The Jewish Hand in Irish History: Strongbow & The Norman Invasion, Cromwell, and King Billy

The Jewish Hand in Irish History – Strongbow & The Norman Invasion, Cromwell and King Billy

Introduction
“Five Jews came from over sea with gifts to Tairdelbach, and they were sent back again over sea.”¹

– Annals of Inisfallen, record for the year 1079.
This is the very first reference to the Jews in Irish history, but unfortunately for the Irish people, it wouldn’t be the last. All throughout our history, at many different points, it has been the Jew who has helped fund or materially bolster Ireland’s enemies, from such sordid characters in Irish history as Strongbow, Cromwell and King Billy. The man behind the curtain, the unseen mover, is a cliche of the Jew, and there’s a reason this cliche exists: because it is true. The Jew as a funder and promoter of war, degeneracy and moral subversion is almost trite in antisemitic circles, but this doesn’t alter the truth of the claim, and for us Irish it remains true here in our dear homeland.

Throughout this series we will focus in on some of the most pivotal moments in Irish history wherein the Jews were present. We will study their actions and the consequences of their actions during these moments, and we will note the affects this foreign people have had on dear old Ireland.

Strongbow & The Norman Invasion of Ireland

The previously mentioned quote from the Annals of Inisfallen represents the first time in our own recorded history that the Jews were mentioned in relation to Ireland, but ultimately they were of no consequence then. The first time the Jews ever had any consequence upon Ireland it was profoundly negative, directly involving themselves in what is considered the original English invasion on our soil, the moment that kicked off the world famous “800 years of British oppression” that is so rightfully despised, scorned and hated in the heart of every Irishman.

Often remembered as the first English invader of Ireland, Strongbow’s expedition was funded by the Jew, Josce of Gloucester. Josce was reprimanded and fined by King Henry II in 1170 for funding Strongbow’s invasion.¹ Henry had forbidden expeditions to Ireland as he had fears that powerful magnates like Strongbow would carve out independent kingdoms. Hence, just over a year after Strongbow landed (August 1170), Henry was forced to intervene in October 1171 in order to assert his royal authority. This marked the first time in Irish history that an English king had set foot in Ireland, all precipitated by multiple different kinds of enemies.
The traitor: Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed king of Leinster who originally sought Strongbow’s intervention.
The invader: Strongbow and his men.
The Jew: the money-lender, without whom the invasion would not have taken place.

The traitor (usually as an informer) and the invader are well-known as the ultimate scourges of Irish history, but the Jew less so. The Jew is a very important enemy for us to realise and understand, just as important as the traitor and the invader, especially in the modern context of globalism and international finance.

Some people who learn of these facts will say things like “but X-person (in this case Strongbow) would have sought anyone to fund their campaign, you cannot blame the Jew for providing the funding, somebody else would have if he didn’t.” While this sophistry may fool some people, we know that ultimately this weak and empty attempt at an argument is worthy of nothing but dismissal, what matters is the unavoidable fact that the Jew funded our enemy and by that fact alone has now become our enemy himself. One should question the motive of anybody who tries to downplay the culpability of the Jew when presented with the uncomfortable facts of history.

Something of historical significance here is that the earliest mention of Gloucester Jewry (1168) is, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, in relation to the ritual murder of a Christian child by the name of Harold.² This fact was of such significance to Josce’s local Gloucester Jewry at the time, that a researcher published by Oxford University Press, E. M. Rose, stated that: “This accusation helped to convince Gloucester Jews to lend money to finance Richard de Clare, known as “Strongbow,” in his conquest of Ireland.”³

Oliver Cromwell

Every Irishman knows that Cromwell was one of Ireland’s greatest enemies, often considered the greatest enemy we’ve ever had in our entire history on this island. Yet very little of our people know that there was an expansive Jewish network surrounding, bolstering and protecting Cromwell. These Jews provided him with indispensable materials and services, ranging from arms, money, intelligence and spy-rings, access to financial and commercial networks throughout all of Europe and the Caribbean, ideological support, diplomacy, strategic imperial advice and espionage, the list goes on. Cromwell is a respected figure for the Jews, and is remembered in Jewish history very fondly as the first English ruler to allow the Jews to live and profess their faith openly in England since their expulsion in 1290 by Edward I.¹ The Jews were expelled by Edward I amidst accusations of usury and ritual child sacrifice, ultimately culminating in the king’s Edict of Expulsion, issued 18^th July 1290.

We will begin with a short biography of each Jew and mention their influence and connections to Cromwell, then chronologise how said influences helped Cromwell gain and keep power.

Antonio Fernandez Carvajal

Carvajal was a Portuguese-born crypto-Jewish merchant. (A “crypto-Jew’’ meaning a Jew who professes to be of one non-Jewish faith publicly yet practices their Judaism in secrecy. In the context of Europe this of course would mean professing Christianity publicly, but many Islam-professing crypto-Jews are also noted in history.) Carvajal is notable in Jewish history as the first ever endenizened Jew in England, he was given this privilege by Cromwell in 1655.² His denization was a significant step in the resettlement of Jews in England, leading to the establishment of the first Jewish burial ground in London and the founding of the first post-expulsion synagogue in Creechurch Lane in 1656.³ Carvajal was one of the wealthiest merchants in London and once Cromwell gained power in England it was Carvajal who became the de facto leader of England’s new openly-professing Jewish community.

This merchant supplied Cromwell and his New Model Army with crucial materials such as: gunpowder, muskets, ships; essential provisions – corn; trade goods used for barter, resale and diplomatic gifting – wine, hides and paintings; as well as bullion and silver plate – used to pay the troops of the New Model Army. The shipping routes that he opened up to Cromwell were quite expansive, which included connections to the Canary Islands, Brazil, the West Indies, Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands, the Levant and the Mediterranean.⁴
Via agents in Holland and Iberia, who tracked Royalist and Spanish movements, Carvajal also gave Cromwell key intelligence regarding his political enemies on the Continent.

Cromwell’s New Model Army began in 1645, they invaded Ireland in 1649 and carried out a series of blood-thirsty massacres upon our people. The English victory in the Confederate Wars via the New Model Army led to further land confiscations and the disenfranchisement of the native Irish Catholic population. It is realistic to theorise that without the involvement of the Jew Carvajal, who helped raise and bolster the New Model Army, that this army may not have been as powerful or their brutal tactics as successful in their war against our people.

Jewish Spies

Alonzo di Fonseca Meza: Meza was Carvajal’s nephew and was an intelligencer based in Holland, he would spy on Royal exiles and give reports on Royalist finances and recruitment on the Continent as well as information regarding Charles II and Spain.⁵

Somers (alias Butler): Somers was working under Carvajal’s patronage and was sent to Holland as a spy to provide Cromwell with intelligence on Royalist plots and Spanish/Dutch politics. He also helped to monitor Charles II and his supporters abroad.⁶

Simon de Caceres

Simon de Caceres was a prominent Jewish merchant and a colonial and military strategist for Cromwell.⁷ He was active in mercantile affairs across London, Hamburg, South America, and the West Indies. He collaborated with Carvajal in establishing London’s first Jewish cemetery and signed the petition delivered to Cromwell by Menasseh ben Israel (who we will discuss later) in March 1656, advocating Jewish resettlement and religious tolerance in England, something Cromwell ultimately assented to, as stated previously.

He provided Cromwell with key information from Amsterdam and Iberia regarding Dutch and Spanish affairs.

Caceres advised Cromwell on defensive and logistical strategies for securing the British colony in Jamaica, and according to the Jewish Encyclopedia: “his recommendations were followed, for the needed supplies were forwarded.”⁸ He also wrote up a plan for the British invasion of Chile and proposed to enlist Jews in this theorised conquest, which was never realised.

More pertinent to Ireland specifically, he wrote up a plan for Cromwell that “provided for the protection of the Barbados trade and for improving the administration of the Navigation Act”.⁹ Following Cromwell’s brutal conquest of our homeland, tens of thousands of Irish prisoners of war, rebels, and civilians were sent to the Caribbean as slaves, especially Barbados, Montserrat, Jamaica, and St. Kitts. In fact, Caceres is noted in records as having been granted to trade in Barbados’ capital of Bridgetown by Cromwell’s government, he developed a plantation and a storehouse, meaning he had actual commercial and agricultural operations there, wherein the Irish slaves would have been forced to work.¹⁰ After the Siege of Drogheda, Cromwell ordered the majority of the captured Irish soldiers to be sent to Barbados.¹¹ Is it unreasonable to theorise that Cromwell permitted such an action on the advice of Caceres? We’ll leave that for the reader to decide.

Caceres was active in expanding and consolidating Jewish economic power in the Caribbean region. This power was largely based on sugar plantations, the very same sugar plantations that the Irish slaves were transported to and forced to work on. His role in expanding Jewish mercantile networks and securing legal and trading rights for them within the colony is honoured in Jewish history. Through Caceres’ initiative and influence a petition was started requesting the settlement of Abraham de Mercado (a Jewish merchant) and his son in the area. The two eventually being given permission by Cromwell’s government to settle in Barbados, wherein the father and son duo set up yet another Jewish-owned plantation. The Jewish community in Barbados formally backed the petition, but it was Caceres who championed it before Cromwell’s government, making him the key agent behind Mercado’s settlement.¹²

The de Pinto Family

The de Pintos were a powerful Jewish merchant-banking dynasty, interlinked with the Suasso and Carvajal families, sometimes even via marriage.¹³ The Suassos were another Jewish banking dynasty, they will be discussed later in relation to their funding of King Billy’s assent to the British throne. They were part of the same mercantile-espionage network as Carvajal and Caceres, Cromwell’s Jews were of course tightly interlinked with one another. Similar to the previously mentioned individuals, they provided Cromwell with financial connections across Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Iberia and would trade intelligence about Spain and Portugal, which was useful to Cromwell during the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660).

Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel

Manasseh ben Israel was a rabbi, printer and diplomat based in Amsterdam. He came to London in 1655 to petition for the readmission of Jews to England. He argued from a scriptural, prophetic, and an economic point of view that the Jews’ return would benefit England. His theological justification for tolerating Jews resonated with Puritan millenarianism, a false and demented apocalyptic doctrine wherein believers justified certain actions as contributing to setting the stage for Christ’s second-coming and one-thousand year reign on Earth. It is important to note here that Cromwell himself was a Puritan. Manasseh ben Israel argued that the restoration of the Jews to their ancient lands and communities was linked to the coming of the Messiah and that while Jews were dispersed across the world, their safe resettlement in supportive countries, such as England, could help fulfil God’s plan for redemption. He linked this to Puritan millenarian expectations, suggesting that allowing Jews to return to England and practice their faith would be part of God’s plan to prepare the world for Christ’s millennial kingdom.¹⁴ It must be stated here explicitly that this vile Jewish doctrine is antithetical to the Catholic faith, and serves as nothing other than an example, among many, of Jews attempting to corrupt and contort Christianity into a mere tool of world Jewry, something we still see today within the repulsive doctrines of the American Evangelicals.

Manasseh ben Israel’s petition and arguments were used by Cromwell as diplomatic cover for readmitting Jews into England. In 1655 Cromwell called together the Whitehall Conference,¹⁵ a meeting of lawyers, clergy, and merchants to debate readmitting Jews to England. Something Cromwell was staunchly in favour of given that the Jews were indispensable and heavily involved in his rise to power as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. Opposition came from the native London merchants: fearing Jewish competition, and some clergy: fearing heresy. The conference produced no formal legal readmission. Cromwell avoided a direct parliamentary decision, as it likely would have been negative. Instead, he quietly allowed Jews to return and worship privately. By 1656, a small group of Jews openly established a synagogue in London and acquired a burial ground, as previously stated in the information on Carvajal. This was not formal legal readmission, but it was practical toleration that marked the start of the continuous Jewish community in England.¹⁶

Ultimately, the Jews have not been expelled from England since this de facto readmission by Cromwell and have been tolerated and defended ever since. Their power has only gained and gained, culminating with the rise of the Rothschild banking dynasty who still wield power in England, and worldwide, to this very day.

Cromwell – Conclusion & Chronology

Cromwell’s rise in power occurred throughout the 1640s and 50s and would reach its apex when he became the head of state and government as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth in 1653.

It was from the 1640s and onwards that Carvajal began supplying Cromwell and the Parliamentarians with his materials and services. The most important of these being gunpowder, muskets, ships, silver bullion and plate to pay the New Model Army, and access to his spy-espionage network, which operated all over the European Continent. The de Pintos, as well as Caceres, and Carvajal’s spies: Meza and Somers, were all part of this Jewish spy network. They were supplying Cromwell with key political and military intelligence throughout the 1640s and 50s, before he became Lord Protector. Carvajal was a key supporter of Cromwell’s Parliamentarian cause, providing financial, logistical, and intelligence assistance that helped sustain forces which later formed the New Model Army, an army that massacred their way through Ireland.

Once Cromwell became Lord Protector in 1653 he gave open protection to Carvajal and his Jewish associates. In 1655 Cromwell confirmed Carvajal as the first ever endenizened Jew in English history. It was in the same year that Menasseh ben Israel’s petition gave Cromwell the theological and political justification to permit the return of the Jews to England. Following the Whitehall Conference, Cromwell allowed the de facto resettlement of the Jews in England with Carvajal and his associates opening the first synagogue and Jewish burial ground in 1656.

It was during the mid 1650s, 1655-1656, that Caceres presented his military and imperial strategies to Cromwell. His defensive and logistical strategy for securing the British colony in Jamaica, which was acted upon, and his British invasion of Chile, which was never realised. It was around this time that he wrote up a plan for Cromwell that would provide protection for trade in Barbados, an area that he had personal commercial and agricultural interests in via his sugar plantations in Bridgetown.

All of this information shows us that the Jews and Cromwell formed and fostered an incredibly tight-knit relationship. He relied upon them for indispensable material and services and they relied upon him for protection, and their ultimate readmission into England. Something that was unprecedented in English history for over 350 years since Edward I’s expulsion, and an action that the Jews of today are still benefiting from, and will continue to benefit from in future. Jewish historian Lucien Wolf states that “One of Menasseh’s retinue was accused of wishing to identify Cromwell as the Jewish Messiah, and it was circumstantially stated that he had investigated the Protector’s pedigree in order to prove his Davidic descent.’’¹⁷ (It is Jewish tradition that their Messiah must be descended from the line of King David.) According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Cromwell’s “favorable attitude toward the Jews was so marked that, according to his enemies, Jews regarded him as their Messiah.’’¹⁸ It appears that the claims of Cromwell’s enemies here are not completely unfounded as it was one of Manasseh ben Israel’s very own men who made the claim in the first place. Such religious fervour was mutually felt by Cromwell towards the Jews, as he stated himself: “Great is my sympathy with this poor people, whom God chose, and to whom He gave His law’’.¹⁹ The Jews and Cromwell, a match made in Heaven according to themselves, but a match made in Hell if you’re Irish.

William of Orange – King Billy

Only around 30 years after the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, the Jews come back into their place in Irish history as an enemy of our people in the funding of none other than William of Orange, who we will refer to by his nickname King Billy for simplicity’s sake. A figure in Irish history who was every bit as destructive to Irish nationhood and sovereignty as Cromwell was. King Billy’s ascension to the British throne in 1689 was funded by a member of the Suasso family, a Jewish merchant-banking dynasty, a family mentioned in our section on Cromwell due to their links with the de Pintos. His campaign to claim the English throne was part of what historians refer to as the Glorious Revolution, for the purposes of this article we do not need to go into the specific complexities and parties involved in this historical event, we only need to focus on the outcome and the Jewish involvement in it. That outcome being the coronation of King Billy, which of course had dire consequences for the Irish people.

Francisco Lopes Suasso (known to his fellow Jews as Abraham Israel Suasso)

When Francisco was born into the Suasso dynasty they were already an established Jewish merchant-banking family. He was the product of a marriage between a Suasso father and a de Pinto mother, both families being part of what was essentially the Jewish aristocracy of their day, with the father, Antonio Lopes Suasso, being one of the most rich and famous merchants in Amsterdam at the time.
Suasso was the leading financial backer of King Billy’s invasion of England in 1688. He provided King Billy with a loan of 2 million Dutch guilders. To put that into perspective, this would amount to roughly 160 million in today’s euro currency. Estimates based off of the work of Jewish historian Jonathan Israel put the invasion budget at around 1 to 1.6 million Dutch guilders.¹ Suasso’s loan covered more than the entire expedition, providing full troop pay, fleet chartering, as well as provisions and supplies, making Suasso King Billy’s key financier, without whom he may never have gained the British throne. One can only guess at how different Irish history would be if this were the case.

It was not just the funding for the invasion that Suasso provided, he also facilitated the transport of Swedish and Pomeranian troops,² these troops were dispatched in November 1688 and played a significant role in bolstering King Billy’s forces during the invasion. This bolstering force was accessed through Suasso’s father-in-law, Isaac Senior Teixeira, who was the financial agent and resident minister of Queen Christina of Sweden.³ Teixeira was another prominent Jewish banker of his day and it was through his financial network in Hamburg that he arranged the transport and financing of the Swedish and Pomeranian troops. Suasso’s extensive financial and diplomatic network, including his familial ties, enabled him to coordinate such international military support efficiently.

With these facts in mind, we can understand why another Jewish historian, Colin Shindler, could happily state in 1988: “It is not by chance that the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam has chosen this year, the tercentenary of the Glorious Revolution, to hold an exhibition on the Lopes Suasso family; for, without them, stadholder William of Orange would not have crossed the Channel from the Low Countries to become King William III of Britain.’’⁴

King Billy – Conclusion

I’m aware here that I am about to reiterate a point that was similarly made when discussing Strongbow, but it is an important focus so I will gladly state it again. The Irish Nationalist could bother his mind with questions such as “If that Jew never funded King Billy would the Penal Laws have ever happened? I think they would have because X and Y’’ etc. While these questions can be interesting to ponder as thought experiments or alternative histories, ultimately they are pointless. What matters is what actually occurred, and what occurred in this instance is that a Jewish banker, Suasso, funded the rise of an absolute enemy of Ireland to the throne of England. This Jew was instrumental in King Billy’s taking of the throne, and he did not care one bit how such a reality would effect the Irish people. It is only after King Billy’s coronation that the Penal Laws began to be forced upon our nation. King Billy’s reign ranging from 1689 to 1702, with the Penal Laws beginning in 1695. Did the Jews create the Penal Laws? No. Did the Jews participate in actions that precipitated in the Penal Laws becoming a reality in Ireland? Yes, they most certainly did. We cannot cast blame upon the Jews primarily for the Penal Laws, at least according to the current historical data regarding this era, the primary blame lays upon the British Parliament under the reign of King Billy. But would the Penal Laws have been possible without the Jews? Such a question is for the alternate history ponderer. What we know for a fact is that a Jew funded King Billy’s usurpation of the British throne, and while he reigned on that throne the Penal Laws began, thus making the Jew an inseparable instrumental cause in the demise of Gaelic Ireland.

Suasso’s funding would have been based upon strong incentives to back a regime that would protect Dutch maritime commerce, as he was one of the leading shareholders in the Dutch West India Company⁵ and the Dutch East India Company,⁶ and to open his trade to English markets. Financing King Billy was a way to secure the commercial order he depended on. This Jew would never consider for one second how such an action could negatively impact the cause of Irish nationhood and sovereignty. During this era it appears that Ireland was evidently not seen as a prospect for profitable business dealings, if the Jew Suasso ever thought of Ireland in his entire life it was likely with total apathy, as such an island was not considered to be a realistic land for commercial and financial exploitation during his time.

We do not discuss these topics with the intent to “blame everything on the Jews.” This is an accusation that the Jews and their defenders often like to employ against their perceived enemies in order to portray them as somehow either unhinged or illogical. It is a dishonest and pathetic attempt at deflection when presented with irrefutable historical proof of Jewish wrongdoing and should not be taken seriously by any honest person, be they friends or enemies of the Jews, and we in Clann Éireann are quite happy to admit that we are indeed open enemies of the Jews.

History is extremely complex, often including multiple different factions with different beliefs and purposes all partaking in the same action and on the “same side” for sometimes even diametric reasons. When we discuss the Jewish involvement in actions against our people it should not be assumed for even one second that we do so to diminish the culpability of our traditional and best-known enemy: i.e. the British. All enemies of Ireland are judged as such by their own actions, discussing one does not and can never negate the other. The Jew funds our enemy with flagrant disregard and apathy towards the Irish people, by his own action alone he has become an enemy of Ireland.

– Caleb Ó Muireadhaigh

Introduction

1. Annals of Inisfallen, AI1079.3

Strongbow & The Norman Invasion of Ireland

1. Jewish Encyclopedia – Ireland

2. Jewish Encyclopedia – Gloucester

3. The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe – Gloucester, E. M. Rose

Cromwell

1. Edict of Expulsion
2. Segula – British Tolerance

3. Spinozaweb – Antonio Fernandes Carvajal

4. Jewish Encyclopedia – Antonio Fernandez Carvajal

5. Transactions – The Jewish Historical Society of England