Jews and the Crusades (behind first destruction of the Synagogue)

Expeditions from western Europe to recover Jerusalem and the holy sepulcher from the control of the infidel. The undisciplined mobs accompanying the first three Crusades attacked the Jews in Germany, France, and England, and put many of them to death, leaving behind for centuries strong feelings of ill will on both sides. The social position of the Jews in western Europe was distinctly worsened by the Crusades, and legal restrictions became frequent during and after them. They prepared the way for the anti-Jewish legislation of Innocent III., and formed the turning-point in the medieval history of the Jews. The outbursts did not come unexpectedly. Soon after Peter the Hermit and Urban II. had aroused the enthusiasm of French chivalry at the Council of Clermont in 1094, Godfrey de Bouillon declared that he would avenge the blood of Jesus on that of the Jews, and leave none of them alive, while his companions threatened to exterminate the Jews if they would not become converted. The Judæo-French communities accordingly sent letters to those on the Rhine, who thereupon appointed a fastday to avert the evil (Jan., 1096); and when Godfrey de Bouillon came to Cologne and Mayence each community made him a present of 500 silver marks to secure his protection. When Peter of Amiens arrived with the crusaders at Treves early in 1096, he did not directly arouse the people against the Jews, but left a general ill will against them throughout Lorraine, especially through the influence of the knight Volkmar, who declared that he would not leave the kingdom until he had slain at least one Jew. In the spring of 1096 twenty-two Jews were slain at Metz, and on May 3 the crusaders and accompanying rabble attacked the Jews of Speyer, slaying eleven of them and only being restrained by the exertions of Bishop John from putting them all to death in the synagogue. On May 18 the Jews of Worms were all slain except a few who were forcibly baptized or who took refuge with the bishop. Their houses were destroyed, and even the corpses denuded. Many slew themselves rather than fall into the hands of the mob. The bishop's palace was stormed a week later, and all those within it were put to death. The number of the slain is said to have amounted to 800, though the extant list of names reaches only 400 (Salfeld, "Martyrologium," p. 107). One of the richest Jewesses, named Minna, when surrounded by the mob and implored by some of her friends among the nobles to accept baptism, resolutely refused and was put to death. Several were drowned, and Mar Shemariah with his whole family was buried alive amid the jeers of the mob, who nevertheless during the entombment offered in vain to grant them safety if they would become converted (related to Tonks' link on the martyrs??).

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Results.
Before the Crusades the Jews had practically a monopoly of trade in Eastern products, but the closer connection between Europe and the East brought about by the Crusades raised up a class of merchant traders among the Christians, and from this time onward restrictions on the sale of goods by Jews became frequent (Höniger, in "Zeit. Gesch. Juden Deutsch." i. 94et seq.). The religious zeal fomented by the Crusades burned as fiercely against the Jews as enemies of Christ as against the Moslems. Thus both economically and socially the Crusades were disastrous for European Jews.


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