When the Romans turned to Christianity, things became much worse for the Jews and those following pagan cults. Early Christian doctrine was aggressive and intolerant of others, and physical attacks on Jews and their homes and synagogues were not uncommon. Jews who converted Christian wives or slaves were put to death (although the Torah does stipulate against marrying non-Jews). Although the Jews were barred from certain social positions, they were better off than the followers of the pagan cults, the former being isolated and shunned whereas the latter were put to death. Conversions became commonplace, and synagogues were taken over by churches all over Europe. In France, Spain and Byzantium, forced baptisms were decreed in the 7th century, and although a revival of Jewish life took place later on in these places, it was very slow in coming.

The Crusader years were also very bad for the Jews, who faced attacks in the Rhineland, while also being subjected to virulent anti-semitic church preaching. As in the case of the Masada, Jews preferred to kill themselves as opposed to being killed by rampaging mobs. The actual Crusades in Jerusalem led to the inevitable death of hundreds of Christian and Jewish families who had stayed in the city for many generations.

Italy was the only country where the Jews were not expelled, only reduced in numbers, and it is here that we see the rare example of a fully continuous community - subjection being more commonplace than slaughter.

The Jewish badge, which is visible in many pieces of artwork, became common, identifying the Jew from the Christian. The ghetto became more common and book-burnings were commonplace. The latter has a greater effect than would originally seem obvious. Frequently having been called the "People of the Book", the Jews are great readers and scholars, and to destroy their books was to take away a large part of their culture and heritage.

Around these times, anti-semitic superstitions were set up. The blood libel was a common conception of the Jews, and this only heightened tension in the community. The Pope normally tolerated or promoted anti-semitic thoughts, although Pope Innocent IV did declare the blood libel to be false. There were other rumours spread about the Jews throughout history (some ultimately ended up as Nazi propaganda), including poisoning city rivers, or indeed sreading or causing the various plagues that fell upon their respective societies. The Jews were also pushed out of the trading market, and then went into the business of money-lending, were they became highly successful, although this too ultimately led to another stereotype. The Jews were heavily taxed on their money-lending, and hence were severe on their collections, which in turn aroused anger.

In the year 1272, Edward I took the British throne and attempted to turn the Jews back into the tradesmen they used to be. This attempt failed because of the economic restrictions on them, and eventually on July 18 1290 the Jews were expelled. There is something very profound about the date - this happened to be the Ninth of Av, traditionally a very bad day for the Jews anyway (corresponding to the destruction of both Temples amongst other things). The Expulsion from Spain in 1492 led to a further spread of Jews around Europe.

Inquisitions and trials of Jews, or those who had converted from Judaism, carried on into the 1800s, the troubles being particularly hard for those who had fully converted out of the faith only to face more aggravation. These "New Cristians" were, some said, Jewish in all but name.

On July 12 1555, Pope Paul IV decreed that all Jews should be separated into their own quarters and were forbidden to go out at night. Thus, the ghetto was created. It could be said that during the next few hundred years when Jewish communities faced ghettoisation that tere was an idea of locking out as well as being locked in, as the ghetto community sometimes developed a surprising intimacy. However, the ghetto provided little cover for the anti-semitism of the time, and the superstitions and taboos continued. Jewish intellectuality declined, because of a lack of books, and simple copyings and translations became commonplace. But the Middle Ages were not all bad. The era saw the rise in Kabbalah, where a few very observant Jews were privileged with more knowledge from G-d. The emotions behind Kabbalah were such as to promote a better world, or a greater hope of things to come, and this gave the Jews a strong belief in hard times, similar to the false Messiahs idea. However, this is not saying that Kabbalah instilled false hope - on the contrary, it explained to Jews how they could, through thorough study and observance, obtain spiritual revelation.

The era also brought home a feeling of delicacy to the Jewish race, and a feeling of self-preservation became important. If the Jews had survived so much for so long, they were surely going to combat the next set of problems.