Persecution of Jews at the time of the Black Death

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Depiction of the Jewish pogroms of 1349 in the Flemish Chronicle Antiquitates Flandriae ( Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier , Brussels, ms. 1376/77)

The persecution of the Jews at the time of the Black Death , also known as the plague pogrom , are riots that occurred in many Central European cities between 1348 and 1351 in connection with the plague epidemic of that time . It is noticeable that some of the pogroms took place before the plague had reached the respective places.

trigger

The period up to 1349 was already marked by tensions between Jews and Christians. In addition to accusations such as host sacrilege and ritual murder legends , the Jews were hated as usurers according to Christian doctrine.

The accusation of well poisoning , which had already been common in the run-up , was now increasing. The Jews were accused of causing the plague. The idea also emerged that through the plague God punishes Christians because they accept Jews in their cities.

The role played by the lay flagellant movement and whether it incited the population of the cities is controversial in recent research. Since the situation in the individual cities was very different, a general assessment of the flagellants is not possible.

Spread

The allegations, and with them the pogroms, spread - like the plague - from the Mediterranean ports in the south to the north. First there were pogroms in France, especially around Geneva . In November 1348 the wave of pogroms reached Solothurn, the first German-speaking city. At the beginning of 1349 Jews were burned in Basel (January 9), Freiburg im Breisgau and Feldkirch (January 21). On February 14, the local Jews were murdered in Strasbourg . The pogroms continued to spread in the Rhineland. The Jewish communities in the cities of Speyer (January 22nd), Worms , Mainz , Koblenz , Cologne (August 23rd / 24th), Brussels (November 1st) and Trier were destroyed here. A pogrom took place in Königsberg in February 1351.

actors

The main actors were citizens and guilds , while the clergy held back. The regional princes, who were supposed to secure the protection of Jews , reacted cautiously.

Pope Clement VI attempted to prevent spontaneous outbreaks of violence by prohibiting the execution of Jews without trial . He argued that the Jews were also affected by the plague and that places where no Jews live would also be affected by it. His intervention only had an impact in Avignon . In fact, there were also legal proceedings against entire Jewish communities, in which, however, “confessions” were obtained through torture .

Duke Albrecht II of Austria was able to prevent pogroms in his government. Count Palatine Ruprecht I granted protection to refugees from Speyer and Worms. In Spain, Peter IV of Aragón saved the Jews from major riots; in Poland, Casimir III. the same thing.

Follow-up time

In retrospect, many of the plague pogroms were transformed into spontaneous uprisings, against which nothing could have been done. In Cologne, the guilty tried to blame the riots on strangers and members of the lower classes. The legacies of the Jews were handed over to the cities against payment of the annual taxes that should have been paid by the Jews.

Jews were allowed to resettle in many cities after a certain period of time.

literature

  • František Graus : Plague - Geissler - Murder of Jews. The 14th century as a time of crisis. (Publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 86) Göttingen 1987.
  • Alfred Haverkamp : The persecution of the Jews at the time of the Black Death in the social fabric of German cities. In: ders. (Ed.): On the history of the Jews in Germany in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. (Monographs on the history of the Middle Ages 24) 1981, pp. 27–93. [1]
  • Alfred Haverkamp: The Black Death and the persecution of the Jews of 1348/49 in the social and dominant structure of German cities. In: Trier Contributions. From research and teaching at the University of Trier. (Special issue 2) 1977, pp. 78-86.
  • Friedrich Lotter: hostility towards Jews (hatred, persecution) . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages

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