Clifford's Tower

Clifford’s Tower is all that remains of York’s former royal castle, the seat of Royal authority in the north from the time of William the Conqueror. He had constructed the earth mound soon after the Norman Conquest and topped it with a wooden tower, the Kings Tower.

 At that time a number of Jews came to England from Rouen. The early Norman kings needed to borrow money to build castles and secure their kingdom, but charging interest for money-lending  was forbidden (for religious reasons) to Christians but there was no such barrier to money-lending by Jews. These French-speaking Jews from Normandy had Crown protection , and over a period of years established communities in most of the main cities of England. In the later 12th century, most members of the Jewish community from Lincoln moved to  York.

However, there was growing hostility towards the Jewish population in England in the 12th century. This was in part due to high profile disagreements in theology between Jewish scholars and Christian clerics. In the mid-12th century vicious stories started to spread in England, accusing Jews of murdering Christian children. These  slanders and other stories, are now known as the ‘Blood Libel’. They strengthened the anti-Semitic sentiment in England. 

In 1190 a fire broke out in York which was used as  pretext by the anti-semetic mob  to break into the house of a prominent Jewish family and everyone in the house was killed

Another  prominent Jew, Joceus,  managed to escape a similar attack on his home and he persuaded the city’s Jews to seek protection from the King’s representative, ‘the keeper of the King’s tower’. The sought refuge inside the castle in a wooden tower on the site of the present Clifford’s Tower. Meanwhile in York , the looting continued. Inside the tower trust and the day to day  relationship between the Jews and the keeper of the tower deteriorated and when the keeper left the tower on business the Jews refused to allow him to re-enter. This constituted a challenge to the crown and the King’s troops joined the mob which had already gathered outside. The potential attackers were initially  battered by  stones thrown from the castle walls. However the Jews soon realised that they could not hold out against the attackers a suicide pact was  agreed between the elders. The father of each family killed his wife and children before killing himself. Just before they died the Jews burnt all their possessions and the fire spread to the timber tower,  It is estimated that at least 20 families, adding up to 150 people, were involved.

King Henry III later put the current French-style four-leaf-clover tower on the mound. Subsequent kings held parliaments here and, although the interior was burned out in the 17th century the tower  has  become a much-loved emblem of the city, attracting around 150,000 visitors annually. At the base of the mound is a plaque marking the pogrom of 1190