Concerning the Jews by Mark Twain 1898:
In all countries, from the dawn of history, the Jew has been persistently and implacably hated, and with frequency persecuted.
It is very obvious that the only Jews that the Europeans knew about were the European Jews who had converted to Judaism in the 9th century. They were extremely hated by the Christians of Europe because they were known to mercilessly abuse the rural Christian communities by loaning them money at huge interest rates and the European governments had to take action by forbidding the Jews to settle in any rural communities.