them^ ; some having supposed that it was only made against the usurious Jews that were then in England, and could only have reference to Jewish usury ,^ because, say they, at that time and before the ' " Usurarii vero omnes res (sive testatus, sive intestatus decesserit) domini regis sunt vivus autem non solet aliquis de crimine appellari, nee convinei. Sed, inter cseteras regias inquisitiones, solet inquiri et probari aliquem in tali crimine decessisse, per duodecem legales liomines de vioineto, et per eorum sacramentum. Quo probato in curia, omnes res mobiles, et omnia catalla, quoe fuerunt ipsius usurarii mortui, ad usus domini regis capientur, penes quemounque inveniuntur res illse. Hseres quoque ipsius, hac eadem de causa, exberedatur, secundum jus regni, et ad dominum vel dominos revertetur hsereditas. Sciendum tamen, quod si quis aliquo tempore usurarius fuerit in vita sua, et super hoc in patria publice defamatus, si tamen a delicto ipso ante mortem suam destiterit, et penetentiam egerit, post mortem ipsius, ille vel res ejus lege usTiarii minima censebuntur. Oportet ergo constare, quod usuarius deoesserit aliquis, ad hoc, ut de eo, tanquam de usurario post mortem ipsius judicetur, et de rebus ipsius, tanquam de rebus usurarii, disponatur." — (Glanv., lih. 7., c. 16.)
^20 Henry III, 0.5. ^2Imf.,S9. 'Jewish usury was forty per cent. — (3 Insf. 152, et 2 Boll.
THE CAURSINI. 35 conquest also, it was not lawful for Christians to take any usury whatever.^ It is true that the Jews chiefly carried on the trade in money ; but they were not wholly without compe- titors in the lucrative business of usury ; for there was a company of Italians in London, at this period, who called themselves "merchant strangers,"^ and who were the agents for the Pope in collecting his revenue in England. This company exacted four hundred and fifty per cent, per annum for the money they lent, and were guilty of the most cruel oppression. They evaded the law by charging nothing for the first three months, and then covenanted to re- ceive fifty per cent, for every month