A little over 800 years ago, York, England at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers looked something like this:
March 16, 1190 marks a date of significance for Jewish life, especially in England and focused specifically in York.
Before that date in the city of York (if it could be called a city at that time), the community of Jews living there were very comfortable. York had been in existence for over a 1000 years already and it was the number two settlement in England at the time. We don't know when Jews first arrived in York, but they had been there long enough for their community to be recognized as a site of talmudic learning (a group of Tosafists lived there) and the preceding year the community had completed the writing of a Bible. This Bible is now part of the Valmadonna Trust Library and known as Codex Valmadonna I. Debbie and I had the opportunity to see this text and the collection when it was on view at Sotheby's in New York during February. We left the apartment without my camera and I was only able to take a poor-quality photo with my cell phone.
How this Bible survived is unknown.
The story of the York massacre is told in many places. Perhaps the classic and basic version is best shared in the Jewish Encyclopedia. I won't repeat it here.The description of the Bible in the Sotheby catalog available online reads:
The jewel in the Valmadonna Library’s crown is one of the most important privately-owned books in the world - a Pentateuch (Hebrew Bible), written in England the summer of 1189. Known as the Codex Valmadonna I, this extraordinary book is the only dated Hebrew text in existence from medieval England, before King Edward I’s 1290 edict expelling the Jews. The year following this manuscript’s creation, 1190, mobs in York attacked the Jewish community living there, massacring the population, and looting their property; the books and manuscripts were exported and subsequently sold back to Jewish communities abroad. The Codex Valmadonna I is thus thought to have survived this journey, having been displaced from its home in England.
The illustration below is from the explanatory panel at Clifford's Tower, the later structure that was built on the same site as the building that was (as illustrated) burnt with its murdered Jews.
Today, Clifford's Tower looks like this:
A plaque at the base of the steps leading up to the tower has this text:
On the night of Friday 16 March 1190, some 150 Jews and Jewesses of York, having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from the mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others, chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith.”
This statement is followed by a quote in Hebrew from Isaiah 42:12: “Let them honor God and declare His praise in the isles.”
Inside the tower are a few signs. I was struck by the fact (and commented regarding it to the attendant on duty) that Hebrew is not listed on the main welcome sign… after all, the site is of particular interest to those who are likely to know Hebrew.
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The gift/bookshop on site has a pamphlet (£4.00) in English titled:
The Jews of Medieval York and the Massacre of March 1190
Borthwick Publication
Borthwick Institute for Archives
University of York
Heslington, York, YO105DD
www.york.ac.uk/borthwick
it is Borthwick Paper #45; ISBN 0903857863 and ISBN 13978-0-903857-86-4 [A better librarian than I might be able to explain the two different numbers.]
The on-site texts that explain what happened (accompanying the pictures I used above) are pretty clear:
[at the base of the tower]
The original motte and bailey castle on this site was erected by William the Conqueror. The present tower usually described as “the Great Tower”, was built between 1245 and 1262 by order of King Henry III. It was encircled by a moat that fed from the River Foss. By 1800, the moat was no longer in existence. The tower was taken within the confines of the new ‘York County Prison’ begun in 1826 and demolished in 1935. The grassed centre of the castle area known as the “Eye of York” is a legacy from the days with York castle belonged to the Crown. County elections and royal proclamations were issued from the precincts. This piece of land was transferred to York City Council in 1988 for the princely sum of £1.
[inside the tower]
The Jews of York
In March 1190, there were riots against the Jewish community of York. Many Jews took shelter inside the wooden tower, but came under heavy attack from the citizens and several local knights. Rather than be captured and killed, around 150 Jews, numbering men, women and children, set fire to the tower and committed suicide: those who survived were later massacred by the rioters.
I photographed the card catalog cards that mentioned Jews and the massacre, and transcribed them later.
I have transcribed the text and translation provided by Cecil Roth as indicated in the list of texts at the York public library. The pamphlet has additional scholarly analysis.A Hebrew elegy on the York martyrs of 1190, [Jews in Clifford’s Tower], by Cecil Roth.
The moonlit photo at the top of this page was taken on the night before Purim 5769.