In 1263, during the baronial revolt of Simon de Montfort, the rebel Robert Ferrers, earl of Derby led an attack on Worcester. He allowed his soldiers to sack the city and destroy the Jewish community. Ferrers used this opportunity to remove the titles to his debts by taking the archae. The massacre in Worcester was part of a wider campaign by the De Montforts and their allies in the run up to the Second Barons' War, aimed at undermining Henry III. Simon de Montfort had previously been engaged in a campaign of persecution of Jewish communities in Leicester. A massacre of London's Jewry also took place during the war.