The Middle Ages were an era of time when Christianity was essentially ruling Europe. The Christian Church had such a high power of authority, it was able to tell citizens what they could and could not do. For example, the Church proclaimed that Christians were not allowed to lend money and charge interest, a practice called usury.
The world, being the cruel place that it is, gave restrictions onto the occupations that Jews were allowed to have. Guess what one of those occupations was? Bingo. Jewish people were restricted to being usurers and money lenders, meaning that they could loan people money and charge them interest.
Since being a money lender was one of the only occupations that a Jewish person could be, the idea that Jews are greedy and money-mad developed. As a result, Jewish people still have to live with that stereotype today.
