But this occurrence, shocking as it was, was a mere temporary outburst of popular fury. It was not repeated, not even in the reign of his descendant, Alphonso VIII., in 1171, when, above all other times, a Jewish massacre might have been looked for. This king had become deeply enamoured of a beautiful Jewess, named Rachel Fermosa. For her society he neglected his queen, and withdrew himself from public business. Grave misfortunes ensued: his forces were defeated at Alarcos, and the kingdom menaced by the hostility of the neighbouring states. The people believed that these calamities were due, not to the bad administration of public affairs, but to the indignation of Heaven at the king’s unhallowed affection for an unbeliever. Their jealousy was also roused by the favour shown to her countrymen. A rebellion broke out, the rioters burst into the king’s palace, and assassinated Fermosa before the eyes of her lover. But they satisfied themselves with her death, and did not molest the Jewish favourites whom she had patronized. Alphonso IX. showed even greater favour to the Jews than had been bestowed on them by his predecessors. Innocent III. repeated in his instance the charge which Gregory VII. had brought against his ancestor, ‘of elevating the Synagogue at the cost of the Church.’ He relieved both Jews and Moors, we are told, from the payment of tithes, and allowed them to hold landed property,—a rare privilege in those days. One of his laws—which allowed a Jew, in the event of one of his slaves being converted to Christianity, to claim, at the hands of the person who had converted him whatever indemnity he might think proper—seems to be as unfair to the Christians as the legislation of those times usually was to the Jews. In Hungary, Germany, and Bohemia, their condition, during the period we have under consideration, appears to have been prosperous. Ladislas, King of Hungary, convened, we are told, a Synod in 1092, in which various regulations relating to the Jews were made. It was ordered that if a Jew bought a Christian slave of either sex, the slave should be set at liberty, and the price paid for him confiscated to the bishop. His son Coloman re-enacted this prohibition against the use of Christian slaves, but permitted the Jews to purchase and cultivate lands, on condition of employing Jewish or pagan labour, and settling in such places only as were under the jurisdiction of a bishop. These laws prove that the Jews must have been both a numerous and wealthy part of the population.