Robert of Dreux had Jews burned, accused of ritual murder on the eve of the royal expulsion

On the eve of the expulsion from the royal domain, Robert de Dreux had Jews in Bourges burned, accused of a child murder. The accusation of ritual murder, which had appeared in England a generation earlier with the Norwich case, was then spreading to the continent.

Bourges had an ancient community, mentioned as early as the Merovingian councils. It disappeared with the general expulsion, and its property was seized; the city's synagogue, like those of Paris and Orléans, was converted to other uses.

The return of Jews to the royal domain, some fifteen years later, took place under new conditions: the king now considered them his own, recorded their loans, and levied taxes on them. Protection had become ownership.