The king, after his return to England, found himself very much impoverished, having lost his military chest, and his moveable chapel royal, with all its rich plate, at the battle of Taillebourg. Henry wishing, however, to celebrate the wedding of his brother Richard with his sister-in-law, Sancha, in royal style, he called, therefore, upon the poor Jews to furnish the funds for the splendid festivities. And Aaron of York alone was compelled to pay no less than four thousand marks of silver and four hundred marks of gold; and the Jews of London were mulcted in like proportion.¹ He was still poor, and wanted more money; he applied, therefore, to his parliament for it. They well knew, that vast sums had been exacted by him from the Jews; the barons, therefore, inquired, what became of all their money. The king did not relish this sort of procedure on the part of those noblemen, and appeared to refuse an answer to such an ill-timed query. The barons, in order to be acquainted in future with his revenues derived from the Jews, insisted on having one, at least, of the justices of the Jews appointed by parliament. The king found himself obliged to acquiesce in that bold proposal, and moreover to confirm it by charter. The Jews were by no means sorry for this baronical step, for it afforded them a little respite. For in return for the king’s consenting to the new parliamentary measure, the barons were likewise obliged to yield to his request, and supply his pecuniary wants, so that the Jews had peace from him, during the whole of _that_ year. But it was only for _that_ year. The next one was introduced with another demand. ¹ M. Paris; A. ♦Strickland. ♦ ‘Stricland’ replaced with ‘Strickland’ In consequence of the king’s again wanting money to meet the Welsh incursions, the Jews were once more applied to and despoiled of, 10,000 marks: transportation to Ireland was the punishment in case of refusal.