The wealth and the rapacity of the Jews occasioned the most cruel proceedings against them on the part of both the populace and the Government. These persecutions terminated by their expulsion from England in the year 1290. They were not readmitted until the time of Oliver Cromwell.

On this occasion the Protector summoned an assembly to debate two questions: 1st, whether it were lawful to tolerate the Jews; 2nd, if it were, on what conditions? The assembly consisted of two judges, seven citizens of London, among whom were the lord mayor and the sheriffs, and fourteen divines. The judges considered toleration merely as a point of law, and declared they knew of no law against it, and that if it were thought useful to the State, they would advise it. The citizens viewed it in a commercial light, and they were divided in their opinion about its utility. Both these, however, despatched the matter briefly; but the divines violently opposed it by text after text for four whole days. Cromwell was at length so weary that he told them he had hoped they would have thrown some light on the subject to direct his conscience, but, on the contrary, they had rendered it more obscure and doubtful than before; that he desired, therefore, no more of their reasonings, but lest he should do anything rashly, he begged a share in their prayers.

The Lombards as Usurers. Previous to the expulsion of the Jews, the Lombards had settled in England, and they soon became as great usurers as the Jews themselves. By Lombards were generally understood Italian merchants from the four republics of Genoa, Lucca, Florence, and Venice.

The foreign commerce of those times was usually carried on by companies of merchants who, on payment of certain duties, were invested by the Government with a monopoly of the trade to those countries of which they were natives, and they also possessed peculiar privileges.

"As the Lombards engrossed the trade of every kingdom in which they settled, they soon became masters of its cash. Money, of course, was in their hands not only a sign of the value of their commodities, but became an object of commerce itself. They dealt largely as bankers. In an ordinance, A. D. 1295, we find them styled mercatores and campsores. They carried on this, as well as other branches of their commerce, with somewhat of that rapacious spirit which is natural to monopolizers who are not restrained by the competition of rivals. An opinion which prevailed in the Middle Ages was, however, in some measure the cause of their exorbitant demands, and may be pleaded in apology for them.

"Commerce cannot be carried on with advantage, unless the persons who lend a sum are allowed a certain premium for the use of their money, as a compensation for the risk which they run in permitting another to traffic with their stock. This premium is fixed by law in all commercial countries, and is called the legal interest of money. But the Fathers of the Church absurdly applied the prohibitions of usury in Scripture to the payment of legal interest, and condemned it as a sin. The schoolmen misled by Aristotle, whose sentiments they followed, implicitly and without examination adopted the same error and enforced it. Thus the Lombards found themselves engaged in a traffic which was deemed criminal and odious. They were liable to punishment if detected. They were not satisfied, therefore, with that moderate premium which they might have claimed, if their trade had been open and authorized by law. They exacted a sum proportional to the danger and infamy of a discovery. Accordingly we find it was usual for them to demand twenty per cent. for the use of money in the thirteenth century.

"About the beginning of that century the Countess of Flanders was obliged to borrow money in order to pay her husband's ransom. She procured the sum requisite, either from Italian merchants or from Jews. The lowest interest which she paid to them was above twenty per cent., and some of them exacted near thirty. In the fourteenth century, A. D. 1311, Phillip IV fixed the interest which might be legally exacted in the fairs of Champagne at twenty per cent. The interest of money in Arragon was somewhat lower. James I in A. D. 1242, fixed it by law at eighteen per cent. As late as the year 1490, it appears that the interest of money in Pia-cenza was at the rate of forty per cent. This is the more extraordinary, because at that time the commerce of the Italian States was become considerable.

"It appears from Lud. Guicciardini that Charles V had fixed the rate of interest in his dominions in the Low Countries at twelve per cent, and at the time when he wrote, about the year 1560, it was not uncommon to exact more than that sum. He complains of this a* exorbitant, and points out its bad effects both on agriculture and commerce. This high interest on money is alone a proof that the profits on commerce were exorbitant. The Lombards were also established in England in the thirteenth century, and a considerable street in the city of London still bears their name. They enjoyed great privileges, and carried on an extensive commerce, particularly as bankers." [Robertson's History of Charles V.]

The English monarchs frequently borrowed money of the Lombards, as well as of other public bodies and of private individuals. The companies of foreign merchants made advances of money, which were repaid by the duties on their merchandise. The oldest and wealthiest of these companies, the Steel-Yard Company, was a kind of bank to the English kings, whenever they wanted money on any sudden emergency, but the company was sure to be well paid in the end for such assistance.