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By the Rev. Abraham De Sola
(Continued from page 211.)
| 7. So much as regards the
genuineness of this law. The fact of their being thus early
established in England, as we have before said, is not at all
affected by the above inquiry, be it determined which way it may,
since, we have historical testimony to their being settles in that
country more than two centuries before Edward the Confessor, and
nearly two centuries and a half before the Conquest. This we learn
from Ingulphus, in his History of Croyland Abbey, where he informs
us that Whitgaff, King of the Mercians, fleeing from Egbert,
sought and found protection and assistance in this Abbey, and in
token of his gratitude, granted to its inmates a charter, which
contained the following clause:* |
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| “I also
confirm to the said monastery, all land, tenements, possessions,
valuables, and all other gifts, which my predecessors, the Kings
of Mercia, as also their nobles, or other faithful Christians,
or Jews, may have given to the said monastery.” |
Charter granted by
Whitglaff to Croyland Abbey, 833. |
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| Although
this charter gives us no information as to the numbers, wealth,
rights, or disabilities of the Jews resident at this time in
England; although we <<295>>cannot learn from it, whether the gifts
presented by them to the monks of Croyland, were gifts of lands,
as Tovey and Jost think,* or whether they consisted of other
things, (peculia et alia donaria?) as Blunt justly hints they were
most likely to have been, this much, at all events, it shows us,
that there must have been Jews settled in England some
considerable time before the year 833, when this charter was
granted. And that it was more than a century before, we have from
the Canonical Exceptions of Echright, Archbishop of York,
published in the year 750, which declare that Christians shall not
Judaize, or be present at Jewish festivals and that they shall not
presume to eat with a Jew.† |
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| Canonical
Exceptions of Echbright, 750. |
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| 8. Hence we learn
that the Jews had already formed a community in England in the
middle of the eighth century, and we may consequently infer, that
they were settled there at least, half a century before;
especially, as this ordinance, showing, as it evidently does, that
they had already excited the uneasiness of British ecclesiastics,
would warrant us in assuming that they were both numerous and
powerful. But be this as it may, in the mention made of them by
this charter, we have the earliest notice taken of them in English
annals, and indeed in any English author previous to the year 750,
so that here ceases all the information to be derived from these
sources. It is true, that one English writer hints at the
possibility of the Jews having found their way into England while
that country was a dependency of Rome; but he does not proceed to
adduce those proofs in support of his opinion which we think exist
in sufficient abundance, and which we shall presently cite. But
first, let us make the reader acquainted with the circumstance
which led to the adoption of this opinion, to do which, we shall
quote from a letter contained in the first
<<296>>volume of Leland’s
“Collectanea.”*—In speaking upon the antiquities of London, the
writer† says: “And now, I shall take notice of a very great
curiosity found in Mark Land, more properly Mart Lane, it
being a place where the Romans, and not improbably, the ancient
Britons, used to barter their commodities, as tin, lead, &c., with
other nations, it may be with the Greeks, who often came into this
island to purchase the like goods. Whence I am apt to conjecture
that the name of the lane hath been continued ever since the time
of the Romans, and that the names of some other lands and streets,
as Cornhill, Grace (church) Street, the Querne, Wetting Street,
and perhaps, Old Fish Street, are of equal antiquity, and were so
called from the same kind of accidents. |
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“The curiosity I am speaking
of is a brick, found about forty years since, twenty-eight feet
deep below the pavement, by Mr. Stockley, as he was digging the
foundation of an house that he built for Mr. Walley. Near to this
place, were dug up many quarters of wheat, burnt very black, but
yet sound; which were conjectured to have lain buried ever since
the burning of this city, about 800 years before. This brick is of
a Roman make, and was a key brick to the arch where the corn was
found. It is made of a curious red clay, and in bas-relief; on the
front hath the figure of Samson putting fire to the foxes’
tails, and driving them into a field of corn. It seems to be the
same story that is mentioned in Scripture, of (Samson) destroying
the Philistines’ corn, whence came the fable of Hercules to be the
guardian of the corn stores, or granaries, as they had their
peculiar deities for all domestic affairs in, or near, their
houses and camps, as Priapus was the protector of their gardens,
&c., not to mention many other household gods of several names and
uses. This brick is at this time (the latter end of the eighteenth
century) preserved in the [British] Museum, belonging to the Royal
Society, in Fleet Street, from whence I have caused an accurate
draft‡ of it to be sent you, at the same time not forgetting to
ac<<297>>quaint you, that the late ingenious Richard Waller, Esq., (whose
death is much lamented by the virtuosos of this place)
communicated to me the following account of the measure of it, as
exactly taken, viz.: |
Roman
brick found in Mark Land. |
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“At the same time, Mr. Waller
observed to me in his letter, that the proportions of the
bas-relief are so very find, that it is plain from thence, that it
cannot be a work of the bas-entire;
‘but then,’ says he, ‘how the story of Samson should be known to
the Romans, much less to the Britons, so early after the time of
the propagation of the gospel,* seems to be a great doubt, except
it should be said, that some Jews, after the final destruction of
Jerusalem, should wander into Britain, and London being, even in
Caesar's time, a port or trading city, they might settle here, and
in the arch of their own granary, record the famous story of their
delivery from captivity under the Philistines.’ Be that as it
will, the thing is very curious, and it is plain by the
impressions, that it was made by a mould or stamp, so that
doubtless there were many of the same mode.” |
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| 9.
“This conjecture,” says Dr. Tovey,
“is indeed something plausible.”† And if we consider the light and
use afforded by such things in antiquarian researches, we shall
not altogether regard with contempt the evidence which this brick
affords of there having been Jews settled in England when imperial
Rome ruled it over that country. |
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| It is not our intention,
however, to enlarge upon the value of such testimony now; as it
would be plainly unnecessary to do so, if more direct and
satisfactory evidence exists for our purpose. And this evidence
does exist. A modern chronologist, and one of no mean authority
too, has roundly asserted, that there were Jews in England during
the reign of the second Roman emperor. |
Value of
the Roman Brick as testimony. |
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| Rabbi David Gans, the
author to whom we allude, is his
צמח דוד under the year <<298>>3775 of the creation, and 15 of the Christian era, has the
following remarks:* |
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“The Emperor Augustus was a pious
God-fearing man. He executed justice and righteousness with
Israel, and was a great friend to them. Therefore the author of
the ‘Sceptre of Judah,’ who writes that this emperor promoted a
great slaughter of Israelites, is surely deceived.† I, on the
contrary, have never met with the least allusion to any such
slaughter, and in any historical work with which I have ever met,
but both in gentile historians, as also in Josephus, (chapter 15,)
we find that the was a true friend to Israel; and further Josephus
writes in his 46th chapter, that the emperor sent letters of
franchise to all the Jews throughout the countries under his
dominion, eastwardly beyond the Indian ocean, and westwardly
throughout the island of Britain, that is the province of
England.‡” |
Decree of
the Emperor Augustus |
*
הקיסר אגושטי היה איש חסיד וירא אלהים והיה עושה
משפט וצדקה ואוהב ישראל ומה שכתב בראש ספר שבט יהודה שקיסר אגושטי
עשה הרג ביהודים הלא המגיד כיחשילו כי לא מצאתי מזה רמז בכל
הקרוניקוס שראיתי מימי אדרבא בכל ספרי זכרנותיהם גם ביוסיפון פרק
ט״ו כתב שהיה אוהב נאמן לישראל׃ גם בפרק מ״ו כתב שהקיסר הזה שלח
כתב חרות ליהודים מכל ארצות ממשלתו למזרח עד מערב לים הודו ולמערב
עד מעבר ארץ ברטאניאה היא מדינת אנגיל״טירה הנקרא בל״א ענגל״לאנד׃
ימות עולם לאלף הרביעי דף י״ג׃
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(To be Continued.) |
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