THE JEWS IN ITALY AND GERMANY BEFORE THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN.
Position of the Jews of Italy--The Jewish Bankers--Yechiel
of Pisa--His Relations with Don Isaac Abrabanel--Jewish
Physicians, Guglielmo di Portaleone--Revival of Learning among
Italian Jews--Messer Leon and Elias del Medigo--Pico di
Mirandola, the Disciple of Medigo--Predilection of Christians
for the Kabbala--Jochanan Aleman--Religious Views of Del
Medigo--German Rabbis immigrate into Italy--Joseph Kolon,
his Character and his Feud with Messer Leon--Judah Menz an
Antagonist of Del Medigo--Bernardinus of Feltre--Jews banished
from Trent on a False Charge of Child-Murder--The Doge of
Venice and Pope Sixtus IV befriend the Jews--Sufferings of the
Jews of Ratisbon--Israel Bruna--Synod at Nuremberg--Emperor
Frederick III.
1474-1492 C.E.
The Spanish Jews would have belied their native penetration and the
wisdom born of bitter experience had they not foreseen that their
position would ere long become unbearable.
Because they did foresee it, they turned their gaze towards those
countries whose inhabitants were most favorably disposed towards Jews.
Italy and the Byzantine Empire, just wrested from the cross, were
now the countries of greatest toleration. In Italy, where men saw
most clearly the infamy of the papacy and the priesthood, and where
they had most to suffer from their selfishness, the church and her
servants were utterly without influence over the people. The world-wide
commerce of the wealthy and flourishing republics of Venice, Florence,
Genoa and Pisa, had in a measure broken through the narrow bounds
of superstition, and enlarged men's range of vision. The interests
of the market-place had driven the interests of the church into the
background. Wealth and ability were valued even in those who did
not repeat the Catholic confession of faith. Not only the merchants,
but also the most exalted princes were in need of gold to support
the mercenary legions of their Condottieri in their daily feuds. The
Jews, as capitalists and skillful diplomatists, were, therefore, well
received in Italy. This is proved by the fact that when the city of
Ravenna was desirous of uniting itself to Venice, it included among the
conditions of union the demand that wealthy Jews be sent to it to open
credit-banks and thus relieve the poverty of the populace.
Jewish capitalists received, either from the reigning princes or the
senates, in many Italian cities, extensive privileges, permitting
them to open banks, establish themselves as brokers, and even charge
a high rate of interest (20 per cent). The archbishop of Mantua in
1476 declared in the name of the pope that the Jews were permitted to
lend money upon interest. The canonical prohibition of usury could
not withstand the pressure of public convenience. The Jewish communal
regulations also tended to guard the bankers from illegal competition,
for the rabbis threatened with the ban all those members of the
community who lent money on interest without proper authorization.
A Jew of Pisa, named Yechiel, controlled the money market of Tuscany.
He was, by no means, a mere heartless money-maker, as the Christians
were wont to call him, but rather a man of noble mind and tender
heart, ever ready to assist the poor with his gold, and to comfort the
unfortunate by word and deed. Yechiel of Pisa was also familiar with
and deeply interested in Hebrew literature, and maintained friendly
relations with Isaac Abrabanel, the last of the Jewish statesmen of
the Peninsula. When Alfonso V of Portugal took the African seaboard
towns of Arzilla and Tangier, and carried off Jews of both sexes and
every age captive, the Portuguese community became inspired with the
pious desire to ransom them. Abrabanel placed himself at the head of
a committee to collect money for this purpose. As the Portuguese Jews
were not able to support the ransomed prisoners until they found means
of subsistence, Abrabanel, in a letter to Yechiel of Pisa, begged him
to make a collection in Italy. His petition was heeded.
The Jews of Italy were found to be desirable citizens, not only for
their financial ability, but also for their skill as physicians. In his
letter to Yechiel, Abrabanel asked whether there were Jewish physicians
in the Italian states, and whether the princes of the church employed
them. "Physicians," he said, "possess the key to the hearts of the
great, upon whom the fate of the Jews depends."
A celebrated Jewish doctor, Guglielmo (Benjamin?) di Portaleone, of
Mantua, first was physician in ordinary to Ferdinand of Naples, who
ennobled him; he next entered the service of Duke Galeazzo Sforza, of
Milan, and in 1479 became body physician to Duke Ludovico Gonzaga.
He was the founder of a noble house and of a long line of skillful
Italian physicians. There even arose an intimate relation between
Jews and Christians in Italy. When a wealthy Jew--Leo, of Crema--
on the marriage of his son, arranged magnificent festivities which
lasted eight days, a great number of Christians took part, dancing and
enjoying themselves to the intense displeasure of the clergy. Totally
forgotten seemed the bull in which Nicholas V had quite recently
forbidden under heavy penalties all intercourse of Christians with
Jews, as well as the employment of Jewish physicians. In place of
the canonically prescribed livery of degradation, the Jewish doctors
wore robes of honor like Christians of similar standing; while the
Jews connected with the courts wore golden chains and other honorable
insignia. The contrast between the condition of Jews in Italy and that
of their brethren in other lands is well illustrated by two similar
incidents, occurring simultaneously in Italy and Germany, but differing
greatly in their issues.
The mother of a family in Pavia, in consequence of differences with
her husband, had given notice of her desire to be received into
the Catholic Church. She was put into a convent where she was to
be prepared for baptism. The bishop's vicar, with other spiritual
advisers, was earnestly occupied with the salvation of her soul, when
she was suddenly seized with remorse. The bishop of Pavia, far from
punishing her for this relapse, or seeking to oppose her desire,
interceded for her with her husband. He advised him to take her out of
the convent forthwith, and testified most favorably as to her behavior,
so that her husband, a descendant of the family of Aaron, might not be
obliged, under the Jewish law, to put her away.
In the same year a spiteful fellow in Ratisbon, Kalmann, a precentor
(Chazan), took the fancy to turn Christian. He frequented the convent,
attended church, and at length the bishop received him in his house,
and instructed him in the Christian religion. To curry favor with the
Christians he calumniated his fellow-believers by asserting that they
possessed blasphemous writings against Christianity. Kalmann also came
to rue the step he had taken. He secretly attended the synagogue,
and at length, during the absence of the bishop, left his house, and
returned to the Jews. The clergy of Ratisbon were infuriated against
him, arraigned him before the Inquisition, and charged him with having
sought to blaspheme the church, God, and the blessed Virgin. He was
specially charged with having said that, if baptized, he would remain
a Christian only till he found himself at liberty. On the strength of
this, he was condemned, and put to death by drowning.
Wherever even a little indulgence was granted the Jews, their dormant
energy revived; and the Italian Jews were able to display it all the
sooner from the fact that they had gained a certain degree of culture
in the days of Immanuel and Leone Romano. They took an active part in
the intellectual revival and scientific renascence which distinguished
the times of the Medici. Jewish youths attended the Italian
universities, and acquired a liberal education. The Italian Jews were
the first to make use of the newly-discovered art of Gutenberg, and
printing-houses soon rose in many parts of Italy--in Reggio, Ferrara,
Pieva di Sacco, Bologna, Soncino, Iscion, and Naples. In the artistic
creations of the time, however, in painting and sculpture, the Jews had
no share. These lay outside their sphere. But several educated Jews did
not a little for the advancement and spread of science in Italy. Two
deserve especial mention: Messer Leon and Elias del Medigo, the latter
of whom not only received the light of science, but also shed it abroad.
Messer Leon, or, by his Hebrew name, Judah ben Yechiel, of Naples,
flourished between 1450 and 1490, and was both rabbi and physician in
Mantua. In addition to being thoroughly versed in Hebrew literature,
he was a finished Latin scholar, and had a keen appreciation of the
subtleties of Cicero's and Quintilian's style. Belonging to the
Aristotelian school, he expounded several of the writings of the
philosopher so highly esteemed in synagogue and church, and wrote
a grammar and a book on logic, in the Hebrew language, for Jewish
students. More important than these writings is his Hebrew rhetoric
(Nófeth Zufim), in which he lays down the laws upon which the grace,
force and eloquence of the higher style depend, and proves that the
same laws underlie sacred literature. He was the first Jew to compare
the language of the Prophets and Psalmists with Cicero's--certainly
a hardy undertaking in those days when the majority of Jews and
Christians held the Scriptures in such infinite reverence that a
comparison with profane pagan literature must have seemed a species
of blasphemy. Of course, this was possible only in the times of the
Medici, when love for Greek and Latin antiquities rose to positive
enthusiasm. Messer Leon, the learned rabbi of Mantua, was liberal in
all respects. He was never weary of rebuking the formal pietists for
striving to withhold foreign influences from Judaism, as though it
could be profaned by them. He was rather of opinion that Judaism could
only gain by comparisons with the culture of the ancient classical
literatures, since thereby its beauty and sublimity would be brought to
light.
Elias del Medigo, or Elias Cretensis (1463-1498), the scion of a
German family that had emigrated to Crete, is a striking figure in
later Jewish history. He was the first great man produced by Italian
Judaism. His was a mind that shone clearly and brilliantly out of
the clouds which obscured his age; the mind of a man of varied and
profound knowledge, and of both classical and philosophical culture.
So completely had he assimilated the Latin literary style that he was
able, not only to issue works in that language, but also to present
Hebrew syntax under Latin analogies.
Medigo kept aloof from the vacuity of Italian sciolists, who were
under the spell of the newly-discovered neo-Platonic philosophy
introduced by Ficinus. He gave allegiance to those sound thinkers,
Aristotle, Maimuni, and Averroes, whose systems he made known to
Christian inquirers in Italy, by tongue and pen, through the medium
of translations and in independent works. That youthful prodigy of
his time, Count Giovanni Pico di Mirandola, made the acquaintance of
Medigo, and became his disciple, friend and protector. Mirandola,
who was a marvel by reason of his wonderful memory, wide erudition,
and dialectic skill, and was, moreover, on friendly terms with the
ruling house of the Medicis in Tuscany, learnt from his Jewish friend
the Hebrew language, and the Arabic development of the Aristotelian
philosophy, but he might also have learnt clearness of thought from him.
On one occasion a quarrel on a learned subject broke out in the
University of Padua. The professors and students were divided into
two parties, and, according to Christian custom, were on the point of
settling the question with rapier and poniard. The University, acting
with the Venetian senate, which was desirous of ending the dispute,
called upon Elias del Medigo to act as umpire. Everyone confidently
expected a final settlement from his erudition and impartiality. Del
Medigo argued out the theme, and by the weight of his decision brought
the matter to a satisfactory conclusion. The result was that he became
a public lecturer on philosophy, and discoursed to large audiences in
Padua and Florence. The spectacle was, indeed, notable. Under the very
eyes of the papacy, ever striving for the humiliation and enslavement
of the Jews, Christian youths were imbibing wisdom from the lips of a
Jewish teacher. Against the protectors of Jews in Spain it hurled the
thunders of excommunication, while in Italy it was forced passively to
behold favors constantly showered upon the Jews by Christians.
Pico di Mirandola, a scholar rather than a thinker, took a fancy to
plunge into the abysses of the Kabbala. He was initiated into the
Kabbalistic labyrinth by a Jew, Jochanan Aleman, who had emigrated from
Constantinople to Italy. Aleman, himself a confused thinker, made him
believe that the secret doctrine was of ancient origin, and contained
the wisdom of the ages. Mirandola, who had a marvelous faculty of
assimilation, soon familiarized himself with the Kabbalistic formulæ,
and discovered confirmations of Christian dogma in them; in fact, he
found far more of Christianity than of Judaism. The extravagances of
the Kabbala demonstrated in his eyes the doctrines of the Trinity,
the Incarnation, Original Sin, the Fall of the Angels, Purgatory, and
Eternal Punishment. He lost no time in translating several Kabbalistic
writings from Hebrew into Latin in order to bring this occult lore to
the knowledge of Christian readers. Among the nine hundred points which
Pico, at the age of twenty-four, pledged himself to defend--to which
end he invited all the learned of the world to Rome, and undertook to
pay the cost of their journeys--was this: No science affords more
certainty as to the Godhead of Christ than Kabbala and magic! Even Pope
Sixtus IV (1471-1484) was by this means so strongly attracted to the
Kabbala that he was eager to procure Latin translations of Kabbalistic
writings for the benefit of the Catholic faith.
It is a striking proof of his sober mind and healthy judgment that
Elias del Medigo kept himself aloof from all this mental effeminacy
and childish enthusiasm for the pseudo-doctrine of the Kabbala. He had
profound contempt for the Kabbalistic phantom, and did not hesitate
to expose its worthlessness. He had the courage openly to express his
opinion that the Kabbala is rooted in an intellectual swamp, that
no trace of this doctrine is to be found in the Talmud, that the
recognized authorities of ancient Judaism knew nothing of it, and that
its supposed sacred and ancient groundwork, the Zohar, was by no means
the work of the celebrated Simon bar Yochaï, but the production of a
forger. In short, he considered the Kabbala to be made up of the rags
and tatters of the neo-Platonic school.
Del Medigo had, in fact, very sound and healthy views on religion.
Although a warm adherent of Judaism, entertaining respect also for its
Talmudic element, he was yet far from indorsing and accepting as truth
all that appears in the Talmud. When requested by one of his Jewish
disciples, Saul Cohen Ashkenasi, of Candia, to give his confession of
Jewish faith, especially his views on the signs which distinguish a
true religion, Elias Cretensis issued a small but pregnant work, "The
Investigation of Religion" (Bechinath ha-Dath), which gives a deep
insight into his methods of thought.
It cannot be maintained that Del Medigo suggested novel trains of
thought in his work. In general, the Italians were not destined to
endow Judaism with new ideas. Moreover, he occupied the standpoint
of belief rather than of inquiry, and his aim was to defend, not
to cut new paths. Standing alone in the mental barrenness of his
age, Del Medigo's sound views are like an oasis in the desert. He
must be credited, too, with having recognized as deformities, and
with desiring to remove, the additions to Judaism by Kabbalists and
pseudo-philosophers.
Unfortunately, the rabbis who emigrated from Germany to Italy assumed
an attitude distinctly hostile to philosophical investigation and its
promoters, Elias del Medigo and Messer Leon. With their honest, but
one-sided, exaggerated piety, they cast a gloomy shadow wherever their
hard fate had scattered them. Fresh storms breaking over the German
communities had driven many German Jews, the most unhappy of their
race, into transalpine lands. Under Emperor Frederick III, who for half
a century had with astounding equanimity beheld most shameless insults
to his authority on the part of an ambitious nobility, a plundering
squire-archy, a demoralized clergy, and the self-seeking patricians of
the smaller towns, the Jewish communities but too often saw their cup
of bitterness overflow. Frederick himself was by no means hostile to
them. On the contrary, he frequently issued decrees in their favor.
Unhappily, his commands remained for the most part a dead letter, and
his laxity of rule encouraged the evil-minded to the commission of
the most shameful misdeeds. It was dangerous for the German Jews to go
beyond the walls of their cities. Every man was their foe, and waylaid
them to satisfy either his fanaticism or his cupidity. Every feud that
broke out in the decaying German empire brought misery to them.
Among exiles from Mayence were two profound Talmudic scholars. They
were cousins, by name Judah and Moses Menz. The former emigrated to
Padua, and there received the office of rabbi, while the latter at
first remained in Germany, and then passed over to Posen. As the result
of expulsion or oppression, many rabbis were emigrating from all parts
of Germany, and on account of their superior Talmudic knowledge these
German emigrants were elected to the most distinguished rabbinical
positions in Italy. They re-indoctrinated with their prejudice and
narrowness of vision the Italian Jews, who were making determined
efforts to free themselves from the bonds of the Middle Ages.
The most distinguished rabbis of Italy were at that time Judah Menz
and Joseph Kolon, and precisely these two were most inimical to any
liberal manifestation within Judaism, and most strenuously opposed the
advocates of freedom. Joseph ben Solomon Kolon (flourished 1460-1490)
was of French extraction, his ancestors having been expelled from
France; but he passed his youth in Germany, and belonged to the German
school. He subsequently lived with his relatives in Chambéry until
the Jews were hunted out of Savoy. With many companions in misfortune
he went to Lombardy, where he gained his living by teaching; finally
he became rabbi of Mantua. Endowed with extraordinary penetration,
and fully the equal of the German rabbis in the depth of his Talmudic
learning, Joseph Kolon was celebrated in his day as a Rabbinical
authority of the first magnitude, and his academy rivaled the German
school itself. He was consulted by both German and Italian communities.
On scientific subjects and all matters outside the Talmud he was as
ignorant as his German fellow-dignitaries. A resolute, decided nature,
Joseph Kolon was a man of rigid views on all religious matters. His
ruggedness involved him in unpleasant relations with Moses Kapsali in
Constantinople, and in a heated controversy with the cultured Messer
Leon in his own community. However well they might agree for a time,
Joseph Kolon, the strict Talmudist, and Messer Leon, the cultured man
of letters, could not long tolerate each other. When the conflict
between them broke out, the whole community of Mantua took sides in
their feud, and split into two parties as supporters of the one or
the other. The strife at length became so keen that in 1476-1477 Duke
Joseph of Mantua banished them both from the city; after which Kolon
became rabbi of Pavia.
Still more strained were the relations between the rabbi Judah Menz and
the philosopher Elias del Medigo. The former (born 1408, died 1509), a
man of the old school, of comprehensive knowledge of Talmudic subjects,
and of remarkable sagacity, was most resolutely opposed to scientific
progress and freedom in religious matters, and after his expulsion from
Mayence transplanted the narrow spirit of the German rabbis to Padua
and Italy in general.
The relatively secure and honorable position of the Jews in Italy did
not fail to rouse the displeasure of fanatical monks, who sought to
cover with the cloak of religious zeal either their dissolute conduct
or their ambitious share in worldly affairs. The colder the Christian
world grew towards the end of the fifteenth century with regard to
clerical institutions, the more bitterly did the monastic orders rage
against the Jews. Preaching friars made the chancels ring with tirades
against them, and openly advocated their utter extermination. Their
most desperate enemy at this time was the Franciscan Bernardinus of
Feltre, a worthy disciple of the bloodthirsty Capistrano. The standing
text of his sermons was: Let Christian parents keep a watchful eye on
their children lest the Jews steal, ill-treat, or crucify them.
He held up Capistrano, the Jew-slayer, as the type and model of a
true Christian. In his eyes friendly and neighborly intercourse with
Jews was an abomination, a most grievous sin against canonical law.
Christian charity, he admitted, directs that Jews, being human, be
treated with justice and humanity; but at the same time the canonical
law forbids Christians to have any dealings with them, to sit at their
tables, or to allow themselves to be treated by Jewish physicians. As
the aristocracy everywhere, in obedience to their own interests, took
the part of the Jews, Bernardinus inflamed the lower classes against
the Jews and their patrons. Because certain Jewish capitalists had been
successful, he depicted all Jews as vampires and extortioners, and
roused the ill will of the populace against them. "I, who live on alms
and eat the bread of the poor, shall I be a dumb dog and not howl when
I see the Jews wringing their wealth from Christian poverty? Yea! shall
I not cry aloud for Christ's sake?" Such is a fair specimen of his
preaching.
Had the Italian people not been actuated by strong good sense,
Bernardinus would have become for the Jews of Italy what, in the
beginning of the same century, the Dominican, Vincent Ferrer, had been
to the Jews of Spain, and Capistrano, to the communities of Germany and
the Slav countries. The authorities sorely hindered Bernardinus in his
business of Jew-baiting, and his bloodthirsty sermons mostly failed
of effect. When he was conducting his crusade in Bergamo and Ticini,
Duke Galeazzo, of Milan, forbade him to proceed. In Florence, in fact
everywhere in Tuscany, the enlightened prince and the senate took the
part of the Jews with vigor. The venomous monk spread the report that
they had allowed themselves to be bribed with large sums by Yechiel
of Pisa and other wealthy Jews. As Bernardinus was inciting the youth
of the city against the Jews, and a popular rising was imminent, the
authorities ordered him to quit Florence and the country forthwith,
and he was compelled to submit (1487). Little by little, however, by
dint of untiring repetition of the same charges, he managed so far to
inflame public opinion against the Jews that even the Venetian senate
was not always able to protect them. Finally, he succeeded in bringing
about a bloody persecution of the Jews, not, indeed, in Italy, but in
the Tyrol, whence it spread to Germany.
While Bernardinus was preaching in the city of Trent, he remarked with
no little chagrin the friendly relation between Jews and Christians.
Tobias, a skillful Jewish physician, and an intelligent Jewess, named
Brunetta, were on most friendly terms with the upper classes, enjoying
their complete confidence. This roused his ire not a little, and he
made the chancels of Trent ring with savage tirades against the Jews.
Some Christians called him to account for his hatred of Jews, remarking
that though they were without the true faith, those of Trent were
worthy folk. The monk replied: "Ye know not what misfortune these good
people will bring upon you. Before Easter Sunday is past they will
give you a proof of their extraordinary goodness." It was easy for him
to prophesy, for he and a few other priests had arranged a cunning
plan, which not only brought about the ruin of the community of Trent,
but also caused the greatest injury to the Jews of various countries.
Chance aided him by creating a favorable opportunity.
In Holy Week of 1475 a three-year-old child, named Simon, the son of
poor Christian parents, was drowned in the Adige, and the corpse was
caught in a grating close to the house of a Jew. In order to anticipate
misrepresentation of the event, he hurried to Bishop Hinderbach to give
him notice of the occurrence. The bishop took two men of high position
with him, went to the place, and had the body carried into the church.
As soon as the news spread, Bernardinus and other hostile priests
raised a fierce outcry against the Jews, saying that they had tortured
and slain the child, and then flung it into the water. The body of
the supposititiously ill-treated child was exhibited, in order to
inflame the fury of the populace against them. The bishop had all the
Jews of Trent, high and low, cast into prison, commenced proceedings
against them, and called a physician, Matthias Tiberinus, to testify
to the violent death of the child. A baptized Jew, one Wolfkan, from
Ratisbon, an engrosser, came forward with the most fearful accusations
against his former co-religionists. His charges the more readily found
credence as the imprisoned Jews confessed under torture that they had
slain Simon, and drunk his blood on the night of the Passover. Brunetta
was said to have supplied the weapons for the purpose. A letter also
was said to have been found in the possession of a rabbi, Moses,
which had been sent from Saxony, asking for Christian blood for the
next Passover. Only one of the tortured victims, a man named Moses,
endured every torment without confirming the lying accusations of his
enemies. The result was that all the Jews of Trent were burnt, and it
was resolved that no Jew should thenceforth settle in the city. Four
persons only became converts to Christianity, and were pardoned.
The bishop of Trent, Bernardinus, and the monks of all orders made
every effort to utilize this occurrence for the general ruin of the
Jews. The corpse of the child was embalmed, and commended to the
populace as a holy relic. Thousands made pilgrimages to its remains,
and ere long it was believed by the faith-drunken pilgrims that they
had seen a halo about the remains of the child Simon. So much was said
about it that even its inventors came to believe in the martyrdom. From
every chancel the Dominicans proclaimed the new miracle, and thundered
against the infamy of the Jews. Two lawyers from Padua who visited
Trent in order to convince themselves of the truth of the occurrence
were almost torn to pieces by the fanatical mob. It was imperative that
the marvel be believed in, and so the Jews of all Christian countries
were jeopardized anew. Even in Italy they dared not go outside the
towns lest they be slain as child-murderers.
The doge, Pietro Mocenigo, and the Venetian senate, on the complaint
of the Jews about the insecurity of their lives and property, issued
orders to the podesta of Padua energetically to defend them against
fanatical outbreaks, and to forbid the preaching friars to inflame
the mob against them. The doge accompanied the orders with the remark
that the rumor that Jews had slain a Christian child in Trent was a
fabrication, a device invented by their enemies to serve some purpose.
When Pope Sixtus IV was urged to canonize little Simon he steadfastly
refused, and sent a letter to all the towns of Italy, on October 10th,
1475, forbidding Simon of Trent to be honored as a saint until he could
investigate the matter, and thus he allayed the popular excitement
against the Jews. The clergy, nevertheless, permitted the bones of
Simon to be held sacred, and instituted pilgrimages to the church built
for his remains.
Through this circumstance Jew hatred in Germany gained fresh vigor.
The citizens of Frankfort-on-the-Main exhibited, on the bridge leading
to Sachsenhausen, a picture representing in hideous detail a tortured
child, and the Jews leagued with the devil in their bloody work.
The news of the child-murder in Trent spread like wildfire through
the Christian countries, and became the source of new sufferings to
Jews. Nowhere were these sufferings so severe as in the free city of
Ratisbon, containing one of the oldest Jewish communities in South
Germany. It was held to be not only very pious but of distinguished
morality, and it was considered a high honor to intermarry with the
Jews of Ratisbon. Within the memory of man no native Jew had been
brought before the tribunal for any moral lapse. The community was
regarded as the most learned in the land, and the parent of all German
communities. It possessed chartered liberties, which the emperors,
in consideration of a crown-tax, were accustomed to renew on their
accession. The Jews of Ratisbon were half recognized as burghers, and
mounted guard with the Christians as militia. One might almost say that
the Bavarian princes and corporations vied with each other in favoring
them--of course, merely to share their purses. In the latter half of
this century they had become a veritable bone of contention between the
Duke of Bavaria-Landsberg and Frederick III, who, hard pressed on all
sides, not only in the empire, but even in his own possessions, hoped
to fill his empty coffers with the wealth of the Jews.
In addition to these the Kamerau family made claims upon the Jews of
Ratisbon, as well as the town council, and, of course, the bishop.
These contradictory and mutually hostile demands made the position of
the Jews anything but a bed of roses. First from one side and then from
another came orders to the council to imprison the Jews, their chiefs,
or their rabbi, at that time the sorely-tried Israel Bruna, until,
worn out by confinement, they decided to pay what was claimed. The
council did indeed seek to shield them, but only so long as no danger
threatened the citizens, or the Jews did not compete with the Christian
guildmembers.
To escape these cruel and arbitrary extortions, prudence directed that
they place themselves under the protection of one of the Hussite nobles
or captains. They would thus enjoy more security than was possible
under the so-called protection of the emperor, since the fiery Hussites
were not a little feared by the more sluggish Germans. Although they
had to some extent abandoned their heretical fanaticism, and had taken
service under the Catholic sovereigns, their desperate valor was still
a source of terror to the orthodox clergy. The event proved that the
Jews had acted wisely in appealing to their protection.
A bishop named Henry was elected in Ratisbon, a man of gloomy nature,
to whom the sentiment of mercy was unknown, and he naturally insisted
on the enforcement of the canonical restrictions against the Jews. As
examples to others, for instance, he mercilessly punished a Christian
girl who had entered the service of a Jew, and a Christian barber who
had let blood for a Jewish customer. His animosity was contagious. On
one occasion, when the Jewish midwife was sick, and a Christian was
about to attend some Jewish women, the council actually dared not give
her the required permission without the episcopal sanction.
Bishop Henry and Duke Louis, one in their hatred of Jews, now pursued
what seemed to be a preconcerted plan for the ruin or conversion of
the Jews of Ratisbon. On the one hand, they obtained the acquiescence
of the pope, and on the other, the assistance of influential persons
on the city council. Their campaign began with attempts at conversions
and false accusations, for which they availed themselves of the
assistance of a couple of worthless converted Jews. One of these, Peter
Schwarz by name, wrote slanderous and abusive pamphlets against his
former co-religionists. The other, one Hans Vayol, heaped the vilest
calumnies upon the aged rabbi, Israel Bruna, amongst other things
charging him with purchasing from him a seven-year-old Christian child
and slaughtering it, and the rabbi of Ratisbon, already bowed down by
sorrow and suffering, was charged with the death of the child.
Israel Bruna (of Brünn, born 1400, died 1480) was one of those sons of
sorrow who seem to fall from one misfortune into another. He appears to
have been exiled from Brünn, where he was recognized as a Rabbinical
authority, and after many wanderings, to have traveled by way of Prague
to Ratisbon. He settled there, and wished to perform the functions
of rabbi for those who might place confidence in him. But a Talmudic
scholar who resided in the city, one Amshel, a layman, not an elected
rabbi, raised objections to his competitor, and forbade Israel Bruna
to hold discourses before disciples, to deal with matters of divorce,
to exercise any Rabbinical functions, or to divide the honors of the
office with himself. As each had his followers, a schism arose in the
community of Ratisbon. His two teachers, Jacob Weil and Isserlein,
upholders of the freedom of the Rabbinical office and pronounced
opponents of spiritual officialism, took the part of the persecuted
Israel Bruna, with whom David Sprinz, a rabbi of Nuremberg, also
took sides. These men proved in the clearest manner that any Jew is
competent to assume Rabbinical functions, provided he possesses the
requisite knowledge, is authorized by a recognized teacher, and leads
a pious and moral life. They further adduced in favor of Israel Bruna
the fact that he contributed his quota to the communal treasury, and
was therefore a worthy member of the community. The breach nevertheless
remained open, and Israel Bruna was often exposed to insults from the
opposite party. Once when he was about to hold a discourse, several
of the ringleaders left the lecture-room, and were followed by many
others. Disciples of his opponent secretly painted crosses on his seat
in the synagogue, wrote the hateful word "heretic" (Epicuros) beside
them, and offered other insults to him. As time went on, after the
death of the great rabbis, Jacob Weil and Israel Isserlein, Bruna was
recognized as a Rabbinical authority, and from far and near questions
were sent to him. His misfortunes, however, did not cease. When Emperor
Frederick demanded the crown-tax from the community of Ratisbon, Duke
Louis opposed the payment, and the council was unable to decide which
side to assist. The emperor thereupon threw Israel Bruna into prison
to force him to threaten his people with the ban if they did not pay
over the third part of their possessions. He was released only on
bail of his entire property; and, in addition, the fearful charges of
child-murder and other capital crimes were raised against the decrepit
old man by the converted Jew, Hans Vayol. Bishop Henry and the clergy
were only too ready to gratify their hatred of Jews by means of this
accusation, and the besotted populace gave all the more credence to the
falsehood, as rumors of the death of Christian children at the hands of
Jews daily increased. No one in Ratisbon doubted that gray old Israel
Bruna had foully murdered a Christian child, and he was on the point of
being put to death on the demand of the clergy. To withdraw him from
the fury of the mob, the council, which feared to be made answerable,
imprisoned him.
In the meantime the anxious community appealed, not only to the
emperor, but also to the Bohemian king, Ladislaus, more feared than the
emperor; and ere long stringent directions came from both to release
the rabbi instantly without ransom. The council, however, excused
itself on the plea of fear of the bishop and the mob. Thereupon
followed a mandate from the emperor to defer the execution of Israel
Bruna until he came to the diet at Augsburg. The council was still
less satisfied with this order, for it feared to lose its jurisdiction
over the Jews. It accordingly prepared to take decisive action in the
matter. The accuser, Hans Vayol, was led on the stone bridge, where
the executioner stood in readiness. He was informed that he must die,
and admonished not to go into eternity with a lie on his lips. The
hardened sinner maintained his accusations against the Jews in general,
but confessed that the rabbi, Israel Bruna, was innocent of the charge
of child-murder, and on receipt of another rescript from the emperor,
Vayol was banished, and the rabbi released from prison. He was,
however, compelled to take an oath that he would not revenge himself
for his long sufferings. This poor, feeble graybeard--how could he
have avenged himself?
At this juncture the news of the martyrdom of Simon of Trent reached
Ratisbon, and added fuel to the fire. Bishop Henry was delighted to
have an opportunity of persecuting the Jews with impunity in the
interest of the faith. He had heard something of this child-murder on
his journey to Rome. On his return, he urged the council to institute
a rigid inquiry respecting the Jews accused by Wolfkan. The result of
the extorted confessions was the imprisonment of the whole community.
Sentinels stood on guard day and night at the four gates of the Jewry
of Ratisbon, and permitted no one to enter or go out. The possessions
of the whole community were confiscated by the commissioners and judges
who took an inventory of everything. A horrible fate threatened the
unhappy children of Israel.
This trial, which caused considerable attention in its day, proved
quite as prejudicial to the citizens as to the Jews themselves.
Immediately after the inquiry began, several Jews of Ratisbon had
betaken themselves to Bohemia and to the emperor, and tried by every
means to save their unhappy brethren. They knew that to explain their
righteous cause gold, and plenty of it, would be above all things
necessary. For this reason several Bavarian rabbis assembled in a synod
at Nuremberg, and decided that the Bavarian communities and every
individual not absolutely impoverished should contribute a quota to
make up the amount necessary to free the accused Jews of Ratisbon. When
the safety of their brethren was in question, the Jews, however fond
they might be of money, were by no means parsimonious. The intercession
of the Bohemian nobles under whose protection several of the Ratisbon
community had placed themselves led to no result. Far more efficacious
were the golden arguments which the ambassadors of the community laid
before Emperor Frederick and his advisers. It is only just to say
that this usually feeble sovereign displayed considerable ability
and firmness in this inquiry. He was so strongly convinced of the
falsehood of the blood accusation against the Jews that he would not
allow himself to be deceived by any trickery. He dispatched rescript
after rescript to the council of Ratisbon, ordering the immediate
release of the imprisoned Jews, the cessation of the durance of the
community, and the restoration of their property. The council, through
fear of the bishop and the duke, delayed the execution of the order,
and the emperor became furious at the obstinacy of the citizens when
news was brought to him that, in spite of the imperial command, they
had already executed some of the Jews. He thereupon declared the city
to have fallen under the ban of the empire on account of its obstinate
disobedience, and summoned it to answer for its contumacy. At the same
time he sent the imperial chancellor to deprive the city of penal
jurisdiction and to threaten it with other severe penalties.
Frederick, as a rule weak, showed surprising firmness on this
occasion. New and shameless charges were nevertheless brought by the
clergy against the Jews. In Passau they were accused of having bought
consecrated wafers from a Christian, and profaned them; whereupon
certain marvels were said to have occurred. For this the bishop of
Passau had a great number of Jews put to death, some "mercifully" by
the sword, others at the stake, and others by means of red-hot pincers.
In memory of this inhumanity and "to the glory of God," a new church
was built near the scene of the atrocities. A Jew and a Jewess of
Ratisbon were accused of complicity in this crime, and thrown into
prison with the others. All the details were brought to the notice of
the emperor in order to rouse his anger. He, however, maintained his
conviction that the Jews of Ratisbon were innocent, and issued a new
order to the effect that those in prison on the charge of profaning the
host were neither to be tortured nor put to death, but to be treated
like other prisoners. In vain the council sent deputy after deputy to
the imperial court. Frederick roundly declared, "In justice and honor
I neither can nor will permit these Jews to be slain, and the men of
Ratisbon who have so long hardened themselves in their disobedience
shall certainly not sit in judgment upon them."
Thus, after long resistance, the council was compelled to kiss the rod,
and give a written promise to release the imprisoned Jews, and not to
drive any out of the city on account of this trial. Further, the city
was sentenced to pay a fine of 8,000 gulden into the imperial exchequer
and to find bail in 10,000 gulden--which latter burden, strangely
enough, the Jews had to bear. An appeal to the pope was out of the
question, since experience had taught that "the papal court was even
more greedy of gold than the imperial."
When the community of Ratisbon was informed of this conclusion of the
affair, and of the conditions under which it could gain its freedom--
by paying not only the sum imposed upon itself, but also the fine of
the city and the costs of the proceedings--it refused. The delegates
said that the total exceeded the possessions of the Jews, as they had
been deprived, for three long years, of freedom and all opportunity
of earning money. They preferred their present miserable state to
becoming beggars. So they remained two years longer in durance, partly
on account of lack of money, and partly by reason of the excessive bail
demanded. They were finally set at liberty on taking an oath that they
would not take revenge, nor convey their persons or their goods out of
the city of Ratisbon.
All the Jews living in Suabia were expelled, doubtless in consequence
of false accusations in connection with the child-murder of Trent.
As late as in the eighteenth century, the shameless falsehood was
repeated, and in many parts entailed upon the Jews the sacrifice of
life and property.