re: #153 wheat-dogg

One of my high school Spanish teachers was Jewish, and he once pointed out what happened to Imperial Spain after the Expulsion of the Jews — economic collapse. It turned out that expelling bankers and money lenders is not good for a national economy. Who knew?

And I’m pretty sure, as Curious Lurker has pointed out, Jews were basically forced into money-lending during the Middle Ages so that sovereigns could borrow money without forcing Christian merchantmen into usury.
When the loan came due and the sovereign didn’t have the gold or, simply wasn’t inclined to pay, they launched a pogrom.
Helps explain the root of the Jewish banker moral panic which persists.
A society of people moving from pillar to post between Christian Europe and the Islamic empire, dependent on trade and seen as a moral stand-in for the investment that drives national improvements and there you have it: CONSPIRASEE!!!