compromise was made, in these words : " that the King and his heirs shall have the cognizance of usurers dead,^ and the ordinaries of the holy Church the cognizance of them in life, as to them appertaineth, to make com- pulsion by the censures of the holy Church for the sinne to make restitution of the usuries taken against the laws of the holy Church."' Thus we see that to the influence of the Church are mainly attributable the vigorous measures en- forced against the Jews, who chiefly carried on the trade in money. And it has been said that the real cause for the vigilance of the clergy in seeking the usurer, and the animosity they displayed towards him, was that usury was unprofitable to them. " The clergy (says Boulton), who had a chief stroke in making the law, were the more severe against usury because it was unfruitful to them, as they had not tythes of usurers' profits."* The blind superstition and bigotry of the period would have been sufficient 1 Pari. Roll, 15 Edward III. ^ That his Majesty might take possession of their wealth. 3 15 Edw. III., 0. 6. Boll Abr., tit. Us., p. 801. * Bolt. Discourse on Usury.
to induce the zealous churclimen to persecute and hate all who professed a different faith from them- selves; but these feehngs were frequently exaspe- rated to fury when the "vile and despised Jew" dared to demand repajnuent of a loan made to one of these same holy fathers. It seems the licentious monks and clergy were in the habit of pawning the sacred property of the Church to the Jews, for no one but a Jew dared to receive the sacred pledge ; and that in this way they frequently became odious, not only as importunate creditors, but as exposing, by clamorous and pubHc demands of payment, trans- actions never meant to meet the light, to the great scandal and mischief to the holy Church, and to the Fathers.^ And to retaliate this, the most revolting cruelty was practised upon the Jews whenever an opportunity offered, and they were massacred on small pretence.^ At length, as we have already 1 Mil. Eht. Jewa, vol. 4, p. 301. ^ Matthew Paris, Fabian, Hovenden, Stow, Fox, and