The Elasticity and Rigidity of Europe - Xenophobia - Jews

7 important questions on The Elasticity and Rigidity of Europe - Xenophobia - Jews

What was Canon 68 about? Why was it necessary?

  • Canon 68 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) forbade sex between Jews and Christians and, to that end, demanded that all Jews wear visible markers of their identity.
  • That provision was necessary because Jews and Christians lived in the same neighborhoods, dressed similarly, spoke the same vernacular languages, and often worked together cooperatively.

How did many Christians see Jews by 1215?

  • By 1215, many Christians, guided by literate elites, considered Jews to be threats to the very health and integrity of their community.
  • Indeed, Jews came increasingly to be viewed as creatures of the devil. One of their most heinous practices, it was alleged, was the ritual crucifixion of Christian children.
  • Most terrible of all was the myth ("blood libel") that Jews used the blood of their victims in their Passover rites.

What did King Henry III do?

  • English King Henry III (r.1216-1272) imposed unusually harsh taxes on the Jews in the 1240s and 1250s.
  • By the end of Henry's reign, the Jews in his realm were impoverished and their numbers depleted.
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What does the Statute of the Jewry say?

  • The Statute of the Jewry in 1275, drawn up by King England I (r.1272-1307) stipulated that "from henceforth no Jew shall lend anything at usury, either on land or rent, or anything else."

How did the Church think about usury?

The Church considered usury (lending money at interest) to be a sin and prohibited Christians from engaging in it (although many Christians found savvy ways to practice it anyway.)

What was the fate of the Jews in France?

  • At Blois in 1171 they were accused of killing a young boy and, although no body was found, thirty-two of the forty adult Jews living in the city were executed.
  • Blois was close to the royal domain, and in 1182 King Philip II Augustus took the next logical step. He expelled the Jews from the Ile-de-France.

How did Louis IX and Philip IV go about the Jews?

  • In 1242, King Louis IX presided over the burning of two dozen cartloads of the ancient rabbinic Bible commentaries known as the Talmud.
  • Philip IV the Fair (r.1285-1314) gave up on conversion and expelled the Jews from France altogether in 1306.

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