William Carver

Licoricia of Winchester rose from obscurity to become the most successful female financier in early Plantagenet England. Royal favourite, widow, potentate and prisoner, her life spanned seven decades and was filled with dramatic highs and tragic lows.

It is not known when Licoricia was born but she first appears in Winchester in 1234 as a young widow, with four children. By 1234 she was operating a money lending business which eventually spanned much of England. She was murdered in Winchester in 1277.

Licoricia spent considerable time in London, both as visitor and prisoner - she was taken as a hostage to the Tower of London four times, in 1244 (for eight months after the death of her second husband, David of Oxford), 1245, 1252 and the 1270s. She would undoubtedly have had many important community and business contacts there. Some of her children were also imprisoned in London, including Benedict before his execution during the Coin Clipping pogrom of the late 1270s. Maybe he is buried in the Barbican?

After the death of her second husband, King Henry III forced her and his estate to pay the equivalent of millions of pounds towards the shrine of King Edward the Confessor in the centre of Westminster Abbey, which he was building at the time and where Edward is still buried today.

The statue of Licoricia in Winchester today remembers the medieval Jewish community, their triumphs and disasters, and their contribution to the life of our nation, as well as promoting diversity and challenging prejudice today.

licoricia of winchester

JURNET, THE JEWISH SERGEANT AT THE TOWER OF LONDON