The site of Clifford's Tower, the keep of York's medieval
castle, still bears witness to the most horrifying event in the
history of English Jewry. On the night of 16 March 1190, the
feast of Shabbat ha-Gadol, the small Jewish community of York
was gathered together for protection inside the tower. Rather
than perish at the hands of the violent mob that awaited them
outside, many of the Jews took their own lives; others died in
the flames they had lit, and those who finally surrendered were
massacred and murdered. Understandably, this appalling event has
become the most notorious example of antisemitism in medieval
England. Yet, it was by no means an isolated incident, but
rather the culmination of a tide of violent feeling which swept
the country in the early part of 1190. Clifford's Tower and the
Jews of Medieval York (English Heritage, 1995) According to
English Heritage, by the 1170s there were two primary incentives
for the establishment of a Jewish community in York: . . . The
first was the existence wi