re: #155 Alyosha

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!!!

Indeed, there were strict prohibitions against Christians lending money (neither a lender nor a borrower be), but Jews were exempt from such canon and secular laws. Then as now, many people love to borrow money to get things they want, but they’re not always keen on paying the loan back. See Trump, exhibits A-Z. So, rulers could just expel the bankers and lenders — problem solved!