Secret Jews & The Readmission

After the expulsion, there was no established Jewish community in England, and Jews were not legally allowed to enter. However, despite the danger, Jews did visit Britain and some lived in the country for a time pretending to be Christians. They were known as ‘conversos’.

It was only in 1656 that Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, allowed Jews to return to the country.

The community that re-established itself in Britain consisted of Sephardi (Spanish and Portuguese) Jews from the Dutch Republic. These Jews had faced expulsion in 1492 from Spain, settling in the Netherlands, and establishing a flourishing community in cities like Amsterdam. They formed the second wave of Jewish immigration to Britain. They were largely involved in overseas trade.

On the right in this British Library image is “Doctor Lopez a Jew“, Elizabeth I’s physician, tried & executed in 1594 for allegedly trying to “take away Queene Elizabeths life by poyson” for “50,000 Crowns”. Lopez was a . It’s very unlikely he tried to poison Elizabeth I but his execution and notorious reputation show negative Elizabethan attitudes to Jews — attitudes that can also be seen in Shakespeare’s depiction of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.”

TO FIND OUT

Many SephardiDescribes Jews of Spanish or Portuguese decent. Jews who had been expelled from Spain had gone to live in the Netherlands. Why did they want to move country again, to England?

CRITICAL THINKING

Would you rather pretend to be something you are not (like the conversos did) or put up with not being allowed to live in or visit certain countries?

CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1. What was a ‘converso’?

2. Who allowed Jews to return to England to live?

3. Name something that shows the negative view that most English people had towards Jews in this period.

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