Note 178 — Front matter

“Whereas in the time of our ancestors, kings of England, loans at interest were wont and were allowed to be made by Jews of our kingdom, and much of such profits fell into the hands of those our ancestors, as the issues of our Jewry; and we, led on by the love of God, and wishing to follow more devoutly in the path of the Holy Church, did forbid unto all the Jews of our kingdom who had viciously lived from such loans, that none of them henceforth in any manner be guilty of resorting to loans at interest, but that they seek their living and sustain themselves by other legitimate work and merchandise, especially since by the favour of Holy Church they are suffered to sell and live among Christians. Nevertheless, afterwards, in a blind and evil spirit, turning to evil, under colour of merchandise and good contracts and covenants, what we established by rational thought, premeditating mischief anew, they do it with Christians by means of bonds and divers instruments, which remain with the Jews, and in which, on a given debt or contract, they put double, treble, or quadruple more than they lend to the Christians [this reads like an exaggeration], penally abusing the name of usury....” (Papers Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 225–6).