The Jews in Spain brought trouble upon themselves by listening to one of their own countrymen, who declared himself to be the expected Messiah, and persuaded the multitude to follow him to Palestine, where he promised to establish his kingdom. Many perished on this expedition; and those who did return to Spain had cause to repent bitterly of their foolish credulity, for during their absence the Government had seized upon all their lands and property.

When Gaul was taken from the Romans by the barbarians, various tribes of Germans, calling themselves Franks, established their empire in the country. Charles the Great, or "Charlemagne," as he is always called, became sovereign of the Empire of the Franks (or France, as we may now term it), a.d. 772. The Saracens at this time were very troublesome in making frequent attacks upon the country; and the Jews were suspected of encouraging and aiding the Infidels, out of hatred to the Christians. Charlemagne, after defeating the Saracens at Toulouse, in the south of France, determined utterly to destroy the Jews, who were accused of causing all this bloodshed. He was, however, persuaded only to put to death some of those supposed to be the most guilty. The others were condemned to pay an annual fine; and were, moreover, obliged to assemble three times a year, at the gate of some Christian church appointed by the bishop, to receive a box on the ear! which we may well believe to have been no slight blow.

At other times, the Jews were treated with gentleness and moderation. Louis le DÉbonnaire became king on the death of his father, Charlemagne, early in the ninth century, a.d. 814. His favourite physician was a Jew; and for his sake Louis granted great privileges to the Jews. These marks of favour made them haughty and insolent; but when the bishops complained of their behaviour, the king would not listen to any proposition for their punishment. The favour and protection thus granted by the monarch, produced a great effect among his subjects; and those about the Court declared openly, that the descendants of Abraham ought to be treated with the greatest respect. Some even went so far as to observe the Jewish Sabbaths, and to attend the synagogues; preferring to hear the discourses of the learned rabbis, rather than the sermons of the Christian priests and monks, who were at this time extremely ignorant. During the reign of the next king, Charles the Bold, the Jews met with little favour; and in some places they were constantly insulted with impunity by the populace. In one part of Languedoc, it was the custom to pelt the Jews with stones, from Palm Sunday—that is, the Sunday before Good Friday—until the Tuesday after Easter Day.

During the tenth century, when there was much ignorance in all Christian countries, the Saracens were great promoters of learning; and under their protection the Jews were also able to apply themselves to study, and many famous men appeared amongst them at this time; but, unhappily, disputes between themselves soon brought them into fresh difficulties.

We now come to the eleventh century, during which, if not before, colonies of Jews settled in England; for when William, Duke of Normandy, conquered the country, a.d. 1066, a considerable number of them were already established in the kingdom. William also brought with him, from Rouen, another colony of Jews, and gave them places to live in, from whence they could carry on trade with other nations. In return, they were to pay the king certain sums of money.

The Jews also appear to have been in favour with William Rufus, who encouraged disputes between the learned rabbis and the Christian bishops, declaring that he himself was quite ready to follow the religion of whichever party had the best of the argument or dispute. The Jews, always an industrious and money-making people, are said to have become so rich and powerful in England during William the Second's reign, that they not only held public meetings for the purpose of converting the upper and more learned classes, but also endeavoured by bribes to induce the poor and ignorant to renounce Christianity, and enrol themselves amongst the Jews.

What has been said of the condition of the Jews in England, applies also to all other European countries, where the Jews were richer, more fond of learning, and more polished—that is, more civil and gentle in their manners—than any other people. They were the only bankers; all trade with foreign nations was carried on by them alone; and even the gold and silver ornaments and vessels used in Christian churches, were mostly made by these determined enemies of Christianity.

During the eleventh century, of which we have been speaking, the Jews in Egypt were for a short time persecuted by a Saracen prince, who wished to establish a new religion in the place of Mahometanism, or Islamism, as the religion established by Mahomet was called. As neither Jews nor Christians would assist him, he persecuted both; obliging the former to wear some outward mark to distinguish them, and point them out as objects for hatred and insult. He commanded their synagogues to be closed, and tried to force them to follow the new religion, of which he wanted to be the head. After a time, however, he allowed them to return to the practice of their own rites and ceremonies. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, an Eastern Caliph determined to get rid of the Jews altogether. He shut up their academies or schools; banished the teachers; and killed the Prince of the Captivity, with all his family. This cruel persecution drove many of the Jews into the deserts of Arabia; but most of them took refuge in the western countries; and by the end of the eleventh century, they had become numerous and powerful in different towns of Germany. Some of the Jews, driven out of the East, passed through Africa into Spain, and there joined their brethren, who, having helped the Saracens to conquer Spain, were now greatly favoured by the Caliphs, and were a wealthy and flourishing people. Hatred of the Christians was a bond of union between the Jews and the Mahometans; but when one of the rabbis tried to convert the Saracens of Grenada to the Jewish religion, the king was so enraged, that he caused the rabbi to be seized and put to death at once. This was followed by a terrible persecution of the Hebrew race.

The Jews, however, suffered still greater miseries in those parts of Spain which were under the rule of Christian princes. One of these, called Ferdinand, having declared war against the Saracens, resolved, in the first place, to destroy all the Jews in his dominions, expecting by such an act of cruelty to obtain the favour and blessing of God! but the clergy of his kingdom objected to the execution of such a scheme; and the Pope himself wrote, and blamed Ferdinand for such unchristianlike zeal, so that the design was given up.

Alphonso, the successor of Ferdinand, found himself in such difficulties, owing to the increasing power of the Saracens, that he showed favour to the Jews, in order to get them to help him with men and money in his wars against the Infidels. He even allowed them to act as judges over Christians; but the Pope did not at all approve of this, and reproached the king for having, as he expressed it, "put the synagogue of Satan above the Church of Christ." Alphonso, however, did not take away the indulgences, which he had granted only to further his own interest.

The close of this eleventh century was remarkable for the first of the Crusades, or wars undertaken by Christian nations, in order to take Palestine, or the Holy Land, out of the hands of the Saracens. In many parts of Spain, great numbers of Jews were massacred by those about to join the Crusade, under the mistaken idea that they should bring the blessing of God upon their intended expedition, by destroying the descendants of those who had crucified the Saviour of mankind. In Germany, the Crusaders, who marched through the country, murdered all the Jews who refused to become Christians. An immense number thus perished, many of whom were burnt in their houses; for the unhappy Jews barricaded their dwellings, and then threw their families, their property, and themselves into the flames, thus disappointing the avarice of their enemies, who coveted their riches. Even mothers, on the approach of the merciless Crusaders, killed their children with their own hands, telling them it was far better for them to go at once into Abraham's bosom, than to fall into the hands of the Christians. Some of the Jews, less brave and conscientious than their brethren, saved their lives by pretending to adopt the Christian religion, which they must naturally have hated more than ever, since those who professed to be guided by its precepts, had acted with a degree of cruelty and inhumanity, worthy only of the most ignorant savages. The same dreadful scenes took place in Palestine, for when the Crusaders arrived in that country, they, actuated by very mistaken notions of the spirit of Christianity, inhumanly murdered all the Jews they could lay hands upon; and men, women, and children alike perished by hundreds.

During this dreadful time, it is pleasant to know that some of the Christian bishops and clergy did try to protect the Jews; and they received into their houses such fugitives as could manage to escape from the fury of their enemies.

Thus ended the eleventh century.