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Some believe that Jews controlled the slave trade . Jews were also accused of kidnapping Christian children and selling them to Muslims in southern Spain. The proportion of Jews among the slave traders was smaller than their proportion in international trade . Jewish participation in trading Christian slaves was limited because a Christian ruler sometimes protected it . The Jewish merchants faced many unfair obstacles because of blunt discrimination. The Christian merchants were not faced with these same obstacles such as not being able to trade other Christian slaves. The slave trade scene came to an end when the Slavic people converted to Christianity . .
Jews also participated in local trade, however were not nearly as productive as they are in international trade . They dealt in clothing, salt, agricultural products and wine . The Jewish local trade evoked more resentment among Christian competitors than did Jewish participation in international trade . Bishop Agobard changed the market day from Saturday to a weekday in order to accommodate the religious needs of the Jewish merchants . However, Christian merchant guilds were often so strong that they succeeded in almost monopolizing for their members the exclusive right to deal in certain wares . The rise of Jewish taxes had a negative effect on Jewish merchants, which had forced them to turn towards money lending for a living . .
Jews were involved in commerce in every Catholic country. However, this was not the case with the crafts. Rabenu Tam stated that Jews did not engage in manual labour . When King Edward I attempted to re-structure English Jewry economically, he encouraged Jews to participate in crafts . Jewish craftsmanship was a major field of Jewish economy in Italy . Here, a majority of the Jewish population engaged in the crafts. A major area of Jewish craftsmanship in Sicily was the production and dyeing of silk. Jews were recognized by the emperor and were encouraged to continue engaging in crafts.
