Medieval English Jews and Royal Officials: Entries of Jewish Interest in the English Memoranda Rolls, 1266-1293 (review)

The Jewish Quarterly Review, XCIII, Nos. 3-4 (January-April, 2003) 648-652 Zefira Entin Rokéah. Medieval English Jews and Royal Officials: Entries ofJewish Interest in the English Memoranda Rolls, 1266-1293. Jerusalem : The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2000. Pp. vii-xxxvii + 514. One should always look at the preface and the dedication of a large work, as it reveals a lot about the author. In this case, Zefira Entin Rokéah's work is dedicated to her parents and is a result of their "love of learning . . . which encouraged the author to value learning for its own sake." We are in danger of forgetting to value learning and to appreciate the loneliness of the researcher, and we should applaud such an academic feat as Rokéah's, whose love of learning for her subject exudes from every page. The large corpus of records held in the Public Record Office in London (hereafter PRO) which are directly concerned with medieval Anglo Jewry have long been known and labeled as "Jewish records." Rokéah steps outside this convenient label and makes an inroad into mainstream governmental records. After setting the use of memoranda rolls into context, she embarks on a brief history of the rolls. In the 13th century, they become a record of fines and amercements as an adjunct to the more traditional Pipe Rolls. Rokéah supplies a clear guide to some of the more technical considerations such as marginal marks, comments on the language used, and gives brief consideration to items of special interest. Rokéah also supplies an excellent glossary. Her expertise and meticulous attention come through in every footnote. Her text is accompanied by clear, unobtrusive references to current knowledge, and she comments on the condition and state of the records themselves. The twenty-seven chapters form a complete record of the entries on such rolls from 1266-93. The index, which was clearly assembled with much time and care, helps to remind us of the potential use of these entries as they can be cross-referenced not only with other records as they still stand at the PRO but also with those records of medieval Anglo Jewry that are already in print, including the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews. The complete work will be an invaluable reference for those interested in medieval Anglo Jewry and the government of late Henrician and early Edwardian England. Those who realize the true value of this scholarly edition will probably start with a cross-reference and then work their way through the chronological entries. They should, however, try to examine it as a whole. The entries themselves increase our knowledge of the day-to-day operation of the Exchequer of the Jews. Most of the events recorded on these rolls are classed as communia, the everyday happenings which were writ- ROKÉAH, ENGLISH MEMORANDA ROLLS—MUNDILL649 ten down by the scribes. However these are interspersed with a pastiche of everyday life at the exchequer, including the claim of a clerk that Bonenfaunt of Oxford had insulted him by alleging that he was a "falsifier of the King's Rolls" (no. 5). Similarly they record Robert de Coleuill's attack on Robert of Fulham, the Justice of the Jews, in the king's hall (59). The rolls are full of orders to sheriffs to distrain debtors of the Jews and to enter different liberties in order to do so (96, 159, 276, 349, 365). There is a sense of infuriation and tedium in the record of a dispute over the ownership of some property in London which led to the comment that, "The King will not be troubled over this again" (169). Often there are references to the writs or documents being in the marshal's bin, a sort of medieval in-tray (171). These entries illustrate the constant travel and communication between Westminster, the archae towns (towns which had chests for Jewish business transactions), and Jewish communities. There are many references to payments for transport of either Jews or archae. In 1269 the sheriff of Northampton was paid 10 shillings for carrying the Northampton archa to the Tower of London (182); in 1270 the sheriff...