Ingulphus, in his “History of Croyland Abbey,” relates that in the year 833, Whitglaff, King of the Mercians, having been defeated by Egbert, took refuge in that abbey, and in return for the protection and assistance rendered him by the abbot and monks on the occasion, granted a charter, confirming to them all lands, tenements, and possessions, and all other gifts which had at any time been bestowed upon them by his predecessors or their nobles, or by any other faithful Christians, or by Jews.¹ ¹ See Appendix B. The Jews in this country chronicle now in their almanack the following: ――“Canute banished the Jews from England,” A.D. 901.¹ Basnage also asserts that “they were banished from this country in the beginning of the eleventh century, and did not return till after the conquest.” I cannot find the authority upon which these two statements rest, and moreover it seems to me that some Jews were certainly resident in England towards the middle of the eleventh century, and prior to the Norman invasion. By the laws attributed to Edward the Confessor, it is declared that “the Jews, wheresoever they be, are under king’s guard and protection; neither can any one of them put himself under the protection of any rich man, without the king’s license, for the Jews and all they have belong to the king; and if any person shall detain them or their money, the king may claim them, if he please, as his own:”² another proof that the Jews were resident in this country prior to the invasion of William the Conqueror. ¹ This is decidedly erroneous, for we know that Canute did not arrive in England before the beginning of the eleventh century. ² See Appendix C. From the time of the Conquest, the information afforded by your historians respecting the Jews, becomes gradually more extensive. William the First, soon after he had obtained possession of the throne, invited the Jews to come over in large numbers from Rouen, and to settle in England; and he is reported to have appointed a particular place for their residence. Of the name of this town we are not accurately informed. But Peck, in his annals, relates that many of the Jews who came over in this reign, took up their residence at Stamford. And Wood, in his “History of Oxford,” shows, upon the authority of some ancient deeds, that in the tenth year after the Conquest, the Jews resided already in great numbers in that university.