MY SAY: THE MAGNA CARTA ….NOT FOR THE JEWS OF ENGLAND
Yesterday was the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta- June 15th, 2015 and there has been much valuable writing about this decidedly valuable “Great Charter.” The oppressed and harassed Jews of England did not benefit a whit from the statutes of the Magna Carta.
Although the Magna Carta stated “No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land” clauses 10 and 11–now airbrushed by historians–were overtly anti-Semitic, depicting Jews as rapacious money lenders.
In fact, only three years later in 1218, England became the first European nation to require Jews to wear a marking badge, a yellow patch to be worn on outer clothing identifying them as Jews. Disproportionate taxation, extortion, restraint of trade, blood libels and oppression continued apace. Jews were not spared the tyranny and rapacious edicts of the monarchs.
This culminated in the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 which remained in force for 360 years. Oliver Cromwell permitted Jews to return to England in 1657.
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