This is all there was to justify the medieval belief in the colossal wealth of the Jews and the fantastic notions as to its acquisition. NOTES AND REFERENCES. _Slavery and the Jews_: The humanity of the Hebrew slave laws is one of the commonplaces of history. See Exodus xxi and Deut. xxiii. The Slave Trade, chapter vi in _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, Abrahams, J. P. S. A. _Theme for discussion_: In what respect did medieval slavery differ from Russian serfdom and from the bond service in the early colonial era of America? CHAPTER XXXIX. IN THE SPANISH PENINSULA. Gaul and the Franks. The "wanderings of the Jews" have begun. The drift of the migration is westward. They are gradually leaving the Orient and finding homes in European lands. In Gaul, the land that is largely France to-day, Jewish merchants from Asia Minor had found their way long before the Christian era. After the fall of Judea, many Jewish prisoners and slaves were brought thither. The first places of settlement were Arles, Narbonne, Marseilles, Orleans and Paris. We find them in Belgium too. The successors of Rome in Gaul were Franks. The Franks (free men) were a confederacy formed about 240 C. E. of tribes dwelling on the lower Rhine and the Weser. The Frankish Empire, which extended far, was not one central government, but was subdivided into several monarchies. Under nearly all, the Jews enjoyed the rights of Roman citizenship. We find the Jewish industries varied, including agriculture and all kinds of commerce (still in its infancy); in medicine they had been early distinguished. Some were soldiers too, for the restraints of the Church had not yet reached Western Europe. Even when Christianity was first introduced by the warrior Clovis, Jews and Christians mingled freely and held cordial relations; though the Jewish dietary laws occasionally caused embarrassment and ill-will when Jews sat at Christian tables. It was only the _higher_ clergy who began to look upon these cordial relations with misgivings and to discourage them. In this way hatred was _artificially fostered_ by the Church. Not till the beginning of the sixth century did a Christian king of Burgundy begin to discriminate unfavorably against the Jews, and to break off kindly relations by forbidding Christians to sit at Jewish tables. Soon the Church Councils began to issue severe anti-Jewish edicts. So in different provinces and towns within the Frankish empire we find restrictions such as these gradually introduced: Jews must not make proselytes; they must not "insult" Christians by showing themselves in the streets on Easter; they must not be permitted to serve as judges or as tax-farmers.