Description: This book proposes that Jews were present in England in substantial numbers from the Roman Conquest forward. Indeed, there has never been a time during which a large Jewish-descended, and later Muslim-descended, population has been absent from England. Contrary to popular history, the Jewish population was not expelled from England in 1290, but rather adopted the public face of Christianity, while continuing to practice Judaism in secret. Crypto-Jews and Crypto-Muslims held the highest offices in the land, including service as archbishops, dukes, earls, kings and queens. Among those proposed to be of Jewish ancestry are the Tudor kings and queens, Queen Elizabeth I, William the Conqueror, and Thomas Cromwell. Documentaton in support of this revisionist history includes contemporary DNA studies, genealogies, church records, place names and the Domesday Book.
Brief description: Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman is a professor of marketing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey and a professor at the University of Virginia-Wise. She has written widely on genealogy and ethnic identity.