[stainforth]

Is there a direct relation or something specific you were going to draw in mentioning the history of the Jews in England and the history and particularities of the City of London? That the Jews performed the interest loans on behalf of and/or within the City of London possibly or something like that?

[cletus]

Jews were historically associated with practices like moneylending largely due to the religious quirks I mentioned.

Go forward a few centuries and you have things like Shakespeare's moneylender from the Merchant of Venice, Shylock. This was no accident. It reveals both the reality of the time and attitudes towards Jews. This was such a powerful literary figure that the word "shylock" entered the lexicon.

Anyway here's another history [1]:

> The Jews came principally from Rouen - a great center of Jewish life in Northern France. It is well known that William brought them over as so called "feudal Jews" to be Royal serfs, the king's own chattels, providing him with financial services and income ...

> Though their principal function was to be money lenders, the London Jews did in reality they did follow a variety of other trades and callings

[1]: http://www.jtrails.org.uk/trails/the-city-of-london/history