During what became known as the Golden Age, Jews in Muslim Spain were developing a culture parallel to the Muslim one while at the same time sharing in the development of the land.

Rulers of northern Europe looked to attract Jews to their countries to develop their economy by use of trade. European Jews had little contact with the Jews in the east and so, developed their own unique culture.

European rulers who wished to dissolve the precarious tension between their subjects and the Jewish merchants and traders chose to expel the Jews from their area and forgo the economic advance that the Jews brought.