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It's questionable h o w such an author as Chaucer 'intended' such a tale to be received - and received by whom, anyhow? Who were Chaucer's audience? ( I suspect a good many of them were deeply indebted to a Jew or Lombard, as the phrase goes) Would they have just nodded, taken the so-called 'anti-Semitism as something common or garden, the necessary spice ( horrible as that may seem), and listened ( or read) on? What would that tell us about what 'Jew' signified to these people? It certainly meant something, as it did to the people of York who initiated the massacre. Talking of which, the question arises of why such an event happened ( which Robin Hamilton omits) - a reading of certain parts of Matt.'s gospel; the interpretation of that reading; economic pressures; economic jealousy; the peculiar situation of the North of England at the time, and so on and so on. Far be it from me to say that our perspective on the nature of Medieval life ( God, of any historical period whatsoever!) is still languishing in one or other simplicities - but I'd dare to suggest, forbearing from all offence of course, that the whole question of Medieval Jewry may be connected to our reading, and its accuracy, of the Life surrounding and implying those Jews ( and, note, vice-versa) Colin G Hughes %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%