In 1190, 150 Jewish residents of York were trapped in a medieval keep. They went voluntarily into Clifford’s Tower, originally for their own protection. A crazy monk appeared, who whipped up the anger of the mob against the Jews. It was proposed that the Jews would be killed unless they consented to receive Catholic baptism. The monk began to celebrate masses at the foot of the tower daily during the siege. One time a large stone fell from the battlement onto the crazy monk and he was killed. The mob went nuts and began to lay fire and hurl objects into the keep. The leader of the group of Jews, Yom Tov, directed the Jews to take their own lives rather than submit to the horrors the mob had planned for them. When the mob broke through into the burning citadel only a few were still alive and they were put to death.

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