me violence occurred in Jewish history: The Crusades. Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124) reported the crusaders saying, "We desire to combat the enemies of God in the East; but we have under our eyes the Jews, a race more inimical to God than all the others. We are doing this whole thing backwards." Approximately a quarter to one third of the entire Jewish population in Germany and northern France was murdered during the first Crusade. (Flannery) In Jerusalem the Jews fled from the Crusaders, locking themselves in the main synagogue, where all 969 were burnt to death. The Crusaders, who believed they were avenging the death of Christ, sang "Christ, We Adore Thee." Raymond of Aquilers, one of the leaders, quoted Psalm 118:24 saying, "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Rausch)While the first two Crusades were occurring, the German Jews went to Royalty for help. For royal protection, they were made serfs of the Imperial Chamber. For this privilege, the Jews had to pay large amounts of money causing them to be a real source of royal revenue. The Jews were bought and loaned to pay off creditors. Eventually, this spread to other countries. (Flannery)Jews were ultimately forced into money-lending as outsiders, because they were banned from most professions and guilds. Even the Church would borrow money from the Jews to build cathedrals and churches. This was how the Jewish people gained the negative image as a money lender. Later, Shakespeare’s Shylock and Dickens’ Fagin used this idea. (Flannery)Unfortunately, the price they paid to be protected was barely enforced. The Third Crusade, one of the most tragic anti-Jewish riots in England, occurred in York. (Flannery) ‘There, Crusaders, before setting out to follow their King, plundered the possessions of the Jews, who fled into the royal castle where they were besieged by the warriors, many of whom were deeply in debt to the...
