in their houses, and defended themselves with determined courage, till the rabble, whose fury was increased by the opposition they experienced, set fire to their houses and burned them to the ground, the Jews and their families perishing in the flames. The cruelties that were inflicted were so atrocious, that the more sober-minded citizens, who had in vain endeavoured to restrain the mob, sent information at length to the king of what was taking place. He was at the time seated at the banquet, but immediately gave directions to Randulph de Grandville, the Lord High Steward, to quell the tumult. This officer, taking with him some of the chief nobility, used his endeavours to put a stop to the outrage; but the populace would pay no regard to his authority, threatened him with violence, and compelled him to retire. No interference of the chief justice and his officers, whom the king had despatched to quell the tumult, availed, until the multitude were gorged with spoil, and tired with the labour of slaughter. The tumult continued during the whole night; the houses of all the Jews were plundered, and most of them burned, and it was not till the next day that an end was put to the proceedings, by a large force sent into the city by the king. A few of the most active of the rioters were apprehended, and three of them were afterwards executed; not, however, for the pillage and murder of the unfortunate Jews. One of them was hanged because he did not _confine_ his villany to the Jews, but took advantage of the uproar to plunder the house of a Christian; and the other two――who also met with the same fate――because by setting fire to the house of a Jew they had exposed the dwellings of the neighbouring Christians to destruction. And we are further informed by another historian, “that the inquiry soon stopped, as many considerable citizens were involved in the guilt, and as the priests applauded the pious zeal which destroyed so many enemies to the Christian faith.”² ¹ Those who came from a distance must have been totally ignorant of the royal proclamation since it was only one day old. ² Noorthouck, p. 34. The celebrated Rabbi, Jacob of Orleans, was among the great number of Jews who were slain on this night; as appears from the following short notice of that awful event, by Rabbi ♦Gedaliah ben Joseph Jachija, in his _Shalsheleth Hakabbalah_, fol. cxi., col. i.:――“In the year 4930 [A.M. 1190, A.D.] when Richard became new king in the city of London, which is in England, our Rabbi, Jacob of Orleans, was put to death in glorification of God’s name, and many other Jews with him.”¹ ♦ ‘Gedeliah’ replaced with ‘Gedaliah’ ¹ See Appendix A.