Famed medieval Jewish woman recognized with new statue
She was one of the most wealthy financiers of her day, known to the kings of England and described as the most important Jewish woman of medieval England. She was also brutally murdered in what may have been a 13th-century hate crime.
Now, a statue of Licoricia is to be unveiled in the historic city of Winchester, both to celebrate her achievements and to alert people to Britain’s dark and often forgotten antisemitic past.
Licoricia of Winchester was a major financial backer of three English kings—John, Henry III, and Edward I—and was well known in Winchester, the city in Southern England where she lived and raised her family. Despite her status as a respected, prosperous businesswoman, it is suspected that her fatal stabbing in her home in 1277 may have been inspired by antisemitism.
