Royal favours, of course, are never granted without an equivalent. The wealth of the Jews, being moveable and concentrated in few hands, was much more accessible to the King than that of his Christian subjects. They were, accordingly, made to pay more than the latter. When, in 1187, Henry levied a contribution, he received from the Jews alone nearly one-half of the whole amount, they contributing one-fourth of their property (£60,000), while the Christians one-tenth (£70,000). But, though the King’s Exchequer was the richer for the King’s clemency, the Jews enjoyed the right to live and grow wealthy. England was not a loser by this toleration of the children of Israel. Their ready money, despite the high rates of interest at which it was lent, supplied a powerful stimulus to industry and to architecture. Many a castle and cathedral owed their existence to Jewish capital. And not only the means of erection but also models for imitation were due to the Jews, who by their example taught the rude English burgesses the superiority of a stone house over a mud hovel, as is shown by the buildings at Bury St. Edmunds and Lincoln which still bear the name of “Jews’ houses.” Indeed, in this and subsequent reigns we hear marvellous tales of Jewish opulence and magnificence, such as that of Abraham fil Rabbi, Jurnet of Norwich, and Aaron of Lincoln, and even of unwelcomed proselytes to Judaism. Both these blessings, however, material prosperity and religious popularity, proved curses in disguise to their possessors. The riches of the Jew could not but rouse the cupidity of mediaeval barons, and his dissent the bigotry of mediaeval priests. Moreover, it would have been contrary to all the laws of probability and human nature had the Jews been left unmolested much longer in a land where the crusading spirit was abroad, where the popular hatred of the Jew had been recently fanned by abominable calumny and by royal favour, and where the civil authority was so frequently set at naught by feudal lawlessness. Last and most ominous sign, the Jews by an Act, passed in 1181, were forbidden to keep or bear arms. ♦1189♦