This is adynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help byediting the page to add missing items, with references toreliable sources.
Note: Several of the following events took place earlier than the term "antisemitism" is generally applied. Some even took place when the Israelites and Judeans practiced an early, non-monotheistic form of Judaism known asYahwism,[1]First Temple Judaism, or First Temple Israelite religion. However, these events feature heavily in the history detailed in the Old Testament, which was foundational to the later establishment ofSecond Temple Judaism, following the return of the Israelites fromBabylon after it was conquered by thePersian Empire.[2][3]
Haman is said in theBook of Esther to attemptgenocide against the Jews. While this book is considered fictional by historians,[4] it alludes to a history of conquest by non-Levantine groups for the people of Judea.[citation needed]
Thousands of Jews killed by mobs in theAlexandrian pogrom, as recounted byPhilo of Alexandria inFlaccus. Synagogues are defiled, Jewish leaders are publicly scourged, and the Jewish population is confined to one quarter of the city.[11]
50 CE
Jews are ordered by Roman EmperorClaudius "not to hold meetings", in the words of Cassius Dio (Roman History, 60.6.6). Claudius later expelled Jews from Rome, according to both Suetonius ("Lives of the Twelve Caesars", Claudius, Section 25.4) and Acts 18:2.
TheFirst Jewish–Roman War against the Romans is crushed byVespasian andTitus. Titus refuses to accept a wreath of victory, because there is "no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God." (Philostratus,Vita Apollonii)[citation needed]. The events of this period were recorded in detail by the Jewish–Roman historianJosephus. His record is largely sympathetic to the Roman point of view and it was written inRome under Roman protection; hence it is considered a controversial source. Josephus describes the Jewish revolt as being led by "tyrants", to the detriment of the city, and he describes Titus as having "moderation" in his escalation of theSiege of Jerusalem (70).
70 CE
Over 1,000,000 Jews perish and 97,000 are taken as slaves following the destruction of theSecond Temple.[12]
Tacitus writes anti-Jewish polemic in hisHistories (book 5). He reports on several old myths of ancient antisemitism (including that of the donkey's head in the Holy of Holies), but the key to his view that Jews "regard the rest of mankind with all the hatred of enemies" is his analysis of the extreme differences betweenmonotheistic Judaism and thepolytheism common throughout the Roman world.
Crushing of theBar Kokhba revolt. According to Cassius Dio 580,000 Jews are killed.Hadrian orders the expulsion of Jews from Judea, which is merged withGalilee in order to form the province ofSyria Palaestina. Although large Jewish populations remain inSamaria and Galilee, withTiberias as the headquarters of exiled Jewish patriarchs, this is the start of theJewish diaspora. Hadrian constructs apagan temple to Jupiter at the site of theTemple in Jerusalem, buildsAelia Capitolina among the ruins of Jerusalem.[15]
136
Hadrian renamesJerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and builds a Roman monument over the site of theTemple Mount.[16][17] Jews are banned from visiting. Judea is renamed toSyria Palestina, referring to the Greek words for both the Levant as well as the region at the time.[18]
TheSynod of Elvira bans intermarriage and sexual intercourse betweenChristians andJews and forbids Jews and Christians from eating together.[22]
315
Constantine I enacts various laws regarding the Jews: Jews are not allowed to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves. Conversion of Christians to Judaism is outlawed. Congregations for religious services are restricted, but Jews are also allowed to enter the restituted Jerusalem on theanniversary of the Temple's destruction.
First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. TheChristian Church separates the calculation of the date ofEaster from the JewishPassover: "It was ... declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded.... Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. ... avoiding all contact with that evil way. ... who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. ... a people so utterly depraved. ... Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and themurderers of our Lord. ... no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews."[23][24]
St.Gregory of Nyssa calls Jews "murders of the Lord, assassins of the prophets, rebels and detesters of God, companions of the devils, a race of vipers."[25]
1 August: A Christian mob incited by the local bishop plunders and burns down asynagogue inCallinicum.Theodosius I orders that those responsible be punished, and the synagogue is rebuilt at the Christians' expense.Ambrose of Milan insists in his letter that the whole case be dropped. He interrupts the liturgy in the emperor's presence with an ultimatum that he will not continue until the case is dropped. Theodosius complies.[26]
399
The WesternRoman EmperorHonorius calls Judaismsuperstitio indigna (unworthy superstition) and confiscates gold and silver collected by the synagogues for Jerusalem.
Roman laws pass which prohibit Jews from setting fire toHaman, stating that they are mocking Christianity.
415
A Jewish uprising inAlexandria claims the lives of many Christians.[27]Bishop Cyril forces his way into the synagogue, expels the Jews (some authors estimate the numbers of Jews expelled up to 100 thousand[28][29]) and gives their property to the mob. Later, nearAntioch, Jews are accused ofritual murder duringPurim.[30] Christians confiscate the synagogue. Jews call it "415 C.E. Alexandria Expulsion".[31]
415
An edict issued by the EmperorsHonorius andTheodosius II ban building new Synagogues and converting non-Jews to Judaism.
418
The first record of Jews beingforced to convert or face expulsion. BishopSeverus of Menorca, claimed to have forced 540 Jews to accept Christianity upon conquering the island. The synagogue in Magona, nowPort Mahon the capital of Menorca, is burned.
419
ThemonkBarsauma (not to be confused with thefamous Bishop ofNisibis) gathers a group of followers and for the next three years, he destroys synagogues throughout the province of Palestine.
425
The finalnasi of the ancientSanhedrinGamliel VI is executed by the Roman Empire. This subsequently ended the Jewish patriarchate.
429
TheEast Roman EmperorTheodosius II orders that all funds raised by Jews to support their schools be turned over to his treasury.
438
Theodosius II's wife visits Jerusalem, and arranges for Jews to visit and pray at the ruins of theTemple Mount. This leads to Jews emigrating to Jerusalem, where some are killed after being stabbed and stoned by local monks. At the trial for the deaths the monks claimed that the stones fell from heaven and thus they were acquitted.
439
TheCodex Theodosianus, the first imperial compilation of laws. Jews are prohibited from holding important positions involving money, including judicial and executive offices. The ban against building new synagogues is reinstated. The anti-Jewish statutes also apply to theSamaritans. TheCode is also accepted by WesternRoman Emperor,Valentinian III.
Synagogue of Daphne is destroyed and its inhabitants are massacred by a Christian mob celebrating the result of a chariot race.
517
Christians are banned from participating in Jewish feasts as a result of theCouncil of Epaone.
519
Ravenna, Italy. After the local synagogues were burned down by the local mob, theOstrogothic kingTheodoric the Great orders the town to rebuild them at its own expense.
529–559
Byzantine EmperorJustinian the Great publishesCorpus Juris Civilis. New laws restrict citizenship to Christians. These regulations determined the status of Jews throughout the Empire for hundreds of years: Jewish civil rights restricted: "they shall enjoy no honors". The principle ofServitus Judaeorum (Servitude of the Jews) is established: the Jews cannot testify against Christians. The emperor becomes an arbiter in internal Jewish matters.[clarification needed] The use of theHebrew language in worship is forbidden.Shema Yisrael ("Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one"), sometimes considered the most important prayer in Judaism, is banned as a denial of theTrinity. Some Jewish communities are converted by force, their synagogues turned into churches.
531
Emperor Justinian rules that Jews cannot testify against Christians. Jewish liturgy is censored for being "anti-trinitarian".
535
Synagogue ofBorion is closed and all Jewish practices are prohibited by order of Justinian.
The Third Council ofOrléans forbids Jews to employ Christian servants or possess Christian slaves. Jews are prohibited from appearing in the streets duringPassion Week:[22] "their appearance is an insult to Christianity". The Merovingian kingChildebert approves the measure.
547
Jews and Samaritans in theCaesaria are massacred after a failed revolt.[32][33][34]
576
InClermont,Gaul, BishopAvitus offers Jews a choice: accept Christianity or leave Clermont. Most emigrate toMarseille.
582
TheMerovingians order that all Jews of the kingdom are to be baptized.
589
TheCouncil of Narbonne, Septimania, forbids Jews from chantingpsalms while burying their dead. Anyone violating this law is fined 6 ounces of gold. The thirdCouncil of Toledo, held underVisigothic KingReccared, bans Jews from slave ownership and holding positions of authority, and reiterates the mutual ban on intermarriage.[35] Reccared also rules children out of such marriages to be raised as Christians.
590–591
TheExilarch Haninai is executed byKhosrau II for supportingMihrevandak. This halted all forms of Jewish self-governance for over 50 years.
592
The entire Jewish population ofAntioch is punished because a Jew violated a law.[36]
598
Bishop Victor of Palermo seizes the local synagogues and repurposes them into churches.[37] In response,Pope Gregory I issues a letter of papal promise of protection for the Jews, theSicut Iudaeis, which sets out the papal policy and will be later re-issued by various of his successors.[38]
Massacres of Jews all across the Byzantine Empire.
610–620
After many of his anti-Jewish edicts were ignored, KingSisebur prohibitsJudaism in Hispania and Septimania. Those not baptized fled. This was the first incidence where a prohibition of Judaism affected an entire country.
614
Fifth Council of Paris decrees that all Jews holding military or civil positions must accept baptism, together with their families.
615
Italy. The earliest referral to theJuramentum Judaeorum (the Jewish Oath): the concept that no heretic could be believed in court against a Christian. The oath became standardized throughout Europe in 1555.
617
After breaking their promise of Jewish autonomy in Jerusalem, the Persians forbid Jews from settling within three miles of the city.
626–627
The Council of Clichy declared that any Jew who accepts public office must convert.
627
Between 600 and 900 Jewish male captives including any boys showing signs of puberty are beheaded by Muslims onMuhammed's orders, many in front of their families, and the rest of the Jews are taken or sold into slavery in theMassacre of Banu Qurayza.
628
93 Jews are killed in theBattle of Khaybar. Among others, the 17-year-old JewSafiyya bint Huyayy is enslaved by Muslims, bought byMuhammed to his bed on the very night of the day when herhusband was tortured and beheaded and her family is slaughtered, and later manumitted and married to him.[39]
629
Byzantine EmperorHeraclius with his army marches into Jerusalem. Jewish inhabitants support him after his promise of amnesty. Upon his entry into Jerusalem the local priests convince him that killing Jews is a good deed. The only Jews that survived were the ones who fled to Egypt or the mountains.
Visigothic kingErwig begins his reign by enacting 28 anti-Jewish laws. He presses for the "utter extirpation of the pest of the Jews" and decrees that all converts must be registered by a parish priest, who must issue travel permits. All holidays, Christian and Jewish, must be spent in the presence of a priest to ensure piety and to prevent thebacksliding.
692
Quinisext Council in Constantinople forbids Christians on pain of excommunication to bathe in public baths with Jews, employ a Jewish doctor or socialize with Jews.
694
17th Council of Toledo. KingErgica believes rumors that the Jews had conspired to ally themselves with theIslamic invaders and forces Jews to give all land, slaves and buildings bought from Christians, to his treasury. He declares that all Jewish children over the age of seven should be taken from their homes and raised as Christians.
Possible date for thePact of Umar, a document that specified severe restrictions on Jews and Christians (dhimmi) living under Islamic rule. However, academic historians believe that this document was actually compiled at a much later date.
Empress Irena decries the practice of forced conversion against Jews.
788
Idriss I attacks Jewish communities, imposes high per capita taxes, and forces them to provide annual virgins for his harem for refusing to attack other Jewish communities. According to Maghrebi tradition, the Jewish tribe Ubaid Allah left and settled inDjerba.[45][46]
Agobard,Archbishop of Lyons, declares in his essays that Jews are accursed and demands a complete segregation of Christians and Jews. In 826 he issues a series of pamphlets to convince EmperorLouis the Pious to attack "Jewish insolence", but fails to convince the Emperor.
850
CaliphAl-Mutawakkil decrees thatDhimmi — Jews and Christians — wear thezunnar, honey-coloured outer garments andbadge-like patches on their servants' clothing to distinguish them from Muslims.[47] Further, their places of worship are to be destroyed with demonic effigies nailed to the door and they are to be allowed little involvement in government or official matters.
870
Ahmad ibn Tulun flattens Jewish cemeteries and replaces them with Muslim tombs.
Basil I reinforces law that prohibits Jews from holding any civil or military position inEpanagoge.
888
Church council inMetz forbids Christians and Jews from eating together.[50]
888
TheAghlabids issue decrees according to which Jews and Christians are to wear a patch (ruq'a) of white fabric on their shoulder of their outer garment, with the patch for Jews depicting an ape and that for the Christians depicting a pig.[51][52]
Jews ofOria are raided by a Muslim mob during a series of attacks on Italy. At least ten rabbinical leaders and many more are taken as captives. Among those captured is 12-year-oldShabbethai Donnolo, who would go on later to be a famous physician and astronomer.
931
Bishop Ratherius of Verona begs the town elders to expel the Jews from the city until they agree to temporarily expel them.[citation needed]
931–942
Romanos I Lekapenos decreed that all Jews should be forced to convert and subjugated if they refuse. This leads to the death of hundreds of Jews and the destruction of numerous synagogues.[53]
932
The Jewish quarter of Bari, Italy is destroyed by a mob and a number of Jews are killed.[54]
943–944
Byzantine Jews from all over the Empire flee from persecution intoKhazaria. The King of Khazaria at the time, who was Jewish, subsequently cut ties with the Byzantine Empire.[55]
CaliphAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ("the Mad") issues severe restrictions against Jews in theFatimid Empire. All Jews are forced to wear a heavy wooden"golden calf" around their necks. Christians had to wear a large wooden cross and members of both groups had to wear black hats.[58][59]
1009
Caliphal-Hakim bi-Amr Allah orders the destruction of synagogues, Torah scrolls and Jewish artifacts among other non-Muslim buildings.[60][61]
1010
The Jews ofLimoges are given the choice of baptism or exile.[62]
1011
TheAbbasid CaliphAl-Qadir publishes theBaghdad Manifesto, which accuses the Fatimids of being descended from Jews, instead of being "family of the prophet".
1011
A Muslim mob attacks a Jewish funeral procession, resulting in the arrest of 23 Jews.[63]
During the fall of the city, Sulayman's troops looted Córdoba and massacred citizens of the city, including many Jews. Prominent Jews in Córdoba, such asSamuel ibn Naghrela were forced to flee to the city in 1013.
1016
The Jewish community ofKairouan, Tunisia is forced to choose between conversion and expulsion.[65]
1021
A violent earthquake occurs, which some Greeks maintain is caused by adesecration of Jesus by the Jews. For this a number ofRoman Jews are burnt at the stake.[66]
1026
Probable date of the chronicle ofRaoul Glaber. The French chronicler blamed the Jews for the destruction of theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, which was destroyed in 1009 by Islamic Caliph Al-Hakim. As a result, Jews were expelled fromLimoges and other French towns.[citation needed]
Sixty Jews are put to death in Castrojeriz during a revolt, because the Jews were considered "property" of the kingdom by the locals.[67][68]
1039
A Muslim mob raids the palace of the Jewish vizier and kills him after the ruler al-Mondhir is assassinated.
1040
ExilarchHezekiah Gaon is imprisoned and tortured to death by theBuyyids. The death of Hezekiah ended the line of theGeonim, which had begun four centuries earlier.
TheSynod of Szabolcs prohibits Jews from working on Sunday[22] or marrying Christians.
1096
TheFirst Crusade. Three hosts of crusaders pass through severalCentral European cities. The third, unofficial host, led byCount Emicho, decides to attack the Jewish communities, most notably in theRhineland, under the slogan: "Why fight Christ's enemies abroad when they are living among us?" Eimicho's host attacks the synagogue atSpeyer and kills all the defenders.800 are killed in Worms. Another 1,200 Jews commit suicide inMainz to escape his attempt to forcibly convert them (seeGerman Crusade, 1096), and 600 are massacred inMainz on 27 May.[70] Attempts by the local bishops remained fruitless. All in all, 5,000 Jews were murdered.[71]
1099
Jews fight side by side with Muslim soldiers to defendJerusalem against the Crusaders andface massacres when it falls.[72] According to the Muslim chronicle ofIbn al-Qalanisi, "The Jews assembled in their synagogue, and the Franks burned it over their heads."[73] However, a contemporary Jewish communication does not corroborate the report that Jews were actually inside of the Synagogue when it was set on fire.[74] This letter was discovered among theCairo Geniza collection in 1975 by historianShelomo Dov Goitein.[75] Historians believe that it was written just two weeks after the siege, making it "the earliest account on the conquest in any language."[75] However, all sources agree that a synagogue was indeed burned during the siege.
Many Jews are massacred and their houses and synagogues are burned following a Muslim victory at theBattle of Uclés (1108). Of those murdered is Solomon ibn Farissol, the leader of the Castile community. This incident greatly impacted the Hebrew poet Judah HaLevi, and completely shifted the focus of his poetry.
A Muslim mob inCórdoba storms into Jewish homes, takes their possessions and kills a number of them.
1141
DuringThe Anarchy, the fight for succession between Matilde and Stephen, the Jews of Oxford are forced to pay ransom to both sides of the conflict or their houses are to be burned. Stephen burns the house of Aaron son of Isaac and threatens the rest of the community if they do not pay him.
The case ofWilliam of Norwich, a contrived accusation of murder by Jews in Norwich, England.
1145
Abd al-Mu'min gives the Jewish population ofSijilmasa the choice of converting to Islam or death. At least 150 Jews who refuse to convert are massacred.[79]
The mostly-Jewish townLucena, Córdoba is captured by the Almohad Caliphate and local Jews are given the choice of Islam or death. This was the end of the Jewish community of Lucena.
Appalled by the annual practice of beating Jews duringPalm Sunday, Bishop William issues an order which would excommunicate any priest who continues the practice.[83]
1165
Forced mass conversions of Jews to Islam inYemen.[84]
1165
New Almohad ruler decrees that all Jews in Fez must convert to Islam or face death. Judah ha-Kohen ibn Shushan is burnt alive for refusing and Maimonides was displaced and permanently leaves for Egypt.[85]
1168
Harold of Gloucester is found floating in a river. The localBenedictine monks use the discovery to claim that "the child had been spirited away by the Jews on the 21st February for them to torture him to death on the night of 16th March". It established that the mythology created around William of Norwich's death could be used as a template for explaining later deaths.
Jews ofBologna are expelled for no known reason.[86]
1173
Following multiple church-inspired riots,Mieszko III of Poland forbids all kinds of violence against the Jews of Poland.
1177
Alfonso II of Aragon creates a charter which defines the status of Jews inTeruel. Jews are defined as "slaves of the king, belonging entirely to the royal treasury." The fee for killing a Jew is half of what the fee is for killing a Christian and is to be paid directly to the king (since Jews are considered property of the crown).
1179
TheThird Council of the Lateran,Canon 26, forbids Jews to be plaintiffs or witnesses against Christians in the courts or withhold inheritance from descendants who had accepted Christianity.[22]
1179
The body of a Christian girl is found near the shore. The Jews ofBoppard are blamed for her death, resulting in 13 Jews being murdered.
1180
Philip II of France, after four months in power, imprisons all the Jews in his lands and demands a ransom for their release.
1181
Philip Augustus II annuls all loans made by Jews to Christians and takes a percentage for himself. A year later, he confiscates all Jewish property and expels the Jews fromParis.
1181
TheAssize of Arms of 1181 orders that all weapons held by Jews must be confiscated, claiming they have no use for them. This led to the Jewish community of England being a lot more vulnerable during anti-Jewish riots.
A Jewish deputation attending coronation ofRichard the Lionheart was attacked by the crowd. Pogroms in London followed and spread around England.
1190
All the Jews of Norwich, England found in their houses were slaughtered, except a few who found refuge in the castle.
1190
57 Jews in St. Edmunds are killed in a massacre on Palm Sunday.[89]
1190
500 Jews ofYork were massacred after a six-day siege by departing members of theThird Crusade, backed by several people indebted to Jewish money-lenders.[90]
More than 80 Jews inBray-sur-Seine are burned at the stake after trying to execute a murderer who had killed an Israelite.[91]
1195
After falsely being accused of ritual murder with no evidence, the daughter of Rabbi Isaac bar Asher ha-Levi is murdered, dismembered and her body parts are hung around the market place for days. Ha-Levi was killed the following day along with 8 other Jews after trying to recover what was left of his daughter's body from the mob.
1197
In an attempt to isolate the Jewish population economically, Christians were barred from buying food from Jews or having conversations with them under the threat of excommunication.[92]
1198
Philip Augustus readmits Jews to Paris, only after another ransom was paid and a taxation scheme was set up to procure funds for himself. August: Saladin's nephew al-Malik, caliph of Yemen, summons all the Jews and forcibly converts them.
Judensau at the Cathedral of St. Peter inRegensburg
13th century
Germany. Appearance ofJudensau: obscene and dehumanizing imagery of Jews, ranging from etchings to Cathedral ceilings. Its popularity lasted for over 600 years.
In 1204 thepapacy required Jews to segregate themselves from Christians and to wear distinctive clothing.[93]
1205
Jews are expelled from villages and towns all around Spain by Muslims.[94]
1206
Jewish homes are burned, looted, Israelites are killed and the remaining Jewish population ofHalle is expelled.[95]
1209
Béziers is stormed and its inhabitants are massacred. Among those were 200 Jews. All Jewish children who survived, and did not flee, were forcibly baptized.[96]
1209
Raymond VI,Count of Toulouse, humiliated and forced to swear that he would implement social restrictions against Jews.
1210
King John of England imprisoned much of the Jewish population until they paid up 66,000 marks.
1212
Forced conversions and mass murder of the Jewish community ofToledo.
1215
TheFourth Lateran Council headed byPope Innocent III declares: "Jews and Saracens of both sexes in every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other peoples through the character of their dress." (Canon 68). SeeJudenhut. TheFourth Lateran Council also noted that the Jews' own law required the wearing of identifying symbols.Pope Innocent III also reiterated papal injunctions against forcible conversions, and added: "No Christian shall do the Jews any personal injury...or deprive them of their possessions...or disturb them during the celebration of their festivals...or extort money from them by threatening to exhume their dead."[97]
1217
French noblewomanAlix de Montmorency imprisons the Jewish population ofToulouse for refusing to convert. She eventually released them all except for children under six, who were taken and adopted by Christians.
1221
An anti-Jewish riot erupts in Erfurt, where the Jewish quarter is destroyed along with two synagogues. Around 26 Jews are killed, and others throw themselves into fire rather than be forcibly converted.Samuel of Speyer was among those martyred.[98]
Raymond VII,Count of Toulouse, heir of Raymond VI, also forced to swear that he would implement social restrictions against Jews.
1229
Treaty of Jaffa is signed between Frederick II and the SultanAl-Kamil of Egypt. Jews are once again banned from residing in Jerusalem.
1230
Theodore Komnenos Doukas is defeated. Since Theodore decreed many anti-Jewish laws and seized Jewish property, he was handed over to two Jews byJohn Asen II to personally kill him. After having pity on him and refusing to kill Theodore, the Czar had the Jews thrown off a cliff.
The Jews of Fulda, Germany were accused ofritual murder. To investigate theblood libel, Emperor Frederick II held a special conference of Jewish converts to Christianity at which the converts were questioned about Jewish ritual practice. Letters inviting prominent individuals to the conference still survive. At the conference, the converts stated unequivocally that Jews do not harm Christian children or require blood for any rituals. In 1236 the Emperor published these findings and in 1247Pope Innocent IV, the Emperor's enemy, also denounced accusations of theritual murder of Christian children by Jews. In 1272, the papal repudiation of theblood libel was repeated byPope Gregory X, who also ruled that thereafter any such testimony of a Christian against a Jew could not be accepted unless it is confirmed by another Jew. Unfortunately, these proclamations from the highest sources were not effective in altering the beliefs of the Christian majority and the libels continued.[100]
1236
Crusaders attack Jewish communities ofAnjou andPoitou and attempt to baptize all the Jews. Those who resisted (est. 3,000) were slaughtered.
1236
A Jew and a Christian fisherman get into a heated argument about prices, which turns physical. It ends when the Jew deals a devastating blow to the Gentile's head which leads to his death. This enrages the local Christian population, who attack the Jewish quarter of Narbonne. Don Aymeric, the governor of Narbonne prevents a massacre and restores all stolen Jewish property to their rightful owner.[101][102]
A pogrom against the Jews of Frankfurt takes place after conflicts over Jewish-Christian marriages and the enforced baptism of interfaith couples. 180 Jews are killed as a result and 24 agree to be baptized. This became known as theJudenschlacht (German forSlaughter of the Jews).
1241
In England, first of a series of royal levies against Jewish finances, which forced the Jews to sell their debts to non-Jews at cut prices.[104]
1242
Following a show trial, the Talmud is "convicted" of corrupting the Jews. 24 cart-loads of hand-written Talmudic manuscripts, some 10,000 volumes and comprising most of the extant volumes in France, are burned in the streets of Paris.
1242
James I of Aragon orders Jews to listen to conversion sermons and to attend churches. Friars are given power to enter synagogues uninvited.
1243
The first ever accusation ofHost Desecration. The entire Jewish population ofBeelitz was burned at the stake after being accused of torturing Jesus and the spot it happened was named "Judenberg".
1243
11 Jews are tortured to death following a blood libel inKitzingen Germany.[105]
TheHafsid caliph in the Magrheb issues a decree that Jews and Christians must wear a distinguishing badge. The so-calledshikla continues to be in use forTunisian Jews into the nineteenth century.[106]
1251
TheShepherds' Crusade attacks Jewish communities across northern France.
Mongols are defeated and Syria is brought under Mamluk rule. Anti-Jewish laws are once again decreed, and Jewish life becomes a lot more restricted in the Levant.
1260
Jews are banned from ascending above the 7th step on theCave of the Patriarchs. This ban would last 700 years.
1260
Thomas Aquinas publishesSumma Contra Gentiles, a summary of Christian faith to be presented to those who reject it. The Jews who refuse to convert are regarded as "deliberately defiant" rather than "invincibly ignorant".
In a special session, theVienna city council forces Jews to wearPileum cornutum (a cone-shaped headdress, prevalent in many medieval illustrations of Jews). This distinctive dress is an addition toYellow badge Jews were already forced to wear.
1267
The Synod of Vienna forbids Christians from attending Jewish ceremonies, and Jews from debating with "simple Christian people" about the beliefs of the Catholic religion.[99]
After an accusation from an old woman that the Jews had bought a Christian child from her to kill, the entire Jewish community ofPforzheim face massacres and expulsion. Rabbi Samuel ben Yaḳar ha-Levi, Rabbi Isaac ben Eliezer and Rabbi Abraham ben Gershom commit suicide to escape the cruel torture they feared.
1275
KingEdward I of England passes theStatute of the Jewry forcing Jews over the age of seven to wear an identifyingyellow badge, and making usury illegal, in order to seize their assets. Scores of English Jews are arrested, 300 hanged and their property goes to the Crown.
1276
Massacre inFez to kill all Jews stopped by intervention of the Emir[109]
1278
The Edict ofPope Nicholas III requires compulsory attendance of Jews at conversion sermons.
1279
The Synod ofOfen forbids Christians to sell or rentreal estate to or from Jews.[99]
John Pectin,Archbishop of Canterbury, orders all London synagogues to close and prohibits Jewish physicians from practicing on Christians.
1283
Philip III of France causes mass migration of Jews by forbidding them to live in the small rural localities.
1283
10 Jews are slain inMainz after claims of blood libel.[110]
1285
Blood libel inMunich, Germany results in the death of 68 Jews. 180 more Jews are burned alive at the synagogue.
1287
Edward I of England arrests heads of Jewish families and demands their communities pay ransom of 12,000 pounds.
1287
A 16-year-old boy is found dead in the Rhine. Immediately the Jews ofOberwesel are accused of killing the boy. Over 40 men, women and children were killed by rioters as a response.
1287
Jews are arrested and accused ofcoin clipping. Even without evidence, the whole community is convicted and expelled.
1288
The Jewish population ofTroyes is accused of ritual murder. 13 Jewish martyrs are burned at the stake, sacrificing themselves to spare the rest of the community.[111]
1288
104 Jews inBonn, Germany are killed during a pogrom.[112]
Edict of Expulsion:Edward I expels all Jews fromEngland, allowing them to take only what they could carry, all the other property became theCrown's. Official reason: continued practice ofusury.
1290
A Jewish man named Jonathan and his wife are accused ofstabbing the wafer to torture Jesus. They are both burned at the stake, their house is destroyed and replaced with a chapel.[113]
Philip the Fair publishes an ordinance prohibiting the Jews to settle in France.
1291
Jewish physician and grandvizierSa'ad al-Dawla is killed by Muslims who felt it a degradation to have a Jew placed over them.Persian Jews suffer a long-period of violent persecution by the Muslim population.
Accusations ofHost desecration against theGerman Jews. More than 140 Jewish communities face forced conversions.
1298
During the civil war betweenAdolph of Nassau andAlbrecht of Austria, German knightRintfleisch claims to have received a mission from heaven to exterminate "the accursed race of the Jews". Under his leadership, the mob goes from town to town destroying Jewish communities and massacring about 100,000 Jews, often by mass burning at stake. Among 146 localities in Franconia, Bavaria and Austria are Röttingen (20 April), Würzburg (24 July), Nuremberg (1 August).[114]
Riots break out inEgypt, which are encouraged by the Mamluks. Many Jews are forcibly converted to Islam, including the entire Jewish population ofBilbeis. Many synagogues are appropriated into mosques.[115]
1305
Philip IV of France seizes all Jewish property (except the clothes they wear) and expels them from France (approx. 100,000). His successorLouis X of France allows French Jews to return in 1315.
1306
Jews ofSens,Yonnedepartment of France, are expelled. This was the third and final expulsion (after those in 876 and 1198).[116]
Rhodes falls to the Crusaders, who went on a rampage against the local Jews.[118]
1310
The Synod of Mainz defines the adoption of Judaism by a Christian or the return of a baptized Jew to Judaism asheresy subject to punishment.[99]
1310
Frederick II of Aragon adopts anti-Jewish laws, which require them to mark their clothes and shops with theyellow badge. Jews were also forbidden from having any relationship with Catholics.
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, aPersian Jewish convert toIslam was executed on fake charges of poisoningÖljeitü and for several days crowds carried his head around his native city of Tabriz, chanting "This is the head of the Jew who abused the name of God; may God's curse be upon him!"
5,000 Jews are massacred and their houses are burned down followinganti-Jewish preaching by a Franciscanfriar from Estella, near Pamplona. That same years, the Jews of Navarre choose to burn their homes and synagogues and drown their children rather than be forcibly converted.[124]
1328
Jewish martyrAaron ben Zerah, along with his wife and four of his sons are executed.
Pogroms overhost desecration across Bavaria, Austria, and Bohemia. The Jews are accused of stealing the bread of theEucharist and trying to burn it. InWolfsberg, Carinthia, over 70 Jews are burned at the stake and the entire Jewish community is destroyed.[130][131]
1344
The citizens of Speyer ask the King's permission to confiscate the houses of the Jews for the cities benefit – he grants their request.[132]
1348
European Jews are blamed for the plague in theBlack Death persecutions. Charge laid to the Jews that they poisoned the wells. Massacres spread throughout Spain, France, Germany and Austria. More than 200 Jewish communities destroyed by violence. Many communities have been expelled and settle down in Poland.
1349
Basel: 600 Jews burned at the stake, 140 children forcibly baptized, the remaining city's Jews expelled. The city synagogue is turned into a church and the Jewish cemetery is destroyed.
1349 burning of Jews (from a European chronicle written on theBlack Death between 1349 and 1352)
The entire Jewish population of Speyer is destroyed. All Jews are either killed, converted, or fled. All their property and assets was confiscated. Part of theBlack Death Jewish persecutions.
The Jewish community ofWorms is completely destroyed as a result of theBlack Death Jewish persecutions. Hundreds of Jews set fire to their homes to avoid the oncoming torture. Their property was seized by the locals.
Jews ofBreslau are expelled as part of theBlack Death Jewish persecutions.[120] The city claims all property and synagogues, while the Emperor was given the cemetery and all Jewish debts. 60 Jews are murdered.
1349
The Jewish quarter of Cologne is destroyed by an angry mob, and most of the community is killed. All of their property was split up between the ransackers. It was part of theBlack Death Jewish persecutions.[134]
1349
TheStrasbourg massacre was a part of theBlack Death persecutions, where several hundred Jews were publicly burned to death, and the rest of them were expelled. It was one of the first and worst pogroms in pre-modern history.
6,000 Jews are burned to death inMainz as a part of theBlack Death Jewish persecutions. When the angry mob charged, the Jews initially fought back, killing around 200 of their attackers.[136][137]
Church officials order the expulsion ofJews from Bulgaria for "heretical activity".
1359
Charles V of France allows Jews to return for a period of 20 years in order to pay ransom for his fatherJohn II of France, imprisoned in England. The period is later extended beyond the 20 years.
Furious with a pogrom against Castilian Jews inMiranda de Ebro,Peter of Castile publicly boils one of the perpetrators, roasts another, and executes others with an axe.
Jews ofMetz are expelled after their presence is cited as the cause of lightning strikes which destroyed twenty-two houses.[139]
1367
Host desecration trials are held against the Jews ofBarcelona. They were initiated by the crown prince Don Juan of Aragon.
1367
No fewer than 1600 homes belonging toconversos are destroyed and many conversos are killed inToledo.
1368
The Synod of Lavour prohibits the sale or transfer of Church property to Jews.[99]
1370
The entire Jewish population ofBrussels is massacred over allegations ofhost desecration. It was an end of the Hebrew community in Brussels. The event was commemorated by local Christians as the Sacrament of Miracle.[140]
1376
Jews are expelled fromHungary. Most of them flee south intoGreece and neighboring areas.[141]
1377
AnotherHost desecration trial is held against Jews inTeruel andHuesca. The person behind it, as with the previous trial, is the crown prince Don Juan of Aragon. Many Jews are tortured and burned alive publicly.[142]
1382
16 Jews are murdered in Paris the Mailotin Riots after theHarelle.
1384
200 Jews are killed inNoerdlingen and the community ceases to exist.[143]
John of Castile reinforces previous anti-Jewish legislation.
1389
18 March, a Jewish boy is accused of plotting against a priest. The mob slaughters approx. 3,000 ofPrague's Jews, destroys the city's synagogue and Jewish cemetery. Wenceslaus insists that the responsibility lay with the Jews for going outside duringHoly Week.
Led byFerrand Martinez, countless massacres devastate the Sephardic Jewish community, especially inCastile,Valencia,Catalonia andAragon. The Jewish quarter in Barcelona is completely destroyed. By the end of the pogroms, at least 10,000 Jews are murdered and thousands more are forcibly converted.
Jews expelled fromBern, Switzerland. Although between 1408 and 1427 Jews were again residing in the city, the only Jews to appear in Bern subsequently were transients, chiefly physicians and cattle dealers
1392
The Jews ofDamascus are accused by Muslims of setting fire to the central mosque. Although there was no evidence presented, one Jew was burned alive, the leaders of the community were tortured, and the local synagogue was appropriated into a mosque.[122]
A Christian woman is accused of stealing hosts and giving them to Jewsfor the purpose of desecration. Thirteen members of the Jewish community ofPosen, along with the woman are all tortured and burned alive slowly. This story, however, does not appear until the latter half of the 14th century.[146] The community is then forced to pay a special tax every year until the 18th century.
1399
80 Jews are murdered inPrague after a converted Jew named Peter accuses them of denigrating Christianity. A number of Jews are also jailed, includingYom-Tov Lipmann-Muhlhausen.
Persecutions of Jews inVienna, known asWiener Gesera (Vienna Edict), confiscation of their possessions, and forced conversion of Jewish children. 270 Jews burned at stake. and allViennese Jews are expelled following persecution.
1422
Pope Martin V issues a Bull reminding Christians thatChristianity was derived fromJudaism and warns the friars not to incite against the Jews. The Bull was withdrawn the following year on allegations that the Jews of Rome attained it byfraud.
Casimir IV renews all the rights of Jews ofPoland and makes his charter one of the most liberal in Europe. He revokes it in 1454 at the insistence of Bishop Zbigniew.
Around 40 Jews in Breslau are burned at the stake on charges ofhost desecration, while the head Rabbi hung himself to avoid the torture. Jewish children under 7 were stolen and forcibly baptized. The few Jews remaining were banished from Breslau.[166]
1456
Pope Caliextus III issues a papal bull which prohibits Jews from testifying against Christians, but permits Christians to testify against a Jew.
1458
The city council ofErfurt, Germany votes to expel the Jews.[167]
OnAssumption day 15 August 1474, Christians wreaked brutal havoc on the Jewish dwellers of the Cartellone area ofModica. It was the first and most horrible massacre ofSicilian Jews. During the evening a number of Christians slaughtered about 360 Jews causing a total and fierce devastation inLa Giudecca. They ran through the streets chanting: "Hurrah for Mary! Death to the Jews!" (Viva Maria! Morte ai Giudei!).[173]
Simon of Trent blood libel. Illustration in Hartmann Schedel's Weltchronik, 1493
1475
A student of the preacherGiovanni da Capistrano,FranciscanBernardine of Feltre, accuses the Jews in murdering an infant,Simon. The entire community is arrested, 15 leaders are burned at the stake, the rest are expelled. In 1588,Pope Sixtus V confirmed Simon's cultus. Saint Simon was considered a martyr and patron of kidnap and torture victims for almost 500 years. In 1965,Pope Paul VI declared the episode a fraud, and decanonized Simon's sainthood.
The Jewish population ofTuat is massacred in a pogrom inspired by the preacher al-Maghili.[176][177]
1492
Ferdinand II andIsabella issueGeneral Edict on the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain: approx. 200,000. Some return to theLand of Israel. As many localities and entire countries expel their Jewish citizens (after robbing them), and others deny them entrance, the legend of theWandering Jew, a condemned harbinger of calamity, gains popularity.
1492
Jews ofMecklenburg, Germany are accused of stabbing a consecrated wafer. 27 Jews are burned, including two women. The spot is still called theJudenberg. All the Jews are expelled from the Duchy.[178]
1492
Askia Mohammad I decrees that all Jews must convert to Islam, leave or be killed. Judaism becomes illegal in Mali. This was based on the advice ofMuhammad al-Maghili.[179] The region ofTimbuktu had previously been tolerant of other religions before Askia got into power.
1493
John II of Portugal deports several hundred Jewish children to the colony ofSão Tomé, where most of them die.
16 Jews are burned at the stake after a blood libel inTrnava.
1494
After a fire destroys the Jewish quarter of Cracow, the Polish kingJan I Olbracht transfers the Jews toKazimierz, which would become the first Polish ghetto. Jews were confined to the ghetto until 1868.
1495
Jews inLithuania are expelled and their property is seized. They were allowed to return 8 years later.[183]
1495
The Jews ofLecce are massacred and the Jewish quarter is burned to the ground.[184]
1495
The Spanish conquerNaples and the Jews are officially expelled, though the order is not carried out.[185]
1496
Jews living inStyria are expelled and all their property is confiscated.[186]
1496
Forced conversion and expulsion of Jews fromPortugal. This included many who fled Spain four years earlier.
Manuel I of Portugal decrees that all Jews must convert or leave Portugal without their children.
1498
PrinceAlexander ofLithuania forces most of the Jews to forfeit their property or convert. The main motivation is to cancel the debts the nobles owe to the Jews. Within a short time trade grinds to a halt and the Prince invites the Jews back in.
Jews are banished fromVerona. The Jews who were money lenders were replaced with Christian usurers who oppressed the poor so bad that the Jews were very shortly called to return.[187]
1499
AllNew Christians are prohibited from leaving Portugal, even those who were forcibly baptized.[188]
Several Jewish scholars are burned at the stake for proselytizing inMoscow.[191]
1505
TenČeské Budějovice Jews are tortured and executed after being accused of killing a Christian girl; later, on his deathbed, a shepherd confesses to fabricating the accusation.
1506
Amarrano expresses his doubts about miracle visions at St. Dominics Church inLisbon, Portugal. The crowd, led by Dominican friars, kills him, then ransacks Jewish houses and slaughters any Jew they could find. The countrymen hear about the massacre and join in. Over 2,000 marranos killed in three days.
Jews are expelled from the city ofGenoa, but are allowed back in a year later.[200]
1516
The firstghetto is established, on one of the islands inVenice.
1517
1517 Hebron attacks: Jews are beaten, raped and killed inHebron, as their homes and businesses are looted and pillaged.
1517
1517 Safed attacks: The Jews of Safed is attacked by Mamluk forces and local Arabs. Many Jews are killed and their homes are plundered.
1519
The Jewish community of Ratisbon is expelled. The synagogue is destroyed and replaced with a chapel. Thousands of Jewish gravestones are taken and used for buildings.[201]
"...their prayer books and Talmudic writings... be taken from them..."
"...their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb..."
"...safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews..."
"...usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them..." and "Such money should now be used in ... the following [way]... Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed [certain amount]..."
"...young, strong Jews and Jewesses [should]... earn their bread in the sweat of their brow..."
"If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews' blasphemy and not share in their guilt, we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country" and "we must drive them out like mad dogs."
Luther "got the Jews expelled from Saxony in 1537, and in the 1540s he drove them from many German towns; he tried unsuccessfully to get theelector to expel them from Brandenburg in 1543. His followers continued to agitate against the Jews there: they sacked the Berlin synagogue in 1572 and the following year finally got their way, the Jews being banned from the entire country."[210] (See alsoMartin Luther and the Jews)
1546
Martin Luther's sermonAdmonition against the Jews contains accusations of ritual murder, black magic, and poisoning of wells. Luther recognizes no obligation to protect the Jews.
1547
Ivan the Terrible becomes ruler of Russia and refuses to allow Jews to live in or even enter his kingdom because they "bring about great evil" (quoting his response to request by Polish kingSigismund II).
1547
10 out of the 30 Jews living inAsolo are killed and their houses are robbed.[211]
1550
Dr. Joseph Hacohen is chased out ofGenoa for practicing medicine; soon all Jews are expelled.[212]
1553
Following theBragadin-Giustiniani dispute, the Roman Inquisition under the leadership of Cardinal Carafa (laterPope Paul IV) confiscated and burns all copies of the Talmud on Rosh Hashanah in Rome, starting a wave of Talmud burning throughout Italy.[213] About 12,000 copies were destroyed.
Inpapal bullCum nimis absurdum, Pope Paul IV writes: "It appears utterly absurd and impermissible that the Jews, whom God has condemned to eternal slavery for their guilt, should enjoy our Christian love." He renews anti-Jewish legislation and installs a locked nightly ghetto in Rome. The Bull also forces Jewish males to wear ayellow hat, females –yellow kerchief. Owning real estate or practicing medicine on Christians is forbidden. It also limits Jewish communities to only one synagogue.
1555
TheMartyrs of 1555. 25 Jews in Ancona are hanged or burned at the stake for refusing to convert to Christianity as a result of Pope Paul IV's Bull of 1555.
1556
A rumor is sent around that a poor woman in Sokhachev named Dorothy sold Jews the holy wafer received by her during communion, and that it was stabbed until it bled. The Bishop of Khelm accuses the local Jews, and eventually three Jews along with Dorothy Lazhentzka are arrested, put on the rack, and sentenced to death on charges ofhost desecration.[214] They were burned at the stake. Before their death, the martyred Jews made a declaration:
"We have never stabbed the host, because we do not believe that the host is the Divine body, knowing that God has no body nor blood. We believe, as did our forefathers, that the Messiah is not God, but His messenger. We also know from experience that there can be no blood in flour."
1557
Seventy houses were burned in the ghetto of Prague. Jews are temporarily banished.[215]
1558
Recanati, Italy: a baptized Jew, Joseph Paul More, enters synagogue onYom Kippur under the protection ofPope Paul IV and tries to preach a conversion sermon. The congregation evicts him. Soon after, the Jews are expelled from Recanati.
1559
Pope Pius IV allows Talmud on conditions that it is printed by a Christian and the text is censored.
Brest-Litovsk: the son of a wealthy Jewish tax collector is accused of killing the family's Christian servant for ritual purposes. He is tortured and executed in line with the law. KingSigismund II of Poland forbids future charges of ritual murder, calling them groundless.
1566
Antonio Ghislieri elected and, asPope Pius V, reinstates the harsh anti-Jewish laws of Pope Paul IV.
Pope Pius V expels all the Jews ofBologna. He then gave their cemetery away to the nuns of Saint Peter, who destroyed it to use the land.[217]
1569
Pope Pius V expels Jews dwelling outside of the ghettos of Rome, Ancona, and Avignon from thePapal States, thus ensuring that they remain city-dwellers.
1571
Jews inBerlin are forced to leave and their property is confiscated.[133]
Jewish quarter ofMikulov (Nikolsburg) burns to ground and 15 people die while Christians watch or pillage.[citation needed]
1590
King Philip II of Spain orders expulsion of Jews fromLombardy. His order is ignored by local authorities until 1597, when 72 Jewish families are forced into exile.
Esther Chiera is executed with one of her sons by the Sultan Murad III's calvary.[224]
1593
Pope Clement VIII confirms the papal bull of Paul III that expels Jews from papal states except ghettos in Rome and Ancona and issuesCaeca et obdurata ("Blind Obstinacy"): "All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. ... Then as now Jews have to be reminded intermittently anew that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live."
10 people are accused of practicing Judaism inLima, Peru. Four of them are released and one named Francisco Rodríguez, is burned alive.[225]
1596
Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal was aMarrana (Jewish convert to Christianity) inNew Spain executed by theInquisition for "judaizing" in 1596. One of her children, Isabel, in her twenties at the time, was tortured until she implicated the whole of the Carabajal family. The whole family was forced to confess and abjure at a publicauto-da-fé, celebrated on Saturday, 24 February 1590. Luis de Carabajal the younger (one of Francisca's sons), along with Francisca and four of her daughters, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and another one of Francisca's sons, Baltasar, who had fled upon the first warning of danger, was, along with his deceased father Francisco Rodriguez de Matos, burnt in effigy. In January 1595, Francisca and her children were accused of a relapse into Judaism and convicted. During their imprisonment they were tempted to communicate with one another on Spanish pear seeds, on which they wrote touching messages of encouragement to remain true to their faith. At the resulting auto-da-fé, Francisca and her children Isabel, Catalina, Leonor, and Luis, died at the stake, together with Manuel Diaz, Beatriz Enriquez, Diego Enriquez, and Manuel de Lucena. Of her other children, Mariana, who lost her reason for a time, was tried and put to death at an auto-da-fé held in Mexico City on 25 March 1601; Anica, the youngest child, being "reconciled" at the same time.
1598
3 Jews in Lublin are brutally tortured and executed by quartering, after a Christian boy is found in a nearby swamp.[226]
TheJesuit order forbids admission to anyone descended from Jews to the fifth generation, a restriction lifted in the 20th century. Three years laterPope Paul V applies the rule throughout the Church, but his successor revokes it.
1612
TheHamburg Senate decides to officially allow Jews to live inHamburg on the condition there is no public worship.
Expulsion of the Jews from Frankfurt on 23 August 1614: "1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate"
The Guild led by Dr. Chemnitz, "non-violently" forced the Jews fromWorms.
1616
Jesuits arrive inGrodno and accuse the Jews of host desecration and blood libel.[229]
1618
Anti-semitic pamphletMirror of the Polish Crown is published by professorSebastian Miczyński. It accuses the Jews of murder, sacrileges, witchcraft, and urges their expulsion. It would go on to inspire anti-Jewish riots across Poland.
1619
ShahAbbas I of the Persian Sufi dynasty increases persecution against the Jews, forcing many to outwardly practice Islam. Many keep practicing Judaism in secret.
Shortly after Miguel Rodriguez is discovered holding onto Jewish rites, anAuto-da-fé is held in the presence of the King and Queen. Miguel and his wife Isabel Alvarez, and 5 others are burned alive publicly.[232]
1632, 20 April
Jewish-convert and martyrNicolas Antoine is burned at the stake for heresy.
Jews ofŁęczyca are accused of ritual murder after a young child is found dead in the woods. The blame falls on the Jews after a local gentile named Foma confesses to the crime then says he had been coerced into doing it by the Jews. Despite the lack of evidence, two Jewish elders named Meyer and Lazar are arrested and tortured, and eventually quartered publicly.[236]
1644
Jewish martyr Judah the Believer is burned at the stake as he recites prayers in Hebrew.
TwoChristianJanissaries accuse theJews of Istanbul of killing a child who had actually been killed by his own father. After killing his own son, he threw his body onto the Jewish quarter in order to implicate the Jews in the crime. Once the Grand Vizier learned the facts of the case from his spies stationed in the Greek quarter, he informed the Sultan and the Janissaries were put to death. 20 Jews were killed in total by the Greek mobs.[241]
1664 May
Jews ofLemberg (nowLviv) ghetto organize self-defense against impending assault by students of Jesuit seminary and Cathedral school. The militia sent by the officials to restore order, instead joined the attackers. About 100 Jews killed.[242]
1669
The majority of Jews inOran are expelled by the Spanish queen.[243][244]
Raphael Levy is burned at the stake overblood libel. After being offered a chance to convert and live, he declared that he had lived a Jew and would die a Jew.
1679
TheExile of Mawza. It is considered the single most traumatic event experienced collectively by theJews of Yemen. All Jews living in nearly all cities and towns throughout Yemen were banished by decree of the king, Imām al-Mahdi Ahmad, and sent to a dry and barren region of the country named Mawza to withstand their fate or to die. Only a few communities who lived in the far eastern quarters of Yemen were spared this fate by virtue of their Arab patrons who refused to obey the King's orders. Many would die along the route and while confined to the hot and arid conditions of this forbidding terrain.
Mob attacks against Jews inVilna. It was condemned by King John Sobieski, who ordered the punishment of the guilty.
1682
Largest trial against alleged Judaizers inLisbon, Portugal. 117 were tried in 3 days.[245]
1683
Hungarian rebels known asKuruc rushes into the town ofUherský Brod, massacring the majority of its Jewish inhabitants. Most of the victims were recent refugees who were expelled from Vienna in 1670. One of the Hebrews killed by the mob was Jewish historianNathan ben Moses Hannover, who was a survivor of theChmielnicki massacres. Most of the survivors fled to Upper Hungary.
Only 500 Jews survive after Austrian sieged the city ofBuda. Half of them are sold into slavery.[246][248]
1689
Worms is invaded by the French and the Jewish quarter is reduced to ashes.[249]
1689
The Jewish Ghetto ofPrague is destroyed by French troops. After it was over 318 houses, 11 synagogues, and 150 Jews were dead.[250]
1691
219 people are convicted of being Jewish inPalma, Majorca. 37 of them are burned to death. Among those martyred is Raphael and his sister Catalina Benito, who although declaring she wanted to live, jumped right into the flames rather than to be baptized.[251][252]
1696
A number ofConverso Jews are burned alive inÉvora, Portugal.
1698
A female child is found dead at a church in Sandomierz. The mother of the child first said she placed her body in the church because she could not afford a burial, but after torture accused the Jewish leader Aaron Berek of the local community of murdering her daughter. The mother and Berek were sentenced the death.[253]
1699
A mob attacks the Jewish Quarter ofBamberg but runs away after one Jew stops them by pouring baskets of ripe plums on the attackers. The event is still commemorated on the 29th of Nisan as theZwetschgen-Ta’anit (Prune-Fest).[254]
An outbreak of the plague and a terrible famine in Algiers reduced many Jewish families to indigence. Then, influenced by false accusations, the bey imposed an exorbitant fine on the community and ordered the destruction of the synagogues, which were saved only by the payment of a further sum. This ruined the majority of the Jews.[255]
1711
Johann Andreas Eisenmenger writes hisEntdecktes Judenthum ("Judaism Unmasked"), a work denouncingJudaism and which had a formative influence on modern antisemitic polemics.
The last Jews of Carniola, Styria and Carinthia are expelled.[citation needed]
1721
Arab creditors set fire to an Ashkenazi synagogue, fed up with debts. Ashkenazi Jews are banned from Jerusalem along with anyone who looks like an Ashkenazi Jew. Some Ashkenazim dressed up like Sephardic Jews in order to fool the authorities.[258][259][260]
1721
Maria Barbara Carillo wasburned at the stake for heresy during theSpanish Inquisition. She was executed at the age of 95 or 96[261] and is the oldest person known to have been executed at the instigation of the Inquisition.[262] Carillo was sentenced to death for heresy for returning to her faith in Judaism.
Edict ofCatherine I of Russia: "The Jews... who are found in Ukraine and in other Russian provinces are to be expelled at once beyond the frontiers of Russia."[264]
1734
TheHaidamaks, paramilitary bands in Polish Ukraine, attack Jews.[265]
1736
María Francisca Ana de Castro, calledLa bella toledana, a Spanish immigrant to Peru, was arrested in 1726, accused of "judaizing" (being a practicing Jew). She was burned at the stake after anauto de fe in 1736. This event was a major spectacle in Lima, but it raised questions about possible irregular procedures and corruption within theInquisition.
1737
Blood libel inJarosław leads to Jews being tortured and others being put to death.[266]
1742
Elizabeth of Russia issues a decree of expulsion of all the Jews out ofUkraine. Her resolution to the Senate's appeal regarding harm to the trade: "I don't desire any profits from the enemies of Christ". One of the deportees is Antonio Ribera Sanchez, her own personal physician and the head of army's medical dept.[267]
1743
The Russians gain control ofRiga and all local Jews are expelled.[268]
1744
Frederick II The Great (a "heroic genius", according to Hitler) limitsBreslau to ten "protected" Jewish families, on the grounds that otherwise they will "transform it into complete Jerusalem". He encourages this practice in other Prussian cities. In 1750 he issuesRevidiertes General Privilegium und Reglement vor die Judenschaft: "protected" Jews had an alternative to "either abstain from marriage or leave Berlin" (Simon Dubnow).
1744
Archduchess of AustriaMaria Theresa orders: "... no Jew is to be tolerated in our inherited duchy of Bohemia" by the end of Feb. 1745. In December 1748 she reverses her position, on condition that Jews pay for readmission every ten years. This extortion was known among the Jews asmalke-geld (queen's money).[269] In 1752 she introduces the law limiting each Jewish family to one son.
Pope Pius VI issues a severeEditto sopra gli ebrei (Edict concerning the Jews). Previously lifted restrictions are reimposed, Judaism is suppressed
1775
Ablood libel spread in Hebron, in which Jews were falsely accused of murdering the son of a local sheikh.[273][274][275][276] Mob attacks took place.[277][278] At first the Sheikh demanded to kill all the Jews but afterpleas settled on a large fine that nearly destroyed the community.[279][280][281][282]
Holy Roman EmperorJoseph II abolishes most of persecution practices inToleranzpatent on condition thatYiddish andHebrew are eliminated from public records and judicial autonomy is annulled. Judaism is branded "quintessence of foolishness and nonsense".Moses Mendelssohn writes: "Such a tolerance... is even more dangerous play in tolerance than open persecution".
Jews are expelled fromJeddah, most of them flee to Yemen.[286]
1790
Yazid becomes theSultan ofMorocco and immediately orders troops to massacre and plunder the Jewish quarter ofTétouan.
1790
TheTouro Synagogue's warden, Moses Seixas, wrote toGeorge Washington, expressing his support for Washington's administration and good wishes for him. Washington sent a letter in response, which read in part:
"... the Government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy."
— Letter of George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island[287]
^Meyers, Carol (2007)."16. Esther". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.).The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. p. 325.ISBN9780199277186.Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved24 March 2019.
^Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict By Christopher Haas, JHU Press, 4 November 2002 – History – 520 pages, Part IV "Jewish Community"
^Socrates Scholasticus,Ecclesiastical History, Book VII,Chapter 16
^Brown, Michael L.Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the "Church" and the Jewish People. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 1992 (ISBN1560430680)
^Kedar, Benjamin Z. "The Jerusalem Massacre of July 1099 in the Western Historiography of the Crusades." The Crusades. Vol. 3 (2004) (ISBN075464099X), pp. 15–76, pg. 64
^Singer, Isidor.The Jewish Encyclopedia – A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times: Volume 3. p. 298.
^Bradbury 1997, p. 266. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBradbury1997 (help)
^Einbinder, Susan (2002).Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France. p. 71.
^abGross, Gal Jud, 545–6; J. Duvernoy (ed.), Registre d'Inquisition de Jacques Fournier, 1 (1965), 179; M. Meras, in: Bulletin de la Société Archéologique de Tarn-et-Garonne (1964), 81.
^Stern, David (2024). "Burning the Talmud - Before and after Print". In Kogman Appel, Katrin; Steinmann, Ilona (eds.).Premodern Jewish Books, their Makers and Readers in an Era of Media Change. Brepols. pp. 301–339.ISBN978-2-503-60463-3.
^Dubnow, Simon (9 March 2010).History of the Jews in Russia And Poland. Nabu Press. p. 86.
^Baron, Salo Wittmayer.Late Middle Ages and Era of European Expansion (1200–1650): The Ottoman Empire, Persia, Ethiopia, India, and China. Columbia University Press. p. 63.
^Büchler, Alexander (1904). "Hungary". In Singer, Isidore (ed.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls Co. pp. 494–503.
^Smith, Andy (18 August 2013)."Newport's Touro Synagogue celebrates its 250th anniversary".The Providence Journal. Archived fromthe original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved18 August 2014.Justice Elena Kagan, United States Supreme Court, was the keynote speaker at the 66th Annual George Washington Letter weekend at Touro Synagogue
^Coyle, Ann (2007)."Address at Touro Synagogue on President Washington's Letter".News from Brown. Brown University. Retrieved18 August 2014.Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons delivered the keynote address at the 60th Annual Reading of the George Washington Letter at the nation's oldest synagogue, Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., on Sunday, 19 Aug. 2007
^PAUR Staff (2014)."Paxson delivers keynote address at Touro Synagogue in Newport".News from Brown. Brown University. Retrieved18 August 2014.Brown President Christina Paxson delivered the keynote address at the annual reading of President George Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregations of Newport on Sunday, 17 Aug. 2014, at 1 p.m. in Touro Synagogue.
