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The earliest date at which Jews arrived in Scotland is not known, although it is possible that Jews visited Scotland at the time of the Roman Empire's conquest of southern Britain, there are no records of this. The earliest concrete historical references to Jews in Scotland are from the late 17th century. The vast majority of Scottish Jews today are Ashkenazi who mainly settled in Edinburgh, then in Glasgow in the late 19th century. Most histories of Jews in Scotland deal with the subject from a British perspective, thus tending to marginalise any distinctly Scottish dimension. ==Middle Ages to union with England== Evidence of Jews in medieval Scotland is scanty. In 1180, the Bishop of Glasgow forbade churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Scotland )〕 This was around the time of anti-Jewish riots in England so it is possible that Jews may have arrived in Scotland as refugees, or it may refer to Jews domiciled in England from whom Scots were borrowing money. While Jews in England during the Middle Ages faced state persecution, culminating in the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 (some Jews may have fled to Scotland at this time) there was never a corresponding expulsion from Scotland, suggesting either greater religious tolerance or the simple fact that there was no Jewish presence. In his autobiographical ''Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood'' the eminent Scottish-Jewish scholar David Daiches wrote that there are grounds for asserting that Scotland is the only European country with no history of the state persecution of Jews. In the Middle Ages, much of Scotland's trade was with Continental Europe, the wool of the Border abbeys being the country's main export to Flanders and the Low Countries. Scottish merchants from Aberdeen and Dundee had close trading links to Baltic ports in Poland and Lithuania. It is possible therefore that Jews may have come to Scotland to do business with their Scottish counterparts, although no direct evidence of this exists.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History )〕 Like many Christian nations, medieval Scots claimed a Biblical connection. The Declaration of Arbroath (6 April 1320) appealed to Pope John XXII for recognition of Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign kingdom and asserted its right to use military action when considered unjustly attacked. It was sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles. It is still periodically referenced by British Israelitists, because the text states that in the eyes of God: ::''cum non sit Pondus nec distinccio Judei et Greci, Scoti aut Anglici'' ::(there is neither bias nor difference between Jew or Greek, Scot or English) Reverence for the tenets of Judaism was a hallmark of 17th century fundamentalist Protestant thinking when the National Covenant of 1638 seemed to set the seal on the belief that by returning to the "true religion" at the Scottish Reformation the Scots had become a chosen people. Scotland, whom our Lord took off the dunghill and out of hell and made a fair bride to Himself... He will embrace both us, the little young sister, and the elder sister, the Church of the Jews. (Rev. Samuel Rutherford)〔 The late-18th century author Henry Mackenzie speculated that the high incidence of biblical place names around the village of Morningside near Edinburgh might indicate that Jews had settled in the area during the Middle Ages. This belief has, however, been shown to be false, the names originating instead from the presence of a local farm named "Egypt" mentioned in historical documents from the 16th century and believed to indicate a Gypsy presence.〔C J Smith, Historic South Edinburgh, Edinburgh & London 1978, p.205 "At the distance of less than a mile from Edinburgh there are places with Jewish names—Canaan, the river or brook called Jordan, Egypt—a place called Transylvania, a little to the east of Egypt. There are two traditions of the way in which they got their names: one, that there was a considerable eruption of gypsies into the county of Edinburgh who got a grant of these lands, then chiefly a moor; the other, which I have heard from rather better authority, that some rich Jews happened to migrate into Scotland and got from one of the Kings (James I, I think it was said) a grant of these lands in consideration of a sum of money which they advanced him."〕 The first recorded Jew in Edinburgh was one David Brown who made a successful application to reside and trade in the city in 1691 (see external link).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Edinburgh Jewish History )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jewish history )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Jews in Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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