But the three mighty hosts, led by Peter and his two colleagues, passed on and perished, and the exhaustion succeeded which such a drain on the population must necessarily occasion. It was not until half the twelfth century had passed away that the crusading mania was again roused. Then a fanatic monk, named Rodolph, commenced a mission through the German cities, calling on all men, by the watchword ‘Hep, Hep’ (the initials of the words Hierosolyma est perdita) to assist in slaying and crushing the enemies of God. The Jews knew too well, by past experience, that they were included under this latter term, and many effected a timely retreat. Nevertheless, a frightful carnage took place in Strasburg, Mayence, and the other Rhine cities, encouraged, unhappily, by too many of the clergy. It is like a bright gleam of sunshine on a dark November day, to read the protest addressed by the saintly Bernard of Clairvaulx, to his brother clergy against the blind and savage spirit by which Rodolph was possessed.[103]
‘The Jews,’ he writes, ‘ought not to be persecuted; they ought not to be put to death, they ought not to be driven into banishment. What says the Scripture? “Slay them not, lest My people forget.” The Jews are living monuments to remind us of the sufferings of the Lord. Therefore it is that they are scattered.... Therefore they endure a hard bondage under Christian princes; yet, in the eventide of the world, they will be converted, and He will remember them. Addressing Rodolph himself, he says, ‘You are of another mind from Him who said, “Put up thy sword into the sheath, for he that taketh the sword shall perish with the sword.” Does not the Church triumph more gloriously over the Jews when she refutes and converts them, than if she slew them with the edge of the sword?’ It is satisfactory also to learn that Pope Eugenius III. advocated the same view, and that Rodolph was ordered back to his convent, though not before he had occasioned the most terrible crimes and sufferings.
But the condition of the Jews grew no better, but rather worse, as the century advanced. The calumny—whether it was the revival of an ancient accusation against the Jews, or one newly invented at this period—of crucifying boys at their Passover, in mockery of the Saviour’s passion, was widely diffused and credited. It was reported that, about A.D. 1180, during the youth of Philip Augustus, they had in this manner murdered one Richard, a youth belonging to Pontoise; and, in confirmation of the truth of the story, the body, when it was conveyed to Paris, worked many miracles. Philip had no sooner ascended his throne than he put forth an edict, A.D. 1182, whereby all debts due to Jews were annulled, and all pledges held by them were to be restored to the original owners. Not satisfied with this display of somewhat cheap generosity, he made a second proclamation, confiscating all their property which was not removable, and commanding them to sell everything else belonging to them, and depart from his dominions. In vain they appealed for mercy. King and nobles and bishops alike closed their ears. The twofold offence of holding heretical opinions and mortgages on estates was not to be forgiven. It will readily be credited that at the enforced sale of their goods the prices bidden were of the lowest. The unhappy Jews were compelled to depart, amid the execrations of the populace, from the homes in which their whole lives had been passed, carrying with them little but their wives and children. It was not enough that they had been, by the most high-handed injustice, stripped of their possessions; they were not to be allowed to remain in the land where the wrong had been done, and so remind the doers of their crime!
It will surprise no one to be told that their removal did not increase the wealth or relieve the public burdens of the nation. It was found that the expulsion of the Jews was, as Fouché said of the murder of the Duke d’Enghien, ‘more than a crime, for it was a blunder.’ Within twenty years Philip found it necessary to issue a new edict, permitting their return. But it does occasion our wonder to hear that the Jews consented to the step. It speaks volumes for the depth of the misery to which they had been reduced, that they could be prevailed on to trust themselves again to the justice and mercy of a king who had so flagrantly proved his disregard of both.[104] Not long after their return, we are told that they held an assembly by permission of the Queen’s mother, at a castle on the Seine. Here the old charge of scourging, crucifying, and crowning with thorns a youth whom they had seized was once more alleged against them. Philip repaired in person to the spot, where he condemned eighty of the accused to be burned alive.[105]
In Spain, during this century, the Jews were still equitably dealt with, though there were signs of the change of feeling towards them which was gradually taking possession of the public mind. For this two causes may be assigned. In the first place, the power of the Mahometans, who had always been the protectors of the Jews, was fast waning; and the Christian sovereigns no longer dreaded the enmity of the Jews, who in previous generations might have been dangerous allies to their rivals. In the second, the downfall of the Ommiad Caliphs, who had uniformly been just and generous in their dealings with the Jews, proved most disastrous to them. The Almohades, who, A.D. 1150, superseded them, were fierce and bloody fanatics, inclined to force the faith of Islam on all with whom they came in contact. One of the first edicts of Abdel-Mumen, the founder of the dynasty, required all his subjects, of whatsoever creed, to profess Mahometanism. The usual consequences followed. Many Jews went into voluntary exile; many more made an outward profession of their persecutor’s creed, still secretly retaining their own. The happy days of the Spanish Jews were over. Moorish rule was ended.
In the Christian kingdom, however, justice and right still prevailed. The royal authority was uniformly exerted for the protection of peaceable and unoffending men. But there were occasions on which this power proved insufficient to restrain the violence of the people, who had probably learned from their neighbours to regard the Jews with disfavour. Thus, a riot occurred at Toledo, A.D. 1108, instigated, in all likelihood, by the crusaders, who were just on the point of setting out for Palestine. The populace, under the usual pretext of slaying the enemies of Christ, attacked and burned the houses of the Jews, wrecked the synagogues, immolating the Rabbins, as it were, on their own altars, and made a general massacre of the common people. Alphonso tried in vain, first to repress, and then to punish, the offenders.
But this occurrence, shocking as it was, was a mere temporary outburst of popular fury. It was not repeated, not even in the reign of his descendant, Alphonso VIII., in 1171, when, above all other times, a Jewish massacre might have been looked for. This king had become deeply enamoured of a beautiful Jewess, named Rachel Fermosa. For her society he neglected his queen, and withdrew himself from public business. Grave misfortunes ensued: his forces were defeated at Alarcos, and the kingdom menaced by the hostility of the neighbouring states. The people believed that these calamities were due, not to the bad administration of public affairs, but to the indignation of Heaven at the king’s unhallowed affection for an unbeliever. Their jealousy was also roused by the favour shown to her countrymen. A rebellion broke out, the rioters burst into the king’s palace, and assassinated Fermosa before the eyes of her lover. But they satisfied themselves with her death, and did not molest the Jewish favourites whom she had patronized.
Alphonso IX. showed even greater favour to the Jews than had been bestowed on them by his predecessors. Innocent III. repeated in his instance the charge which Gregory VII. had brought against his ancestor, ‘of elevating the Synagogue at the cost of the Church.’ He relieved both Jews and Moors, we are told, from the payment of tithes, and allowed them to hold landed property,—a rare privilege in those days. One of his laws—which allowed a Jew, in the event of one of his slaves being converted to Christianity, to claim, at the hands of the person who had converted him whatever indemnity he might think proper—seems to be as unfair to the Christians as the legislation of those times usually was to the Jews.
In Hungary, Germany, and Bohemia, their condition, during the period we have under consideration, appears to have been prosperous. Ladislas, King of Hungary, convened, we are told, a Synod in 1092, in which various regulations relating to the Jews were made. It was ordered that if a Jew bought a Christian slave of either sex, the slave should be set at liberty, and the price paid for him confiscated to the bishop. His son Coloman re-enacted this prohibition against the use of Christian slaves, but permitted the Jews to purchase and cultivate lands, on condition of employing Jewish or pagan labour, and settling in such places only as were under the jurisdiction of a bishop. These laws prove that the Jews must have been both a numerous and wealthy part of the population.
In Germany and Bohemia they had many stately synagogues, particularly in the great towns, and were not interfered with by the government. Nevertheless, they did not escape persecution. A fanatic priest, named Gotesel, incited a band of lawless ruffians, amounting in number to fifteen thousand, to attack the Jews; and he was supported, it is believed, in secret, by persons high in authority. He plundered the property of the Jews, outraged their women, and massacred the men all over Franconia. He then entered Hungary, and commenced perpetrating the like atrocities; when he was attacked and slain, together with the greater part of his followers. Soon afterwards the Landgrave of Leiningen declared in like manner a religious war against the Jews, and having assembled a body of troops, committed great havoc among them, pursuing them at last, like his predecessor, into Hungary; where, like his predecessor again, he was defeated and slain.[106]