JURNET, THE JEWISH SERGEANT AT THE TOWER OF LONDON

Dr Rory Maclellan

In late Spring 1281, Jurnet, son of Abraham, and two other Jews entered London, a cart dragging behind them. Atop was the body of Josce of Guildford, who had been murdered. Jurnet was bringing Josce’s remains to the city’s Jewish cemetery for burial.

As the procession passed through Southwark high street on the way to London Bridge, the bailiff of Southwark and his men appeared and demanded that the Jews pay a tax of 2s for every cart carrying dead Jews. Jurnet and the others refused, saying that the king had exempted them from all such tolls, but the bailiff would not give in. They attacked Jurnet and overturned the cart, throwing Josce’s corpse to the cobbles, beating the three Jews and tearing off some of their clothes to sell for the toll.

Jurnet was soon avenged on the bailiff. He took him to court and, when the bailiff could not produce any evidence of his right to tax the Jews, he was imprisoned. The court record describes Jurnet as a ‘sergeant of the Tower’, making him the only practising Jew known to have worked at the Tower of London in the medieval period.

The record does not say what Jurnet’s exact duties at the Tower were and sergeant could mean any range of roles, from soldier to servant, officer, or attendant. But this incident suggests he was responsible for bringing bodies to London’s Jewish cemetery, which the Tower had some oversight of and interest in. Particularly after the mass imprisonment and execution of Jews at the Tower in the 1270s for alleged coin-clipping, snipping the edges of silver coins to sell the silver, the authorities may have decided to take on a more direct role, employing a Jew to take his people’s bodies there for a decent burial.

Further reading

Rory Maclellan Prisoners, Sanctuary-Seekers, and Workers: Jews at the Tower of London, 1189–1290  Wiley Online Library History Volume 107, Issue 378 p. 815-835