Benjamin Information

From Ars Magica

Benjamin is a wealthy Jewish moneylender. When he was 2 years old he lost most of his family in the massacre of York. He and his mother survived only because they had been visiting family in another city when the riots began. He was subsequently brought up by his uncle, going into the twin family businesses of ursury and banking. Later his mother and betrothed were kidnapped and tortured by tax collecters, encouraged in their work by senior clergy that owed large debts. His mother died afterwards as a result of her wounds and, unable to face his mutilated betrothed, he fled from his community. He is angry at the helplessness of his situation, angry at himself for being unable to face his betrothed and has a growing hatred of the legal and govenmental situation in England, particularly the senior clergy for their hypocracy and corruption. However he has nowhere else to go as he is sure that any Jewish community he settles in will eventually get word of the way he treated his betrothed and he could not face that. He still holds the debts of many powerful clergy and not a few nobles, as well as an extensive network of commercial interests, mostly as a silent partner.