Jan. 16, 1275

Removal of Jewish Communities from certain Towns to Others, decreed by King Edward I of England [England]: “By writ of the lord the King directed to the justices in these words: — Whereas by our letters patent we have granted to our dearest mother, Eleanor, Queen of England, that no Jew shall dwell or stay in any towns which she holds in dower by assignment of the lord King Henry, our father, and of ourself, within our realm, so long as the same towns be in her hand; and for this cause we have provided that the Jews of Marlborough be transferred to our town of Devizes, the Jews of Gloucester to our town of Bristol, the Jews of Worcester to our town of Hereford, and the Jews of Cambridge to our city of Norwich, with their Chirograph Chests, and with all their goods, and that henceforth they dwell and stay in the aforesaid towns and city among the rest of our Jews there: We command you that you cause the aforesaid Jews of Marlborough, Gloucester, Worcester and Cambridge to be removed from those towns, without doing any damage to them in respect of their persons or their goods, and to transfer themselves to the places aforesaid with their Chirograph Chests, as safely to our use as you shall think it may be done. Witness myself at Clarendon on the 16th day of January in the third year of our reign. The sheriffs of the counties aforesaid, and the constables, are ordered to cause the aforesaid Jews to be transferred to the places aforesaid.”