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THEIR LEARNED MEN AND

stition and ignorance, the Jews enjoyed and improved the sunshine of intellect and knowledge. They were honoured in Spain by the appellation of sapientissimi. Whilst the Greek authors were totally neglected by Christians—and even John of Salisbury, though a few Greek words are to be found in his compositions, seems to have had only the slightest possible acquaintance with that language-the Jews, however, were reading, in their own language, several works of Aristotle, Plato, Ptolemy, Apollonius, Hippocrates, Galen, and Euclid, which they derived from the Arabic of the Moors, who brought them from Greece and Egypt, and employed much of their time in writing dissertations and controversial arguments upon them. They were the means, therefore, of the old classics being actively disseminated amongst the western colleges of Christendom.

The Jews also held the principal chairs of mathematics in the Mahommedan colleges of Cordova and Seville; they came in con

THEIR SEATS OF LEARNING.

109

tact with many Christians, and spread themselves into various countries; they taught the geometry, the algebra, the logic, and the chemistry of Spain, in the universities of Oxford and Paris, while Christian students from all parts of Europe repaired to Andalusia for such instruction.*

In this country, the Jews had schools in London, York, Lincoln, Lynn, Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, and other towns, which appear to have been attended by Christians as well as by those of their own persuasion. Some of these seminaries, indeed, were rather colleges than schools. Besides the Hebrew and Arabic languages, arithmetic and medicine are mentioned among the branches of knowledge that were taught in them; and the masters were generally the most distinguished of the rabbies.†

* See " 'the Fundamental Principles of Modern Judaism Investigated," pp. 238, 239. Also "An Apology for the Study of Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature," by the Rev. Dr. M'Caul.

+ Knight's Weekly volume, xvii. p. 64.

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ABEN EZRA VISITS ENGLAND.

In this reign the celebrated Aben Ezra visited England, and wrote his work s nawn, Egereth Ha-Shabbath, or Epistle on the Sabbath. From the date the rabbi prefixed to that work, which runs thus-" And it came to pass in the year 4919 [A.M. 1159, A. D.], in the middle of the night, even on a Sabbath night, on the fourteenth day of the month Tebath [corresponding to January], and I, Abraham Aben Ezra, the Sephardy [or Spaniard], have been in one of the cities of the island called 'the end of the earth,' "*. it is evident that that rabbi visited this country a great deal earlier than Dr. Tovey fancies, who thinks that it was in King Richard's time.†

They practised successfully as physicians in this country; they possessed a thorough knowledge of the medical science in all its branches. The monarchs and powerful barons of the time frequently committed themselves to the charge of some experienced sage amongst them, when wounded or in sickness;

*See Appendix F.

† Anglia Judaica, p. 35.

JEWS DISTINGUISHED PHYSICIANS. 111

and in consequence of the many cures which their superior medical skill enabled them to effect, they incurred the envy of the monks, who pretended to effect cures by the means of sainted relics. They therefore circulated a report that the Jews were acquainted with the occult sciences and with the cabalistic art, and therefore performed their cures by incantations and witchcraft, and a general belief was soon entertained that the Jews

*

were sorcerers, which proved a source of no small calamity to them in subsequent reigns. Thus also the second baseless accusation against the Jews owes its existence to the British ecclesiastics of that reign, whose morning and evening delight was to do foul scorn to the poor Jewish nation.

*See Appendix G.

APPENDIX TO LECTURE II.

A.

THE146th paragraph of the "Canonical Excerptiones" of Archbishop Ecgbright runs thus :-"A Laodicean act. That no Christian presume to Judaize, or be present at Jewish feasts." To which Johnson, in his collection of ecclesiastical laws and canons, adds, "By this one would suppose there were in this age Jews in the north of England."-Johnson's Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws.

The following is the 149th paragraph of the same "Canonical Excerptiones: "A canon of the saints. If any Christian sell a Christian into the hands of Jews or Gentiles, let him be anathema: for it is written in Deuteronomy, "If any man be caught trafficking for any of the stock of Israel, and takes a price for him, he shall die.”—Johnson's Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws.

B.

"Omnes terras, et tenementas, possessiones, et eorum peculia, quæ reges Merciorum, et eorum Proceres, vel alii fideles Christiani, vel Judæi dictis Monarchis dederunt."