The crisis came almost immediately after the death of Henry. Anxious at once to show their loyalty and secure the protection of the new sovereign, the Jews sent a deputation, consisting of men of the highest repute among them, to attend the coronation of King Richard, and present him with rich gifts suitable to the occasion. Their presence was regarded as a profanation of the ceremony, and orders were sent them to stay away. They obeyed, but a few of their number, supposing themselves unknown, or that they would not be noticed, ventured into the Abbey. They were detected and dragged violently out. The popular fury was inflamed. The houses of the Jews were everywhere broken open, plundered, and set on fire. The king endeavoured to put a stop to the riot, but in vain. The pillage and murder went on throughout the entire night. On the following day order was restored, many of the rioters were arrested, and a strict inquiry made. Three were hanged, but it is a curious illustration of the state of the public feeling of the day, that none of these were punished for injuries done to the Jews. Two of the three had robbed a Christian, pretending that he was a Jew, and the third had set on fire the house of a Jew, but, unluckily for the offender, a Christian’s house had been burned along with it. It would really seem that, in the existing state of public feeling, the government dared not punish any one for the simple offence of injuring a Jew! The news of the outbreak ran like wild fire through the country, and everywhere the rabble were roused to the same violence. In Norwich and Stamford, and other large towns, the Jews were attacked, their houses gutted, themselves maltreated and slain. At Lincoln, the humane governor of the castle gave them timely warning. They retired with their valuables within its shelter, and were preserved. At York, a Jew named Benedict, who had declared himself a convert to Christianity to save his life, and had afterwards recanted, became the special object of popular fury. He had died of exhaustion and terror before the commencement of the _émeute_; but the mob, disregarding that circumstance, attacked his house, burned it to the ground, and murdered his wife and children. The other Jews—as many of them, that is, as had heard in time of the danger that was threatening them—took refuge within the walls of York Castle, thinking, probably, to escape as their brethren at Lincoln had done. Those who were left behind were ruthlessly massacred, man, woman, and child, a few only excepted, who submitted to be baptized.