In 1230 the [French] King forbade all forms of usury, defined at the time as any taking of interest and therefore covering most banking activities. When the original borrowers from Jewish and Lombard lenders could not be found, Louis exacted from those lenders a contribution toward the crusade which Pope Gregory was trying to launch. At the urging of Pope Gregory IX, following the Disputation of Paris in 1240, Louis ordered in 1243 the burning in Paris of some 12,000 manuscript copies of the Talmud and other Jewish books.
This burning took place exactly 777 years BEFORE the 2019 arson of Notre Dame, in front of the Cathedral itself.
This burning took place exactly 777 years BEFORE the 2019 arson of Notre Dame, in front of the Cathedral itself.