Muriel, the sister of Leo son of Deulebene, was among four women accused of assaulting another Jewish woman in front of the Warwick synagogue on Rosh Hashanah 1244 (12 September 1244/1 Tishrei 5005). She and her nieces Antera and Sigge, her brother Leo and sister-in-law Henna—as well as her brother Elias son of Deulebene and Sigge’s husband Elias—were all arrested and imprisoned shortly thereafter for breach of the king’s peace on account of their involvement in a violent attack on Bessa of Warwick. Bessa’s husband Elias of Warwick brought the accusation against the family on behalf of his miscarried infant: the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews detail how the women, along with Leo, beat the pregnant Bessa so badly that she miscarried later the same afternoon. Elias also claimed that they stole a gold belt buckle and eight gold rings that Bessa was wearing at the time. In response, Muriel’s family claimed they had stolen nothing, that Bessa started the fight by attacking Muriel’s niece Antera, and that Bessa had faked her injuries and miscarriage by smearing herself with the blood of animals. King Henry III ordered a jury inquest to determine the facts.

The jury found that Elias had made a false charge of robbery—Bessa had been wearing a gold buckle and rings but the exact number and value were unknown—but that Sigge and her family did in fact assault Bessa. Further, the inquest determined that Bessa did not attack Antera, that she did miscarry an infant yet too young for its sex to be distinguished, and that she did not smear herself with the blood of animals, but … was bathed in her own blood as she held her infant. Ultimately, Elias paid one mark for his apparently false accusation, while Sigge, Antera, Muriel, and Leo were ordered, with their household and chattels, to leave Warwick permanently.

Further reading

• Emma Cavell, The Measure of Her Actions: A Quantitative Assessment of Anglo-Jewish Women’s Litigation at the Exchequer of the Jews, 1219–81, Law and History Review 39.1 (2021): 135–72.
• Dace, Richard, The Jews of Warwick c.1180–c.1280, Local Historian, 37 (2007), 243–49. https://www.hastang.co.uk/pdf/Local%20Historian%2037%204.pdf.
• Hillaby, J. and C. Hillaby, The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History. London: Palgrave. 2015, s.v. Warwick, p. 383.
• MacLellan, Rory, Jewish History of the Medieval Tower of London, https://www.hrp.org.uk/about-us/research/the-jewish-history-of-the-medieval-tower-of-london/#outputs, [see Dataset no. 42].