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JewishHistoryעברית

Massacre at Clifford's Tower

Date
16 March 1190 – 17 March 1190
Location
Clifford's TowerUnited Kingdom
Then part of
Kingdom of England
Perpetrators
  • Richard Malebisse and indebted local gentry (Individual)
  • County militia and urban mob (Mob)
Killed (estimate)
150[1]English Heritage cites a later Hebrew account of about 150 people trapped in the tower; the same page also records estimates of 20 to 40 families. Jewish Virtual Library likewise gives about 150 who fled to the castle.
Locality

100% of the Jewish population of Clifford's Tower[2]

Country

5% – 7.5% of the Jewish population of Kingdom of England (c. 1290)[34]

Worldwide

0.01% – 0.015% of the worldwide Jewish population (c. 1170)[7]

Category
Massacre, Forced conversion
Confidence
DisputedNo contemporary headcount survives. English Heritage reports estimates of 20 to 40 families in the tower and a later Hebrew account of about 150 people; its history page and Jewish Virtual Library also use a figure of about 150.

Summary

After houses of Jews in York were attacked, Josce (Joceus) led the community into the royal castle, on the site of the later Clifford's Tower. The warden was shut out; the sheriff called out the county militia, and a mob headed by Richard Malebisse, who was in debt to Jews, besieged the tower. On 16–17 March 1190, the Sabbath before Passover, Rabbi Yom-Tov of Joigny urged those inside to kill themselves rather than be baptised or slain. Josce killed his wife and children; others followed, and the timber tower was set on fire. Those who came out seeking baptism were killed. The attackers then burned debt bonds held at York Minster.

Sources

  1. The Massacre of the Jews at Clifford's Tower. English Heritage
  2. Jeremy Ashbee, History of Clifford's Tower. English Heritage
  3. Joseph Jacobs, York. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
  4. Anna Sapir Abulafia, William of Newburgh on the attack on the Jews of York in 1190. Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Edinburgh
  5. Shira Schoenberg, United Kingdom Virtual Jewish History Tour (section "Massacre at York & Beyond"). Jewish Virtual Library

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 1,000,000 – 1,500,000[7]c. 1170Between the 12th and 17th centuries DellaPergola judges world Jewry never much below one million nor above 1.5 million. The late-12th-century point is processed from Benjamin of Tudela.
  • Kingdom of England: 2,000 – 3,000[34]c. 1290Mundill concludes that chronicle claims of 15,000–17,000 expelled are exaggerations and that about 2,000 is a more acceptable figure for Jews forcibly exiled in 1290, with poll-tax and coin-clipping evidence pointing to a late-1270s/1280s community of roughly 2,000–4,000. The National Archives educational summary estimates around 3,000 forced to leave.
  • Clifford's Tower: 150[2]English Heritage's history of the tower states that York's Jewish community was some 150 strong when it was besieged in March 1190, the month of this massacre. The same organisation's account of the massacre also gives a Hebrew estimate of about 150 people in the tower, and a separate estimate of 20 to 40 families, which is left as a family count.

Sources for population estimates

  1. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2025)
  2. Sergio DellaPergola, Notes toward a Demographic History of the Jews. Genealogy 8(1) (2024)
  3. Jewish Population of Europe in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  4. Jewish Population of the World. American Jewish Year Book 1948–1949, via Berman Jewish Policy Archive (1949)
  5. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Voluntary Conversions and Diaspora: A Human Capital Interpretation of Jewish History. American Economic Association annual meeting paper (2007)
  6. Jews in the USSR (1926–1959). Demographic Changes. JewishGen Belarus SIG (table compiled from the 1939 All-Union census)
  7. Mandate for Palestine. Report of the Mandatory to the League of Nations (Palestine Administration, 1922). United Nations UNISPAL (British mandatory report) (1922)
  8. José Hinojosa Montalvo, La sociedad y la economía de los judíos en Castilla y la Corona de Aragón durante la Baja Edad Media. Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval (1993)
  9. The Contagion of Violence. 1391 and the Jews of the Spanish Kingdoms. Palgrave / Springer chapter (preview) (2021)
  10. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Religious Norms, Human Capital, and Money Lending in Jewish European History. Handbook chapter PDF via zvi-eckstein.com
  11. Sergio DellaPergola, Some Fundamentals of Jewish Demographic History. Berman Jewish Policy Archive (PDF) (2001)
  12. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, THE CHOSEN FEW: HOW EDUCATION SHAPED JEWISH HISTORY, 70–1492 (book summary). Bar-Ilan University Economics seminar PDF (Princeton University Press forthcoming summary)
  13. Joseph Jacobs, Statistics. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
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  17. Russia (Census Statistics). Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–1906)
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  19. Игорь Виленский, Оценка сокращения численности еврейского населения Российской Империи и СССР (1897–1926). Еврейская Старина (2024)
  20. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2024. American Jewish Year Book 2024, via Berman Jewish DataBank / Israel CBS host (2025)
  21. Sergio DellaPergola, Demographic Trends in Israel and Palestine: Prospects and Policy Implications. American Jewish Year Book 2003, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2003)
  22. Population of Israel/Palestine by Religion (1553–Present). Jewish Virtual Library (citing CBS, British Mandate publications, Bachi and others)
  23. US Jewish Population Pocket Demographics 2.0. Berman Jewish DataBank / Jewish Federations of North America (2018)
  24. H. S. Linfield, The Jews of the United States: Preliminary Figures for 1937 (Linfield) / Statistics of Jews. American Jewish Year Book 1939–40, via Berman Jewish DataBank (1939)
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  26. American Jewry, 1970 (NJPS 1971 article). American Jewish Year Book, via Berman Jewish DataBank
  27. Germany: Jewish Population in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  28. German Jewish Refugees, 1933–1939. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  29. Robin R. Mundill, The Jews under Edward I (PhD thesis). University of St Andrews
  30. Stéphane Mechoulan, The Expulsion of the Jews from France in 1306: a modern fiscal analysis. University of Toronto Department of Economics working paper (2004)
  31. Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein, Appendix A: Sources and Methodology for Section 2 (Jewish and total population in Germany-Austria and Poland-Lithuania). Authors' appendix PDF (citing Weinryb, Stampfer, Kupovetsky, Guggenheim, Toch, Battenberg, Israel) (2018)
  32. Kirsten E. Schulze, The Jews of Lebanon between Coexistence and Conflict. Internet Archive full text
  33. Jews in Arab Countries. American Jewish Year Book excerpt, Berman Jewish Policy Archive (1978)
  34. Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, The Farhud. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  35. Joseph Rothschild (tabulated), Interwar East European Census Data. Lawrence University course materials
  36. Mark Tolts, Population since World War I. YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
  37. Davis Trietsch, Die Juden der Türkei. Länder und Völker der Türkei, Heft 8 (Leipzig) (1915)
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  40. Andrzej Żbikowski, Extermination of Polish Jews. The genesis and course of Operation Reinhard. Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute)
  41. Yitzhak Arad, “Operation Reinhard” | Death Camps of Belzec, Sobibor & Treblinka. Yad Vashem
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  46. France. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
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  48. Norway. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  49. Denmark. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  50. Greece. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  51. Lithuania. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  52. German Jews during the Holocaust, 1939–1945. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  53. Statistics of Jews (World and US Jewish Population). American Jewish Year Book 1946–1947, via Berman Jewish DataBank (1947)
  54. Jacqueline Shields, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries. Jewish Virtual Library
  55. Lebanon Virtual Jewish History Tour. Jewish Virtual Library
  56. Jewish Populations in the Arab World. Jewish Virtual Library (citing Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2021 / AJYB 2023)
  57. Algeria (Vital Statistics). Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)
  58. Archives juives n°45/2 — Les Juifs d'Algérie. Archives Juives / Les Belles Lettres (2012)
  59. EHRI Country Report — Tunisia. European Holocaust Research Infrastructure
  60. Leon Shapiro, World Jewish Population. American Jewish Year Book 1981 (estimates for 1979), via Berman Jewish DataBank (1981)
  61. Sergio DellaPergola, World Jewish Population, 2020. American Jewish Year Book 2020, via Berman Jewish DataBank (2022)
  62. Sara Koplik, The Demise of the Jewish Community in Afghanistan, 1933–1952. SOAS University of London (PhD thesis abstract / deposit page) (2001)
  63. Argentina Virtual Jewish History Tour. Jewish Virtual Library
  64. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the USSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)
  65. All-Union 1959 census — ethnic composition of the Uzbek SSR. Demoscope Weekly (РГАЭ РФ fond 1562)