‘The King has provided and ordained etc.: That no Jew remain in England unless he do the King service, and that from the hour of birth every Jew, whether male or female, serve Us in some way’, were the opening words of Henry III's Statute concerning the Jews of 1253. Less than twenty-five years later in 1275 Edward I had forbidden moneylending, the very form of service with which Jews had paid for the privilege of residing in the kingdom. In 1290 Edward expelled what was left of the rapidly depleting Jewish community in exchange for a magnificent sum from his Christian subjects to reward him for his action. Ironically, the last time the Jews served the king they did this through the cancellation of their very service and their expulsion from the land. Although Henry II had exploited them ruthlessly enough for much of his reign, the Jews of England had at least benefited from the way he had favoured their stake in the business of moneylending over that of their Christian competitors. How and why did the notion of Jewish service change from the time of Henry II to Edward I? How could the same notion lead to such different conclusions? And, crucially, what did the Jews themselves think about the serving role Christians had created for them?