richard i was crowned king in 1189 and announced his intention to join the crusades; this inflamed anti-jewish sentiment. rumours began to spread that the king had ordered that the english jews be attacked. in york, tensions broke out into violence the following year. richard de malbis, who owed money to the powerful jewish merchant aaron of lincoln, exploited an accidental house fire to incite a local mob to attack the home and family of a recently deceased jewish employee of aaron in york. josce of york, the leader of the jewish community, led the local jewish families into the royal castle, where they took refuge in the wooden keep. the mob surrounded the castle, and when the constable left the castle to discuss the situation, the jews, fearing the entry of the mob or being handed over to the sheriff, refused to allow him back in. the constable appealed to the sheriff, who called out his own men and laid siege to the keep. the siege continued until 16 march when the jews' position became untenable. their religious leader, rabbi yomtob, proposed an act of collective suicide to avoid being killed by the mob, and the castle was set on fire to prevent their bodies being mutilated after their deaths. several jews perished in the flames but the majority took their own lives rather than give themselves up to the mob. a few jews did surrender, promising to convert to christianity, but they were killed by the angry crowd. around 150 jews died in total in the massacre. the keep was rebuilt, again in wood, on the motte, which was raised in height by 13 feet (4 metres) at a cost of £207.