Licoricia of Winchester

The Rise and Fall of a Remarkable Jewish Businesswoman

Licoricia of Winchester’s life was filled with dramatic highs and lows, played out against a backdrop of civil war, political turbulence and rising antisemitism in thirteenth century England.  Bringing her story to a general audience for the first time, this book is an inspiring chronicle of  one woman’s personal courage, resilience and fearless determination to stand up to power.  

Twice married, twice widowed and mother of five, Licoricia’s extraordinary life spanned seven decades, two civil wars and the reigns of three kings.   She rose from obscurity to become one of the most successful Jewish financiers in early Plantagenet England, providing loans to royalty, bishops and nobility, enjoying a particularly close relationship with Henry III.

But Licoricia also experienced at first hand the rising tide of anti-Jewish legislation, local expulsions and violent attacks.  Her first husband was executed on false charges of ritual murder, her sons and grandsons were badly injured during anti-semitic attacks, she was imprisoned for eight in the Tower of London, and in old age she was murdered in her home along with her Christian maid.

Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Medieval England situates Licoricia and her Jewish community in the wider context of the thirteenth century, exposing the historic roots of English antisemitism, which in the course of her lifetime systematically destroyed England's once-thriving medieval Jewry, and which continues to inform negative anti-Jewish myths and stereotypes still dangerously potent in the world today.

“Totally fascinating, tragic and unforgettable”

— Simon Sebag Montefiore