Religion: Jews vs. Christians

a.) What was the dominant religion in England and Venice in the 15th and 16th century?
According to resources, the dominant religion in England and Venice was most likely to be Christianity in the 15th and 16th century. This is most likely due to a lack of information on other religions such as Jews, thus we assume that the minority held other religions. Besides, from the book, Merchant of Venice, there is background knowledge that Shylock, who is a Jew himself, is biased against most people, thus he is a loner, so it is most likely that the majority of the people held Christianity as their religion.

b.) Why was there such animosity between Jews and Christians?
We are currently unsure of the reasons which caused animosity between Jews and Christians; however, we believe that the reasons are highly connected to the leadership positions. This probably started with the Henrician Reformation; the Act of Supremacy had made Henry VII the head of the Church of England and he introduced a slew of changes such as authorising the English translation of the Bible and English replaced Latin as the language during Church services. Besides, Henry VII also dissolved monastaries (houses reserved for a prayer). Lastly, a woman named Anne Askew was martyred (pretends to be suffering such as to obtain sympathy) but she was arrested and tortured. She could have been a Jew likewise, which caused the deep hatred between the two religions. Followed by Henry VII’s death, Edward VI took over and priests were allowed to marry while pictures/statues of saints were taken down. Lastly, Mary ended the lives of Protestants (those supporting the changes of Henry VII and Edward VI), driving people away from Roman Catholicism.

c.) In what ways did Christians discriminate against Jews in 15th and 16th century Europe?
Jews were discriminated against by the Christians; however, there are not many examples of discrimination acts, one clear example, which we can also see in Merchant of Venice that Jews were charged interests when they had to loan money. However, besides this, there are not many pieces of evidence. As mentioned earlier, the lives of Jews were also taken away by Mary I, in a bid to end the presence of Protestants in England.

Resources:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101108093242AAmfQkm
http://www.localhistories.org/christian.html