England Remembers, Jews Forget: Memory of Jews and England, 1290-1541

Irwin, Dean

Abstract

This paper was an invited presentation to at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies' conference on Jews in Britain and the Empire during the seventeenth century.

Following the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, their properties defaulted to the Crown. Although they were subsequently granted away to new (Christian) owners shortly thereafter, the properties continued to be identified with their former Jewish owners in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. This paper traces such references in the chancery rolls, charters, and rentals of the following centuries and endeavours to interpret them. Ultimately, it argues that through these, a tangible link was maintained to the medieval Jewish past, and there was no collective forgetting of the Jews, in the centuries for the Expulsion.

Citation

Irwin, D. (2024, March). England Remembers, Jews Forget: Memory of Jews and England, 1290-1541. Paper presented at Enterprise, Engagement, Integration: Jews of Seventeenth-Century Britain and the Empire, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Enterprise, Engagement, Integration: Jews of Seventeenth-Century Britain and the Empire
• Conference Location: Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
• Start Date: Mar 5, 2024
• End Date: Mar 8, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Publisher URL: https://www.ochjs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Current-Program-Anglo-with-links-for-online-rev-27_02_2024.pdf