Osney Abbey, plaque to a Jewish martyr

Osney Abbey may be the site of the first Oxford recorded martyrdom, long before the Reformation. Following the Norman conquest in 1066, there was a sizeable Jewish community in England; officially granted royal protection, they often suffered persecution. In 1222, a young Christian deacon in Oxford converted to Judaism and married a Jewish woman. He is said to have declared: ‘I renounce the new-fangled Law and the comments of Jesus, the false prophet’. He was burnt at the stake at Osney Abbey. Though we do not know the name of this martyr, his death was commemorated with a plaque in 1931.

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