18th century
Reiteration of the expulsion edict of Elisabeth I, despite the Senate's objections over commercial loss
1753·Empire russe
The toll is reproduced exactly as the source states it — never rounded, never added to another. Tolls overlap from one event to the next.
Élisabeth I reiterated the expulsion ukase despite the remonstrances of the Senate, which argued the case for commercial loss. The sovereign is said to have replied that she expected no profit from the enemies of Christ.
The exchange has endured because it lays bare the division of reasoning: the administration thinks in terms of utility, the throne in terms of religion, and it is the throne that decides. It would take the partitions of Poland, at the end of the century, for the Empire to find itself with the largest Jewish population in the world on territories it had just annexed — and to be compelled to devise something other than expulsion.
- Period :
- 18th century
- Type :
- Expulsion
- Region :
- Central and Eastern Europe
- Country :
- Empire russe
Recueil des oukases impériaux russes ; actes du Sénat gouvernant.