Richard's coronation feast triggered violent attacks on London's Jewish community after Jewish leaders bearing gifts were turned away and beaten by a crowd that then rampaged through Jewish quarters, burning homes. The pogrom set off a wave of similar violence in towns across England in the following months, including the notorious massacre at York the following spring.
Richard the Lionheart, soon to depart on the Third Crusade, was crowned amid pageantry at Westminster Abbey. But the celebrations curdled into violence when a rumor spread that Richard had ordered the killing of Jews who had come to offer coronation gifts and been refused entry to the feast.
A mob attacked Jewish homes in London that night, and the violence continued for days, with looting and arson driving many Jewish families to seek refuge in the Tower of London. Richard, reportedly furious at the disorder and the loss of revenue Jewish moneylenders provided the crown, ordered perpetrators punished, but only a handful faced any consequence.
The London riot proved a grim prelude. Anti-Jewish violence spread to Norwich, Stamford, and other towns over the following months, climaxing in March 1190 at York, where some 150 Jews died after taking refuge in Clifford's Tower rather than face a mob, many dying by suicide or at each other's hands to avoid forced conversion or slaughter.