An Egyptian Jew in King Edward’s Court: Jewish Conversion, Edward II, and Roger de Stanegrave

Abstract

In 1319 Roger Stanegrave, a Hospitaller knight, and a Jew named Isaac arrived in England. For a ransom of 10,000 gold florins Isaac had freed Stanegrave from decades of Mamluk imprisonment and had then accompanied the knight home to be repaid. By 1322, Isaac had converted to Christianity and become Edward of St. John, with King Edward II taking him as godson. The new Edward also gained a corrody with the Hospitallers. This paper examines what motivated Isaac to pay such an extortionate amount to free this imprisoned knight, a man of little stature both in England and amongst the Hospitallers, and to follow him on a long journey from Egypt to Rhodes and then to England. It also investigates the likely motives behind his conversion, and why Edward II championed Isaac so strongly, yet showed little regard for other Jewish converts in his kingdom. It argues that the ransom figure was falsified, an exaggeration offered by Stanegrave as a way of helping to persuade Isaac to buy his freedom. As to Isaac’s conversion, this was out of necessity rather than newfound faith. His status as a Jew in post-expulsion England left his position in the realm uncertain, threatening the rewards he had gained for Stanegrave’s rescue. Finally, Edward II was drawn to Isaac’s case by the drama of his story and the opportunity it presented for the pious king to participate in a religious event.