Statute of the Jewry

That enabled some Jews to amass tremendous wealth, but also earned them enmity,[2] which added to the increasing antisemitic sentiments of the time, due to widespread indebtedness and financial ruin among the Gentile population.

Edward I returned from the Crusades in 1274, two years after his accession as King of England, and found that land had become a commodity, and that many of his subjects had become dispossessed and were in danger of destitution.

In January 1275 Edward's mother, the Queen Dowager Eleanor of Provence, expelled the Jews from all of her lands, a precursor to the Statute enacted later the same year.

In the years leading up to the Statute, Edward taxed them heavily to help finance his forthcoming military campaigns in Wales, which began in 1277.

The license to buy land was included so that farming, along with trading, could give Jews an opportunity to earn a living with the abolition of usury.