“But the king, who was not so easily to be satisfied, insisting upon the vast expenses he had been at lately, in marrying his sister to the emperor (whose portion was three hundred thousand marks),¹ as also from his own marriage; and likewise, swearing to take their advice in all things for the future, and forsake his foreigners, they were prevailed upon to grant him a thirtieth part of all their moveables; and the clergy did the same. But as the money, by agreement, was not to be disposed of without their privity and consent, and was, likewise, to be deposited in some abbey, castle, or other place of security, and not in his exchequer; the king, finding himself, in a great measure, disappointed, was resolved to get money by some other means, which he might call his own, and lavish away at pleasure. He, therefore, fell to work again upon his Jewish mines, and extracted no less than ten thousand marks――from the immediate payment whereof no Jew was to be excused, but by the king’s especial writ.”² Ten of the richest Jews were obliged to become security for the payment of this unreasonable demand. Not that the Jews were unable at once to raise the required sum, but they dared not appear as wealthy as they really were.³ ¹ All of which he expended on Eleanor’s coronation. ² See Appendix F. ³ See Dr. Jost. The wealth which the Jews have accumulated in this country must have been enormously great; and the ten sureties must have been equal to raise any sum, be it ever so large, if we may judge from the wealth of individuals amongst them. From one, Aaron of York――who seems to have supplied a great part of the necessities both of the king and queen――in the short space of seven years, the king exacted upwards of 30,000 marks of silver; and to the queen the same Jew also paid upwards of 200 marks of gold.¹ Dr. Jost says, “that Aaron’s riches were immeasurable.”² The same Aaron also entered into a compact with the king to pay him annually, during the whole period of his life, the sum of one hundred marks, in order to be free from taxes.³ Nor was Aaron the only one so gifted with this world’s riches. We read of another Jew of Hereford, Hamon by name, who must have been equally rich. We do not hear anything about him during his life-time; but we read, that when he died――which took place about two years prior to the above exaction――his daughter, Ursula, was obliged to pay 5,000 marks for a relief.⁴ ¹ _Aurum Reginæ_, or queen gold, a due which the queens of England were entitled to claim on every tenth mark paid to the king, as voluntary fines for the royal good will. Eleanor sometimes demanded it in a most unreasonable manner. _Tovey. A. Strickland._ ² “_Sein Reichthum war unermesslich._” ³ “Considering the different values of money, this, I believe, is as much as the richest nobleman pays at present.”――_Anglia Judaica_, p. 108.