Edict of Expulsion

The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I on 18 July 1290 that expelled all Jews from the Kingdom of England, the first time a European state is known to have permanently banned their presence. It followed punitive taxation, the Statute of the Jewry of 1275, which outlawed lending at interest, and the death sentences on over 300 Jews in the coin-clipping crisis of the late 1270s. The Jews, perhaps as few as 2,000, could take cash and personal possessions, but their debts, homes, synagogues and cemeteries were forfeited to the king, and some died through piracy or drowned in the Channel. It stood until 1656, when Oliver Cromwell informally permitted their resettlement.