontiff of a different character; on the 22nd of October, 1586, he re-established the Jews in all their municipal privileges, allowed them full right of citizenship in the Roman states, with power to hold houses and lands; he restored their synagogues and burial-grounds, imposing upon them only a very moderate tribute, and promising them exemption for the future from all arbitrary exactions. Subsequent popes revoked the tolerant edicts of Sixtus, but they did not revive the cruel code of Gregory XIII., and in general the Jews have been permitted to enjoy greater freedom and to hold their property with greater tranquillity in the papal states than in most other countries of Christendom. Hence while the Spanish Jews generally favoured the Reformation, those of Italy regarded the progress of Protestant opinion with complete indifference and sometimes with avowed hostility.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries most of the great German cities had among their inhabitants numerous Jews, wealthy, intelligent, and polished in their manners, but their prosperity was at all times at the mercy of their rulers, and it was only by means of purchased and precarious protection that even their lives were At length arose the crusading spirit, and the Jews in Germany, to the number of many thousands, were its first victims.

secure.

Again the fanatics who were preparing to march to the third crusade (A.D. 1188) butchered all the Jews they met with in Germany and Italy, and similar barbarities were exercised in this and other countries, so that the annihilation of the devoted race seemed inevitable; but this, like other storms, passed away. After a while the Jews again rose from the dust, some returned to their ancient habitations, and others pushed forward into the then almost unknown regions of Poland, where they at length became, and still continue, a very influential part of the population.

At what period the Jews first reached Britain does not distinctly appear; but in the eighth century we find them reckoned among the property of the Anglo-Saxon kings, who seem to have exercised absolute power over both their lives and goods. In this state they remained under the Norman princes and the early Plantagenets, as is sufficiently testified by their butchery in the reign of Richard I.; the conduct of John, who drew out a tooth daily till he obtained a large sum of money from a rich Jew; the enormous fines levied on them by Henry III.; and their expulsion by Edward I. (A.D. 1290), after the confiscation of all their property. The conduct of the monarchs was of course imitated by the nobles to the extent of their power, and the hatred of all classes was excited by marvellous stories of the crucifixion of Christian children, the profanation of the sacraments, and other improbable outrages, of which they were said, but never proved, to be guilty.

As the Arabs lost their hold on Spain the Jews found themselves exposed to all the horrors of persecution. The Inquisition was introduced, and after great numbers had been burnt, all who refused to become Christians were expelled the kingdom, being allowed to retain only their moveable property (A.D. 1492); their number is said to have exceeded 800,000, and they chiefly took refuge in Africa and Turkey. They were treated in a similar manner in Portugal. But it soon appeared that Judaism, though suppressed, was by no means extinguished in the Peninsula, and the severity of the Inquisition was then exercised upon the nominal Christians; such was the case also in Italy. Thus persecuted in every country under the influence of the see of Rome, the Jews at the era of the Reformation eagerly flocked towards the rising Protestant states, where they were at least sure of personal safety. This was more especially the case in Holland, where they were equitably treated, and where they are now exceedingly numerous. Although no repeal of the edict for their banishment had taken place, the Jews entered into some negotiations with Oliver Cromwell for their return to this country, but which do not appear

to

have led to any result. At the time of the Restoration they came in, in small numbers, without exciting any particular notice, and have ever since remained unmolested. In 1753 an act was passed to facilitate their naturalization, but it was speedily repealed, and though popular feeling is less strong at present on the subject, the attempt to place them upon the same footing as other British subjects, though several times made, has been unsuccessful.

In the course of the last and the present centuries the condition of the Jews in European countries has been greatly ameliorated. Maria Theresa of Austria, and, after her, most of the German states, have granted them equal privileges with Christians; in France they enjoy every civil right; in Poland they form the only middle class, and are found engaged in agriculture and manufactures; in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, they now reside unmolested, and in many of the British colonies (as Malta, Gibraltar, and Jamaica) they are among the principal merchants and traders. Indeed, Russia is the only civilized state where they are now subject to anything like their former restrictions, or are looked upon with much of the antipathy of former days. In Mohammedan countries, however, they are still an obnoxious sect, against whom the most improbable charges are readily credited, a circumstance frequently taken advantage of by the local governors.

As might be expected with regard to a people so widely scattered, the most contradictory statements of the number of the Jews have been made, few of them being anything more than mere conjecture. The most probable statement seems to be that of the Weimar Almanac, which gives a total of about 3,200,000, reckoning near 2,000,000 in Europe, 740,000 in Asia, 500,000 in Africa, and 5000 in America.

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