부산대학교 도서관

Although the population of medieval Anglo-Jewry was numerically small, it loomed large in 13th-century English affairs. Tolan (Nantes Univ., France) documents how the Jewish community played a central role in the development of the economy and royal finance and was a common topic in church-state controversies. English Jews occupied a unique legal position as "the King’s Jews," bound to him like serfs and subject to both his protection and his economic exploitation (p. 3). This association with the crown also meant that during periods of civil strife, baronial anger at the king could easily lead to massacres of "his Jews" (p. 3). Tolan begins with a discussion of Isaac of Norwich, one of the richest Jews in England, and takes the story beyond the expulsion of 1290, adroitly noting that even the physical absence of Jews did not mean they disappeared from popular consciousness. Despite an array of legal, financial, and theological material available on English Jews, it is ironic that no documents generated by the Jewish community itself seem to exist. Despite some tendencies toward repetition, Tolan’s analysis flows smoothly, and his book should become a standard reference on the subject. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty.