Before the rise of Christianity (around 5th century BCE), the majority of Jews were part of the land and the harvest, contributing to the vast agriculture of the region. This economic deficiency was changed by the Romans. Jewish property was taken as a punishment for those who took active roles in the various peasant revolts. In response to these revolts, many of the peasants were removed and sent off to various areas of medieval Europe, where most ended up living in poverty of the major cities. Because of this, large, sprawling communities were founded (comprised of a considerable population of Jewish peasants) and were urban, rather than agricultural, in nature. However, the establishment of Church councils began to make life for these peasants increasingly difficult. They were forbidden from working on Sundays, which in turn affected their ability to make a living and required to pay dues4. The development of feudalism further worsened the problem. Military service was an integral part of the feudal system, coupled with assumed duties that reflected the loyalty of a man to his feudal lord that would earn him credibility when the call to arms came. Conversely, if for any reason that a man could not assist his lord in combat, he in turn could not hold land. Hypocritically, while Jews could not join their fellow Christians in combat, they were sometimes heavily relied on to defend towns from invaders. This could be the fact that the feudal oath was taken under the Holy Trinity, alas an oath the no Jews could swear by. Ultimately, the Jews were excluded from the land and the feudal system, with further legislative injections preventing them from holding any type of land. .
Excluded from the land, the Jewish farmers migrated to the cities and developed new and inventive skills in which to make trade. But this too, would not last long, as the evolvement of workers guilds5 would become another form of exclusion.