In the 9th year of the reign of King Edward the First, he caus'd the penal laws to be establish'd, viz. That no Jew shall come for, or depart England, without a licence, on pain of death; nor shall walk or ride without a yellow badge upon his or her garment on pain of death; nor shall contemn Jesus Christ, nor blaspheme his divinity, on pain of being burnt; nor stir out of his house or lodging on Good-Friday; nor strike a christian, on pain of having his right arm cut off; nor shall kill a christian on pain of being hang'd alive on a gibbet, and be fed with bread and water, till he dy'd upon the same gibbet; that it any Jew cheat a christian, and escape, the rest of the Jews to make satisfaction; that all synagogues be supprest, and their rabbies or priests, if afterwards found teaching or preaching against the christian religion, be burnt; that no Jew transport, deface or melt down any christian coin; nor be sworn upon the Evangelists; that the judges shall not hear the testimony of a Jew against a christian; that the Jews shall have 4 judges, two whereof christians, the other Jews, who shall try and determine all causes between Jews and christians, that all the children of the Jews, so soon as born, shall be taken from them by the rector of the parish, who shall put them to nurses, and breed them up in the christian religion, for which the Jews to pay all charges; that in the exchequer appointed for the Jews, there shall be half christians and half Jews, who shall both have equal power, and different locks and keys to prevent fraud; that they account for money they lay out, and for the profit and return, before the justiciaries over the Jews, as often as they shall be requir'd; if any Jew be converted to the christian faith, all his usurous acquisition to be converted to pious and charitable ufes, but all his goods, estate or moveables shall be his own, and not the king's, as formerly accustom'd; that the Jews shall go to hear christian doctrine once a week, and as many English Jews as turn christians, shall be as free of England as if they were born of christian parents; that no Jew cohabit with a christian woman; nor be bury'd in any consecrated ground; nor correspond with any of the enemies of England; nor his widow have any right of administration, but after the decease of her husband, all the Jews effects, and moveables be vested in the king who shall be executor, and administer to all the Jews in England; and lastly, that no Jew shall sue for his own debts but in the name of the King, and with the King's licence; and if any Jew defraud the King of his customs, or other rights, he shall forfeit his all to the King.
After the author has recounted several transactions of the Jews, and many severities, publick Slaughters, massacres, and banishment, which they suffer'd in this and several other countries, he gives a list of the crimes for the total expulsion of the Jews throughout christendom, as follows.
1. For their blaspheming the name of Jesus Christ.
2. For cohabiting with, and debauching christian women.
3. For defacing the coin of christendom.
4. For betraying of Europe to foreign Infidels.
5. For stealing, crucifying and mangling christian children, and mocking the crucifixion of our Saviour, on good-friday.
6. For perverting christians to judaism, and
7. For undermining trade, and engrossing all commodities; as also for sending arms and ammunition to the enemies of the christian religion, to make war upon christendom. See a plea for the Jews, p. 27.
