Besides the sums which were thus raised upon the Jews by means of taxes affecting their whole community, the king derived considerable advantages from appropriating the property of individuals amongst them. Was he desirous of making a handsome wedding-gift to any one? he did so by sending the favoured party a full receipt of all the debts owed to the poor Jew, as was the case with a certain Robert.¹ In some instances he would seize upon their houses, and grant them away to other persons, as was the case with Isaac of Norwich, who had a house in London, which the king without ceremony presented to the Earl of Ferrars.² But the mode which he more generally adopted to turn their acquisitions to account, was to enter into agreements and compromises with their debtors――either releasing in full the sum which was due, or discharging the interest payable upon the amount. ¹ See Appendix G. ² See Appendix H. It would appear, that the right which the king thus assumed of treating the debts due to the Jews as his own, although it brought considerable advantage to the crown, was found, in some instances, to be grievous in its effects to the people in general; it placed all persons who were under engagements to the Jews, in the same situation as the debtors to the king, and thereby subjected them to liabilities much more extensive than those to which, in common cases, they would have been exposed. When, therefore, the barons forced from King John the great charter of liberty, they included in it two several clauses, which had for their object the regulation of the claims in respect to these debts, and the twelfth clause of Magna Charta declares――“If any one have borrowed anything of the Jews, more or less, and dies before the debt be satisfied, there shall be no interest paid for that debt, so long as the heir is under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if the debt fall into our hands, we will take only the chattel mentioned in the charter or instrument.” The thirteenth clause further declares, that “If any one shall be indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower, and pay nothing for the debt; and if the deceased leave children under age, they shall have necessaries provided for them, according to the tenement of the deceased, and out of the residue the debts shall be paid, saving, however, the service of the Lord.”¹ ¹ See Appendix I.