PRYNNE, WILLIAM. A Short Demurrer to the Jewes Long Discontinued Remitter into England [Argues against the readmission of the Jews into England]

William Prynne (1600-1669), was a Puritan leader whose outspoken criticism of the theater landed him in the Tower of London for one year. In 1654 Prynne published an essay which argued for the observance of the Sabbath (albeit the Christian Sabbath, Sunday) from sundown to sundown in conformity to Biblical law. This positive predisposition to Judaic tradition did not prevent Prynne from publishing the present tract which, after surveying the annals of Anglo-Jewish history, launches into a tirade against the official Re-admission of the Jews to England. Thankfully, another Puritan by the name of Oliver Cromwell, who arrogated to himself the role of “Lord Protector of England” from 1653 to 1658, had other thoughts concerning the Jews, and at the behest of the Amsterdam rabbi, Meanasseh ben Israel, largely brought about the Re-admission in 1656. See EJ, Vol. XIII, cols. 1295-6. REFERENCE NOTE TO USE FOR NEXT TIME… Manasseh continued to plead for the formal recognition of Jewish settlement in England, and he appeared before Oliver Cromwell in London in 1655 to argue his cause. While in England he wrote Vindiciae Judaeorum (1656; “Vindication of the Jews”) in answer to contemporary attacks on Jews, including William Prynne's Short Demurrertes | Dictionary Thesaurus | Encyclopedia. © 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, In.