Concerning the Jews in Western Europe, we have no knowledge before the second century. When the Franks and Burgundians conquered the Roman colonies in Gaul, the Jews, who had been brought thither as slaves, were classed by the victors, as Romans, and shared equal fate with them. They were permitted to follow agricultural pursuits and trades. Their own ships furrowed the ocean. Jewish physicians were sought by the princes of the Church and of the Realm. As soldiers they distinguished themselves in the warfare between Clovis and Theoderic. Their religious practices were not interfered with, the Jew was everywhere respected by the heathen. But the sun of their prosperity was extinguished when the heathen kings adopted Christianity. With the change of their religion came a change of heart; the heart that was formerly full of love toward the Jew, turned into stone. The clergy dictated, and the kings and the people obeyed with the sword, and the Jews bled and suffered and perished by the thousands, or were dragged under tortures to baptism into the alone-saving and all-loving church. So much for the early history of the Jews in France. We now come to the history of the Jews in Spain. That theme is vast. It demands a chapter for itself. [Illustration] CHAPTER IX. THE ENTRANCE OF THE JEWS INTO SPAIN. JEWS SETTLE IN SPAIN DURING THE REIGN OF KING SOLOMON.--JEWISH AGRICULTURAL SKILL MAKES ANDALUSIA THE GARDEN SPOT OF EUROPE.--PROSPERITY THE GREAT CRIME OF THE JEWS.--THE BEGINNING OF JEWISH PERSECUTIONS IN EUROPE.--CRUEL LAWS.--VENGEANCE.--JEWS CONSPIRE WITH COUNT JULIAN AND MOORS AGAINST SPAIN.--VICTORY.--MOORISH APPRECIATION OF THE SERVICES OF THE JEWS. The week had passed. It was Sabbath Eve once more. Again we assembled in the library hall of Chasdai ben Isaac to listen to the narrative of "The Entrance of the Jews into Spain." When all were gathered Chasdai began and spoke as follows: History is more communicative about the entrance of the Jews into Spain than she is about their entrance into any of the other West European countries. The Bible gives us sufficient basis to build upon the fairly reliable theory that as early as the time of King Solomon (1,000 B. C.) the Iberian peninsula was known to the Israelites, that considerable traffic was carried on between them and the autochtones of the Southwestern corner of Europe, and that a settlement of a Jewish colony within the sunny lands of Andalusia may have taken place then. We have a tradition which tells us, that when in the early days of the Christian era the Jews of Spain were attacked for having crucified Jesus, they claimed that neither they nor their fathers had any share in the crucifixion, that they were the descendants of Jews who lived in Spain long before the time of Christ, and produced a gravestone upon which was inscribed: "This is the grave of Adonirams, the servant of Solomon the king, who came hither to collect the tribute for the king."