The first ever comprehensive history of anti-Semitism in England, from medieval murder and expulsion through to contemporary forms of anti-Zionism in the 21st century.

This text traces the Jewish thread throughout English life between the Tudors and the beginnings of mass immigration in the mid-19th century. The author explores a number of subjects in depth, such as the Jewish advocates of Henry VIII's divorce, and the Jewish conspirators of Elizabethan England.

"The story of how England's kings first courted then persecuted and finally expelled England's Jewish community during the Middle Ages. The first Jewish communities in the British Isles were established following William of Normandy's conquest of Britain in 1066. They settled in London and were at first courted by their Christian hosts. However, not long after attitudes began to change, reflecting the hardening of wider European attitudes. In a course of events that frighteningly mirrors that of Nazi Germany over seven centuries later, statutory regulations against the Jews, culminating with the Statute of Jewry of 1275, became the increasingly harsh and punitive. There were never more than a few thousand Jews in medieval England, but they were envied, hated and misunderstood because of their wealth and beliefs. After just over 200 years the Jewish communities of England were forcibly removed on the orders of Edward I. The Jews remained excluded for over 350 years, England was not unique in its approach to 'the Jewish problem, ' but it was different in the permanence of the solution it found."--Publisher's description.

This book proposes that Jews were present in England in substantial numbers from the Roman Conquest forward. Indeed, there has never been a time during which a large Jewish-descended, and later Muslim-descended, population has been absent from England. Contrary to popular history, the Jewish population was not expelled from England in 1290, but rather adopted the public face of Christianity, while continuing to practice Judaism in secret. Crypto-Jews and Crypto-Muslims held the highest offices in the land, including service as archbishops, dukes, earls, kings and queens. Among those proposed to be of Jewish ancestry are the Tudor kings and queens, Queen Elizabeth I, William the Conqueror, and Thomas Cromwell. Documentaton in support of this revisionist history includes DNA studies, genealogies, church records, place names and the Domesday Book.

A history of the Jewish community in Britain, including resettlement, integration, acculturation, economic transformation and immigration.