a Jew to obtain Christian evidence against a Christian as for a Christian to obtain Jewish evidence against a Jew. But the charter pro ceeded to discriminate : If a Jew were impleaded by a Christian who failed to produce testimony, he might purge himself by his bare oath on the Pentateuch, whereas in a similar case a Chris tian, as the law then stood, might be required to wage his law twelve-handed — /. e., with eleven compurgators. Thus immensely more weight was attached to the oath of a Jew than to the oath of a Christian. Nor was this all. The charter gave to a writ in the hands of a Jew an evidential value which it did not accord to a writ in the hands of a Christian. The effect was to place the Jew at a great advantage over the Christian, both for attack and defence. The intention was to use the Jewry as a reservoir equally open to receive and close, to retain the surplus wealth of the surrounding population, so that the Crown might never lack a fund on which to draw in the hour of need. In an ac tion on a loan a Jew had but to prove the advance, and the onus lay upon the debtor to dispute the interest. As to the rate of interest the statement charter in the is silent, Dialogus butdefrom Scaccario an we incidental gather I that in the reign of Henry II. the ordinary rate was 2d. a week, or 43^ per cent per annum, which in the thirteenth century was recognized as the legal maximum, compound interest being strictly forbidden." However, "it was not until 1275 that [a Jew] was legally capable of holding so much as a ten years' agricultural lease, and the license then granted was subject to the express reser vation that he received no homage or fealty from Christians. It was only land tenable by rent in money or kind that he was entitled to hold at common law, and the ' mortua vadia' which are rarely and barely mentioned in the rolls, were probably rent charges. "Though not technically a ' liberty,' the Jewry enjoyed a qualified autonomy in matters juridical. Within its borders the King's writ did not ordinarily run except in pleas of the Crown or between Christians and Jews. Cases in which Jews alone were concerned were as a rule left to the cognisance of their own tribunals. These privileges are recognised in a separate charter granted by John to the English Jewry con
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currently with the charter already mentioned, and were probably of no less ancient origin." While the Jews were exempted from ordinary taxation, " their liability to contribute to the rev enue individually, as occasion demanded and means permitted, was probably as old as their connection with the crown; but it was not until 1 168 that they were subjected to collective talliage. Henry II. then demanded from them an aid of 5,000 marks, and as they owed their foot ing in the country and the greater part of their already vast wealth to the protection and privi leges which the Crown guaranteed them, the im post was by no means exorbitant." The coronation of Coeur-de-Lion, in 1 189, was the occasion of an attack on the Jews, resulting in a massacre and general sack; this affair led to similar attacks in the provinces, culminating in a massacre at York, where the mob " broke into the cathedral and burned the bonds, which, according to the custom of the time, their vic tims had placed for security in the chapter house." The destruction of the Jews was, in the eyes of the government, less serious than the loss of their bonds, of which the Crown pos sessed no duplicates. For the purpose of securing the bonds of the Jews against destruction, "there were established in London and other principal towns of Jewry Archae, or, as we should now say, registries of bonds. Each Archa was administered by four chirographers, two of whom were Christians and two Jews, assisted by two copyists (scriptores) and clerks of the escheats. The chirographers were chosen by juries summoned by the sheriffs, and on election were sworn and required to find sureties for their trustworthiness. In their presence, in future, all contracts of loan between Christians and Jews were to be reduced into legal shape, and they were to retain an exact copy of each such contract under triple lock and seal. In practice, bond and memorial were written on the same skin, which, being folded on the blank space, was cut in an irregular line, so that the two parts corresponded as tallies. The original chirograph was sealed by the debtor and delivered to the creditor. "Three rolls of receipt were also kept, one by the Christian, another by the Jewish chirogra phers, and a third by one of the clerks. A fourth roll, containing a record of every chiro
