It is generally considered that Jews first came to England, from Rouen, following the Norman Conquest.
However I have come across a couple of tantalizing hints that there may have been a small presence in Anglo-Saxon England :
(1) Jacques Basnages de Beaval (1653 -1723) , a French Protestant theologian, published his ” Histoire des Juifs etc “ in Rotterdam in 1706. In the English translation by Thomas Taylor, which appeared in 1708, it states (page 637) :
” They were expell’d out of England in the beginning of the eleventh Century,which was one of the great Exiles they complain of, because they were great Sufferers in it. But for all this they had settled again in that Kingdom …. “
This language does not seem to leave any room for doubt, although I have been unable to find any source for Basnage’s claim.
(2) In ” Monumenta Ecclesiastica Anglicana, from the Seventh to the Tenth Century” , which forms part of “Ancient Laws and Institutes of England ” by Benjamin Thorpe, published by Eyre and Spottiswoode in 1840, there are several references to Jews with an inference that there could have been a presence. However I have been unable to find any published study dealing with this work.
In any case there does not seem to be reason why in the 10th or early 11th centuries there should not have been a small community in say London, as there was in Rouen. There would have been some economic opportunity, and the sea was certainly no barrier.
Any suggestions as to how this could be taken further would be appreciated
