on this day (July 18th) in 1290AD King Edward I of England expelled the 16,000 Jews living in his Kingdom, what if the Jews of England were never expelled?
The Jews never being expelled from England at all? 16,000 more people potentially producing all sorts of stuff (counting their offspring and their products). England may not change very much though.
Too hard to predict.
If the Kings of England began and maintained a policy of not treating the Jews nearly as badly as the rest of Europe did, that would do it. They'd probably still play 'soak the rich Jew' a lot, but having no pogroms and such would be a great draw.Possible, but it would take more than simply not expelling English Jews to make England actually draw Jewish settlement like Poland did OTL.
If the Kings of England began and maintained a policy of not treating the Jews nearly as badly as the rest of Europe did, that would do it. They'd probably still play 'soak the rich Jew' a lot, but having no pogroms and such would be a great draw.
I would have thought that butterflying away the expulsion of the Jews would in fact mean more anti-semitism, as they could be blamed for plagues, bad harvest etc which they weren't blamed for in England IOTL because they weren't there.I was always suprised that Charles I didn't formally invite the Jews back, as it would have been a source of income that didn't involve Parliment. It was left to Cromwell to make the formal overturning of the decree.
It would be interesting to see what would have happened if the Jews fell into the Feudal system under William I rather than be direct subjects of the King. I suspect that we would have seen Jewish Lords and Barrons etc. alot earlier than Victorian times. I think that it would have seen the end of British antisemitism much earlier as well.
Some Kings would be very happy to see a non-church educated Chancellor incharge of the English purse. This would lead to Jews being given titles and lands in the same way that other chancellors where.
Once an area of the country has been ruled by a non-christian and not suffered as a result then the superstition about Jews causing bad things would dissapear.
Just think what would have happened to England if there was a Jewish chancellor to Henry VIII.
Incidentally, what variety of Jew were they? Sephardi? Ashkenazi? I know when Cromwell let them back in they were mostly Sephardi, but I'm talking about the ones who were kicked out in the first place.
IIRC, they actually spoke a French based language (Judeois??? Tsorfatizi??) rather than the Sephardi Ladino or Ashkenazi Yiddish.
I really don't remember details, ATM.
However, during Henry's reign (1100–1135) a royal charter was granted to Joseph, the chief rabbi of London, and all his followers. Under this charter, Jews were permitted to move about the country without paying tolls, to buy and sell goods and property, to sell their pledges after holding them a year and a day, to be tried by their peers, and to be sworn on the Torah rather than on a Christian Bible. Special weight was attributed to a Jew's oath, which was valid against that of 12 Christians, because they represented the King of England in financial matters. The sixth clause of the charter was especially important: it granted to the Jews the right of movement throughout the kingdom, as if they were the king's own property (sicut res propriæ nostræ).
Denim comes from North Italy and Southern France, basic flintlocks exist since the 16th century (snaplock/snaphaunce) and the jewish input on intellectual culture of christian europe was not particularly great because of the "separate and not equal at all" policy.Practical denim pants. Reliable flintlocks when everyone else is stuck with matchlocks.
Just think what would have happened to England if there was a Jewish chancellor to Henry VIII.