Episode 13 The Jews in 1215 and Beyond

1215: Years That Changed History

Dr Dorsey Armstrong (2019)

Film Review

According to Armstrong, the persecution of Jews, homosexuals, the disabled and  women originated, not with peasants and workers, but with a landed elite keen to acquire yet more resources for themselves.* However new waves of Jewish migration into Europe between 1000 and 1500 helped feed popular mistrust. Prior to the 11th century 80% of the world’s Jews lived in Muslim countries. Even after 1100, the majority were confined to southern Europe.

After 1215, “conspiracy theories” began circulating in European cities about “Blood Libel” (ie that Jews were ritually killing Christian infants and drinking their blood). Following torture, a few made false confessions, leading scores of other Jews to be executed and their property confiscated. Following the arrival of the Black Death in Europe, rumors spread that Jews had caused the plague by poisoning wells.**

The well-poisoning rumors would lead to pogroms (mass slaughters) of Jews, mainly in rural German speaking areas. Many fled to Cologne, where church leaders endeavored to protect them. In the the battle of St Bartholomew’s Night in 1348, citizens of Cologne attacked and burned the Jewish quarter. according to Armstrong, the Jews defended themselves and approximately 25,000 people killed on both sides.

She estimates there were roughly 340 pogroms in rural German speaking communities, totally wiping out 80 Jewish communities. In 1348 Pope Clement VI officially absolved European Jews (who were dying in equal numbers as Christians) of any responsibility for the plague, and some who had fled to Vienna were invited to return to their villages.

*Desperately in debt, in 1306 Philippe the Fair used growing anti-Jewish sentiment to exile all Jews from France and confiscate their property.

**Jews, who lived in walled off ghettos, may have experienced lower plague rates in some regions owing to Passover laws requiring them to eliminate all wheat, barley, rye and oats stores (including crumbs) from their homes. This would have gone a long way to eliminating flea-carrying rats responsible for spreading

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/12392969/12392996