Apollonian
Guest Columnist
Ho ho, English libs, globalist puke, & traitors apologize to kike monsters for past proper treatment
In case anyone is interested to know what Judaism is REALLY all about, just ck Talmudical.blogspot.com, also Come-and-hear.com, and also TruthTellers.org
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July 16, 2021 6.45am EDT .
Link: https://theconversation.com/the-chu...sing-for-medieval-antisemitism-why-now-164533
Author Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
Disclosure statement
Tony Kushner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners University of Southampton
University of Southampton provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
View all partners
Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (L) and Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis (R) attend a vigil in the grounds of Westminster Abbey
Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (L) and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (R). Hannah McKay/EPA-EFE
.
The Church of England has confirmed plans to apologise to UK Jews for medieval antisemitic laws, put in place centuries before the church itself existed.
The anticipated apology is a curious one, especially as the modern British Jewish community has not been actively calling for it.
The measures in question, put in place by the Synod of Oxford in 1222 (a gathering of leading bishops and church leaders) and Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury, were not the first against medieval Anglo-Jewry, but they did lead to increased pressure on this small (a few thousand) community.
The Oxford decrees forbade the Jews from building synagogues where they had not settled before, introduced badges so that the Jews could be differentiated and forbade sexual and many social relations between Jews and non-Jews. Jews were not to remain in England unless they could support themselves. While the implementation of these regulations was slow and uneven, it is not unreasonable to see them as paving the way for the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290.
Alongside these measures, Jews were put under greater pressure to convert by the church in houses specially built for this purpose. This took place in a variety of towns as another way of solving an imaginary “Jewish problem” (in particular a fear that Jews were in league with the Devil and undermining Christianity by Judaising the nation). The numbers of these converted Jews increased during the 13th century as the persecution intensified. Indeed, some converted Jews were to remain in England after 1290, and the Domus Conversorum – “House of Converts” – remained until the 16th century.
What is odd about this apology is that the Anglican church would not come into existence until over three centuries after these decrees. What’s more, the synod was a “local” response to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which provided papal guidelines for Jewish-Christian relations. In short, the dominant Protestant voice in the UK is now apologising for pre-Reformation Catholic initiatives.
Growing recognition
There are a few factors that may explain the nature and timing of this apology, but also why it fails to be wholly impactful. A more meaningful shift of Anglican theology, when it comes to Jewish relations, would be a rejection of all efforts to convert Jews to Christianity.
While the Church of England no longer actively seeks out Jews to convert (it spent a fortune without much reward doing so in the 19th century, continuing well into the 20th with its Church Mission to the Jews), it has not ruled out the theological principle of doing so.
The move to apologise for the medieval laws comes as part of a growing recognition within the Church of England that Christian anti-Judaism was a key, if not the only, cause of modern antisemitism.
This was recognised as early as the 1920s by the radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes, who spent his whole career fighting for the Jews – before, during and after the Nazi era. Confronting the scale of violent, racial antisemitism in the university campuses of Europe during the 1920s, Parkes carried out deep research into the roots of this animosity.
In his 1969 autobiography, Parkes wrote how he was “completely unprepared for the discovery that it was the … Christian Church alone, which turned a normal xenophobia and normal good and bad communal relations into the unique evil of anti-Semitism”.
God’s Unfailing Word, the 2019 Church of England document on Christian-Jewish relations, accepts the pivotal work of Parkes in acknowledging that troubling legacy. In that sense, the apology is an extension of the 2019 document.
A black and white photo of James Parkes
Radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes (R) carried out research on antisemitism in the 1920s. University of Southampton archives, Author provided
.
The apology reflects the concern over contemporary antisemitism which, according to communal figures, has been rising in numbers and intensity across Europe, including the UK. It has ultimately become an issue of general concern within and beyond the Jewish world.
It is also part of the general reassessment of ideas and heritage following the murder of George Floyd and the work of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Church of England, since the summer of 2020, has been exploring potentially offensive physical heritage relating to Black people and, where necessary, removing it – such as gravestones in Rottingdean, East Sussex commemorating “blackface” entertainers.
Changing times
In the early 1990s, I organised a conference on Jewish heritage in the UK. It included a critical analysis of how the medieval heritage, both religious and secular, was still presented [in both religious and secular buildings and sites] by the Church. This included its dealing with the vicious anti-Jewish blood libel myth (that the Jews took young Christian children and ritually murdered them at Easter time, drinking their blood) as was the case in several cathedrals such as Lincoln and Winchester, or the failure to confront the horror of the 1190 massacre at York.
Since then, there has been much progress at these sites, including the Tower of London, where many Jews were imprisoned and hanged for trumped-up offences. In Winchester, the Jewish presence will be celebrated in the form of a statue to the remarkable businesswoman, Licoricia, recognising also the persecution this important community faced before the expulsion.
In that sense, the apology from the Church of England is most welcome. But there is something missing. James Parkes fought to make the world “safe to be a Jew” – not just in the physical sphere, but also religiously and culturally. Parkes fought against any attempt of Christians to convert the Jews.
God’s Unfailing Word, as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis politely but firmly notes in its afterword, did not make that pledge. To honour one of its greatest figures, James Parkes, it is now crucial for the Church of England to condemn the conversionism that blights its past.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Link: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk...ork/history-and-stories/massacre-of-the-jews/
[see photos, illustrations at link, just above]
One of the worst anti-Semitic massacres of the Middle Ages took place in York in 1190. The city’s entire Jewish community was trapped by an angry mob inside the tower of York Castle. Many members of the community chose to commit suicide rather than be murdered or forcibly baptised by the attackers.
A manuscript illustration showing money being exchanged
An anti-Semitic portrayal of Jewish money-lenders from a 13th-century manuscript. William I brought Jewish merchants to England in the 11th century as they were able to lend money to the Crown, whereas Christians were forbidden to do so
England’s Jewish Population
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, a number of Jews came to England from Rouen in France. The early Norman kings needed to borrow money to build castles and secure their kingdom, but money-lending was forbidden to Christians. It was, however, permitted to Jews. These French-speaking Jews were protected by the Crown, and in time established communities in most of the principal cities of England. In the later 12th century, members of the Jewish community in Lincoln settled in York.
However, there was growing hostility towards the Jewish population in England. This was in part due to public disagreements in theology between Jewish scholars and Christian churchmen. In the mid-12th century several vicious stories were spread accusing Jews of murdering Christian children. Such slanders, now known as the ‘Blood Libel’, strengthened anti-Semitic sentiment in England.
Manuscript illustration showing king seated in centre, wearing crown and being attended to on either side by bishops. Onlookers in background.
The coronation of Richard I, from a 13th-century manuscript. A Jewish citizen from York was killed on the way back from the coronation in London
The Coronation of Richard I
The events of 1190 are recorded in numerous accounts, though none were eye-witness reports and most show strong prejudice against the Jews. The story recorded by William of Newburgh, an Augustinian canon from Yorkshire, tells of two Jewish citizens from York, called Benedict and Joceus. Together they travelled to London to attend the coronation of Richard I in 1189.
Resentment about the presence of Jews at the coronation was fuelled by anger about taxes to fund the Crusades, leading to riots at the ceremony itself and in Norwich, Stamford, York and Lincoln. A false rumour was even put about that the king had ordered a massacre of the Jews. Benedict was attacked and killed on his way back to York.
Watercolour drawing showing a motte and bailey castle surrounded by large expanse of water
A reconstruction of York Castle with a timber tower on its motte, as it may have looked from the late 11th century until 1190
Under Royal Protection
Some months later, after the Sheriff of York had left for the Third Crusade, a fire broke out in the city. This was during a time of increasing attacks on Jews throughout England and some citizens took advantage of the chaos to break into Benedict’s house in Coney Street. The property was looted and everyone inside killed.
Joceus managed to escape a similar attack and he led the city’s Jews to seek protection from ‘the keeper of the King’s tower’ inside the castle, almost certainly the site of the present Clifford’s Tower. Meanwhile, the looting continued.
Watercolour drawing of a medieval crowd with torches and weapons gathered outside a burning wooden tower on top of motte
Trapped in the Tower
Inside the tower, trust between the Jews and the keeper broke down, and when he left the tower on other business, they refused to allow him back in. They had now challenged the king’s authority, and troops joined the mob outside, where they were pelted with stones from the castle walls by the besieged Jews.
Friday 16 March coincided with Shabbat Hagadol, the ‘Great Sabbath’ before the Jewish festival of Pesach or Passover. According to several accounts, the Jews realised that they could not hold out against their attackers, and rather than waiting to be killed or forcibly baptised, decided to meet death together. The father of each family killed his wife and children, before taking his own life.
Just before their deaths, they also set fire to the possessions they had brought with them; this fire consumed the timber tower. It is not clear how many Jews were present – estimates range from 20 to 40 families, and a later account in Hebrew suggests about 150 people.
Manuscript illustration of building under siege
The Siege of Acre (1189–91) during the Third Crusade, from a 15th-century manuscript. The crusades under Richard I may have triggered anti-Semitic feelings
The Actions of the Mob
One of the mob’s ringleaders, Richard Malebisse, had offered safe passage to any Jews who agreed to convert and leave the tower. A few took this option, only to be murdered as soon as they came out from the burning building. Afterwards, the rioters destroyed the records of debts to the Jews, which had been placed in safe-keeping at York Minster.
The triggers for the massacre were many. The calls to crusade in the Holy Land made many Christians sensitive to the presence of non-Christians in England. These feelings may have been heightened by the approaching celebrations for Easter, when the Church preached that the Jews had connived at the death of Jesus. Some rioters also saw the possibility of clearing themselves of debts to the Jews.
Afterwards fines of up to £66 were imposed on 59 leading families of York – many of whom either knew the ringleaders of the massacre and or were involved themselves.
View of Clifford's Tower from below showing daffodils in foreground
Daffodils were planted around the base of Clifford’s Tower to commemorate the massacre
Remembered at the Tower today
The present stone tower was built 60 years after the massacre, but it’s possible that the earth mound may still contain evidence from 1190. A new Jewish community was quickly established in York and stayed until 1290, when Edward I expelled all Jews from his kingdom. Jews were only permitted to return in the 17th century.
The planting of daffodils – whose six-pointed shape echoes the Star of David – on the tower mound provides an annual memorial around the anniversary of the massacre. A plaque commemorating the tragedy was installed at the foot of the tower in 1978. Its Hebrew inscription from Isaiah evokes medieval Jewish descriptions of Britain, using the Hebrew term ‘Isles of the Sea’.
In case anyone is interested to know what Judaism is REALLY all about, just ck Talmudical.blogspot.com, also Come-and-hear.com, and also TruthTellers.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Church of England is apologising for medieval antisemitism – why now?
July 16, 2021 6.45am EDT .
Link: https://theconversation.com/the-chu...sing-for-medieval-antisemitism-why-now-164533
Author Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
Disclosure statement
Tony Kushner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Partners University of Southampton
University of Southampton provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.
View all partners
Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (L) and Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis (R) attend a vigil in the grounds of Westminster Abbey
Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (L) and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (R). Hannah McKay/EPA-EFE
.
The Church of England has confirmed plans to apologise to UK Jews for medieval antisemitic laws, put in place centuries before the church itself existed.
The anticipated apology is a curious one, especially as the modern British Jewish community has not been actively calling for it.
The measures in question, put in place by the Synod of Oxford in 1222 (a gathering of leading bishops and church leaders) and Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury, were not the first against medieval Anglo-Jewry, but they did lead to increased pressure on this small (a few thousand) community.
The Oxford decrees forbade the Jews from building synagogues where they had not settled before, introduced badges so that the Jews could be differentiated and forbade sexual and many social relations between Jews and non-Jews. Jews were not to remain in England unless they could support themselves. While the implementation of these regulations was slow and uneven, it is not unreasonable to see them as paving the way for the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290.
Alongside these measures, Jews were put under greater pressure to convert by the church in houses specially built for this purpose. This took place in a variety of towns as another way of solving an imaginary “Jewish problem” (in particular a fear that Jews were in league with the Devil and undermining Christianity by Judaising the nation). The numbers of these converted Jews increased during the 13th century as the persecution intensified. Indeed, some converted Jews were to remain in England after 1290, and the Domus Conversorum – “House of Converts” – remained until the 16th century.
What is odd about this apology is that the Anglican church would not come into existence until over three centuries after these decrees. What’s more, the synod was a “local” response to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which provided papal guidelines for Jewish-Christian relations. In short, the dominant Protestant voice in the UK is now apologising for pre-Reformation Catholic initiatives.
Growing recognition
There are a few factors that may explain the nature and timing of this apology, but also why it fails to be wholly impactful. A more meaningful shift of Anglican theology, when it comes to Jewish relations, would be a rejection of all efforts to convert Jews to Christianity.
While the Church of England no longer actively seeks out Jews to convert (it spent a fortune without much reward doing so in the 19th century, continuing well into the 20th with its Church Mission to the Jews), it has not ruled out the theological principle of doing so.
The move to apologise for the medieval laws comes as part of a growing recognition within the Church of England that Christian anti-Judaism was a key, if not the only, cause of modern antisemitism.
This was recognised as early as the 1920s by the radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes, who spent his whole career fighting for the Jews – before, during and after the Nazi era. Confronting the scale of violent, racial antisemitism in the university campuses of Europe during the 1920s, Parkes carried out deep research into the roots of this animosity.
In his 1969 autobiography, Parkes wrote how he was “completely unprepared for the discovery that it was the … Christian Church alone, which turned a normal xenophobia and normal good and bad communal relations into the unique evil of anti-Semitism”.
God’s Unfailing Word, the 2019 Church of England document on Christian-Jewish relations, accepts the pivotal work of Parkes in acknowledging that troubling legacy. In that sense, the apology is an extension of the 2019 document.
A black and white photo of James Parkes
Radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes (R) carried out research on antisemitism in the 1920s. University of Southampton archives, Author provided
.
The apology reflects the concern over contemporary antisemitism which, according to communal figures, has been rising in numbers and intensity across Europe, including the UK. It has ultimately become an issue of general concern within and beyond the Jewish world.
It is also part of the general reassessment of ideas and heritage following the murder of George Floyd and the work of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Church of England, since the summer of 2020, has been exploring potentially offensive physical heritage relating to Black people and, where necessary, removing it – such as gravestones in Rottingdean, East Sussex commemorating “blackface” entertainers.
Changing times
In the early 1990s, I organised a conference on Jewish heritage in the UK. It included a critical analysis of how the medieval heritage, both religious and secular, was still presented [in both religious and secular buildings and sites] by the Church. This included its dealing with the vicious anti-Jewish blood libel myth (that the Jews took young Christian children and ritually murdered them at Easter time, drinking their blood) as was the case in several cathedrals such as Lincoln and Winchester, or the failure to confront the horror of the 1190 massacre at York.
Since then, there has been much progress at these sites, including the Tower of London, where many Jews were imprisoned and hanged for trumped-up offences. In Winchester, the Jewish presence will be celebrated in the form of a statue to the remarkable businesswoman, Licoricia, recognising also the persecution this important community faced before the expulsion.
In that sense, the apology from the Church of England is most welcome. But there is something missing. James Parkes fought to make the world “safe to be a Jew” – not just in the physical sphere, but also religiously and culturally. Parkes fought against any attempt of Christians to convert the Jews.
God’s Unfailing Word, as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis politely but firmly notes in its afterword, did not make that pledge. To honour one of its greatest figures, James Parkes, it is now crucial for the Church of England to condemn the conversionism that blights its past.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Massacre at Clifford’s Tower
Link: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk...ork/history-and-stories/massacre-of-the-jews/
[see photos, illustrations at link, just above]
One of the worst anti-Semitic massacres of the Middle Ages took place in York in 1190. The city’s entire Jewish community was trapped by an angry mob inside the tower of York Castle. Many members of the community chose to commit suicide rather than be murdered or forcibly baptised by the attackers.
A manuscript illustration showing money being exchanged
An anti-Semitic portrayal of Jewish money-lenders from a 13th-century manuscript. William I brought Jewish merchants to England in the 11th century as they were able to lend money to the Crown, whereas Christians were forbidden to do so
England’s Jewish Population
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, a number of Jews came to England from Rouen in France. The early Norman kings needed to borrow money to build castles and secure their kingdom, but money-lending was forbidden to Christians. It was, however, permitted to Jews. These French-speaking Jews were protected by the Crown, and in time established communities in most of the principal cities of England. In the later 12th century, members of the Jewish community in Lincoln settled in York.
However, there was growing hostility towards the Jewish population in England. This was in part due to public disagreements in theology between Jewish scholars and Christian churchmen. In the mid-12th century several vicious stories were spread accusing Jews of murdering Christian children. Such slanders, now known as the ‘Blood Libel’, strengthened anti-Semitic sentiment in England.
Manuscript illustration showing king seated in centre, wearing crown and being attended to on either side by bishops. Onlookers in background.
The coronation of Richard I, from a 13th-century manuscript. A Jewish citizen from York was killed on the way back from the coronation in London
The Coronation of Richard I
The events of 1190 are recorded in numerous accounts, though none were eye-witness reports and most show strong prejudice against the Jews. The story recorded by William of Newburgh, an Augustinian canon from Yorkshire, tells of two Jewish citizens from York, called Benedict and Joceus. Together they travelled to London to attend the coronation of Richard I in 1189.
Resentment about the presence of Jews at the coronation was fuelled by anger about taxes to fund the Crusades, leading to riots at the ceremony itself and in Norwich, Stamford, York and Lincoln. A false rumour was even put about that the king had ordered a massacre of the Jews. Benedict was attacked and killed on his way back to York.
Watercolour drawing showing a motte and bailey castle surrounded by large expanse of water
A reconstruction of York Castle with a timber tower on its motte, as it may have looked from the late 11th century until 1190
Under Royal Protection
Some months later, after the Sheriff of York had left for the Third Crusade, a fire broke out in the city. This was during a time of increasing attacks on Jews throughout England and some citizens took advantage of the chaos to break into Benedict’s house in Coney Street. The property was looted and everyone inside killed.
Joceus managed to escape a similar attack and he led the city’s Jews to seek protection from ‘the keeper of the King’s tower’ inside the castle, almost certainly the site of the present Clifford’s Tower. Meanwhile, the looting continued.
Watercolour drawing of a medieval crowd with torches and weapons gathered outside a burning wooden tower on top of motte
Trapped in the Tower
Inside the tower, trust between the Jews and the keeper broke down, and when he left the tower on other business, they refused to allow him back in. They had now challenged the king’s authority, and troops joined the mob outside, where they were pelted with stones from the castle walls by the besieged Jews.
Friday 16 March coincided with Shabbat Hagadol, the ‘Great Sabbath’ before the Jewish festival of Pesach or Passover. According to several accounts, the Jews realised that they could not hold out against their attackers, and rather than waiting to be killed or forcibly baptised, decided to meet death together. The father of each family killed his wife and children, before taking his own life.
Just before their deaths, they also set fire to the possessions they had brought with them; this fire consumed the timber tower. It is not clear how many Jews were present – estimates range from 20 to 40 families, and a later account in Hebrew suggests about 150 people.
Manuscript illustration of building under siege
The Siege of Acre (1189–91) during the Third Crusade, from a 15th-century manuscript. The crusades under Richard I may have triggered anti-Semitic feelings
The Actions of the Mob
One of the mob’s ringleaders, Richard Malebisse, had offered safe passage to any Jews who agreed to convert and leave the tower. A few took this option, only to be murdered as soon as they came out from the burning building. Afterwards, the rioters destroyed the records of debts to the Jews, which had been placed in safe-keeping at York Minster.
The triggers for the massacre were many. The calls to crusade in the Holy Land made many Christians sensitive to the presence of non-Christians in England. These feelings may have been heightened by the approaching celebrations for Easter, when the Church preached that the Jews had connived at the death of Jesus. Some rioters also saw the possibility of clearing themselves of debts to the Jews.
Afterwards fines of up to £66 were imposed on 59 leading families of York – many of whom either knew the ringleaders of the massacre and or were involved themselves.
View of Clifford's Tower from below showing daffodils in foreground
Daffodils were planted around the base of Clifford’s Tower to commemorate the massacre
Remembered at the Tower today
The present stone tower was built 60 years after the massacre, but it’s possible that the earth mound may still contain evidence from 1190. A new Jewish community was quickly established in York and stayed until 1290, when Edward I expelled all Jews from his kingdom. Jews were only permitted to return in the 17th century.
The planting of daffodils – whose six-pointed shape echoes the Star of David – on the tower mound provides an annual memorial around the anniversary of the massacre. A plaque commemorating the tragedy was installed at the foot of the tower in 1978. Its Hebrew inscription from Isaiah evokes medieval Jewish descriptions of Britain, using the Hebrew term ‘Isles of the Sea’.