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BLOOD LIBELS AND MASSACRES

On 10 June, 1181, a young Christian boy called Robert was found dead and the Jewish community was blamed. The consequences of this particular blood libel were apparently not as dire as they were elsewhere, but Jocelin of Brakelond’s tale of the alleged martyr of Bury St Edmunds contributed to a growing atmosphere of hostility towards Jews in the provinces.

On 16 March 1190, Palm Sunday, the infamous suicide and massacre took place at Clifford’s Tower in York. The very next day, the Jews of Bury St Edmunds were set upon and 57 were killed. It’s believed some sought refuge in the town’s Moyses Hall.

Historical sources indicate that Abbot Samson may well have helped to orchestrate the massacre. His actions afterwards were certainly far from sympathetic, arranging with the king that the survivors should be expelled. The pretext for the expulsion was that to be a citizen of Bury St Edmunds, inhabitants had to be vassals of St Edmund. And since Jews patently couldn’t fulfill that role, as they weren't Christian, they would have to go. And go, they shortly did, under armed escort.

It’s worth noting that support for the massacre was not universal among churchmen. Ralph de Diceto, who chronicled the slaughter of Jews at Norwich, Stamford, York and Bury St Edmunds completes his sorrowful account with the following, "It cannot be believed that so sad and fatal death of the Jews can have pleased prudent men, since that saying of David often comes to our ears 'Do not slay them'."