The important congregation of Safet also gave assent to the edict in favor of Maimuni. The rabbi of the town, Moses ben Jehuda Cohen, together with his colleagues, and a portion of the community of Accho, repeated at the grave of Maimuni in Tiberias the formula of excommunication against all who continued their obstinate enmity against him, against those who refused to surrender writings accusing him of heterodoxy, and especially against all who disobeyed the decisions of the Prince of the Captivity, "seeing that they who incite discord in the communities deny the Torah, which preaches peace, and they mock at God, who is peace itself." All the congregations and rabbis in Palestine took up the cause of Maimuni. The members of the community of Bagdad, who at this time basked in the sunshine of the favor of a prominent Jewish statesman, and at whose head as the chief of the academy was Samuel Cohen ben Daniel, also expressed themselves to the same effect (Tishri—September, 1289). The Kabbalists of Accho were condemned by public opinion, and the Exilarch of Damascus took care to acquaint the European communities with what had occurred. The testimonials in favor of Maimuni were forwarded to Barcelona, probably to Solomon ben Adret. The philosopher and poet, Shem-Tob Falaquera, a prolific writer, took advantage of the favorable opportunity to publish a vindication of the "Guide" of Maimuni, saying that in his opinion only very few, perhaps only one person—who was able to read this work on the philosophy of religion in the original—could render it sufficient justice. But in Spain, Maimuni required no advocates; for it was seldom that any one ventured to speak in derogatory terms of his opinions. Though pious Spaniards might here and there have found something to cavil at, they, nevertheless, paid great honor to Maimuni's name.
The German rabbis, by whom Solomon Petit had been supported, had no leisure to note the issue of the strife concerning Maimuni. They were too much occupied with their own affairs. During the reign of Emperor Rudolph of Habsburg, such severe troubles befell the German communities that they determined on emigrating en masse. Rudolph, who from a poor knight had become the ruler over the German empire, did not, indeed, threaten their lives, but had designs upon their money. His coffers were empty, and he was in need of means to enable him to subdue the proud nobles, and to lay the foundation of the power of the house of Habsburg. Jews indeed advanced large sums of money to the poor duke, to whom the crown of an empire had unexpectedly fallen, one of his creditors being Amshel Oppenheimer. But these voluntary advances did not satisfy him, and did not prevent him from extorting larger sums from them. Every favor which he conceded them, and every protection which he extended to them, was preceded by the payment of a considerable present in money. As Rudolph always kept his own advantage in view, a mark of favor displayed towards the Jews was regularly followed by some restriction, so that he might always have them under his control.
He confirmed the privileges of the old congregation at Ratisbon, which it had possessed from ancient days, acknowledging among other things, that it might exercise its own jurisdiction in civil affairs, and that none of its members could be convicted of any crime without the corroborative evidence of a Jewish witness. At the instigation of the bishop, however, he promulgated a decree that the Jews of Ratisbon should remain at home during Eastertide, not show themselves on roads and streets to the "ignominy of the Christian faith," and were to fasten their doors and windows. For the congregations in Austria, Emperor Rudolph confirmed the statute in favor of the Jews passed by Archduke Frederick the Valiant, which afforded protection against persecution and murder. On the other hand, a year later, he issued a special decree to the citizens of Vienna, which solemnly declared the ineligibility of the Jews for public offices. Pope Innocent IV had exonerated them from the charge of child-murder at Passover. Pope Gregory X (1271–1278), at the request of the Jews, had issued a bull, which ordained that they were not to be made by brute force to undergo baptism, and that no injury was to be inflicted upon their persons or their property. Emperor Rudolph ratified these bulls, adding that "it is not true that the Jews feed upon the heart of a slain child on the days of the Passover festival." In order that they might be able to live under his protection, assured of the imperial grace, he confirmed and repeated all the edicts which had been issued by the popes in their favor, especially the one which declared that Jews could be condemned only on the valid evidence of Jews and Christians. He also afforded them many other means of protection, and inflicted punishment upon some murderers of innocent Jews in Lorch. But as the Germans had of old been accustomed to anarchy, there arose, during his reign, a large number of blood-accusations, and massacres of Jews, which the emperor partly left unpunished, partly encouraged.
About Easter time a dead Christian child was discovered at Mayence, and now again arose the lying rumor that the Jews of Mayence had murdered it. In vain did Archbishop Werner, of Mayence, the Lord Chancellor of the kingdom, exert himself with great energy to appease the excited mob, to institute a regular trial against the accused, and to discover the guilty persons. The Christians, whom the sight of the corpse filled with intense fury, attacked their Jewish neighbors on the second day of Easter (or the last day but one of Passover, 19th April, 1283), slew ten persons, and pillaged the Jewish houses. The persecution would have been much more bloody, had not Archbishop Werner energetically intervened for the defense of "his" Jews. Emperor Rudolph is reported to have commanded an inquiry to be made into the matter later on, and to have confirmed the judgment passed upon the Jews, and acquitted the citizens of Mayence from all blame. The possessions of which they had been plundered he is said to have confiscated, not, however, for the benefit of his own treasury, but to be distributed among the poor; for he would not make use of any property acquired by usury, nor would he permit the Church to use it. In other respects, Emperor Rudolph was by no means conscientious. On the day of the attack in Mayence, twenty-six Jews were put to death in Bacharach. Two years later (11th October, 1285) heartrending sufferings befell the congregation of Munich. At this place also the false charge was circulated that the Jews had purchased a Christian child from an old woman, and had killed it. Without waiting for any judicial investigation of these charges, the infuriated populace fell upon the Jews, and put to death all who fell into their hands. The remaining Jews had fled for refuge to the synagogue. Thereupon the adherents of the religion of love procured some inflammable material, placed it around the building, and set fire to the house of prayer. One hundred and eighty persons, old and young, were thus burnt to death. Not long after this, more than forty Jews of Oberwesel, near Bacharach, and others in Boppard, were innocently murdered (1286). The charge against them was that they had secretly drawn out the blood of a pious man, called by the people "the good Werner." The credulous asserted that light had issued from his corpse, on which account this so-called saint became the object of pilgrimages. Emperor Rudolph, however, some time later stripped the man of sanctity, and absolved the Jews from the guilt of his death.
There can be no doubt that it was owing to the annually repeated persecutions, the insecurity of their existence and their wretched state, that the Jews of several congregations resolved to shake the dust of Germany from their feet, and, together with their wives and children, to wander forth and seek a new home. Many families from the cities of Mayence, Worms, Speyer, Oppenheim, and others, in the Wetterau, left their rich possessions in order to go across the sea. At the head of these emigrants was the most famous rabbi of Germany, Meïr of Rothenburg, who was revered as a saint. He also wandered forth, together with his whole family, to make his way to Syria (spring, 1286). A rumor was current that in this land the Messiah had made his appearance, and would redeem unhappy Israel from its troubles.
At this time all eyes in the East beheld with astonishment a Jewish statesman as the most distinguished personage at the court of a Mongol Grand Khan, whose dominion extended from the lower Euphrates and the borders of Syria to the Caspian Sea. The Mongols, or Tartars, had founded a large kingdom in Persia, which was only nominally subject to the khanate of Mongolia and China. After Hulagu, the founder of this kingdom, and his son Abaka (Abagha), his second son had succeeded to the throne, and he embraced Islam, and assumed the name of Ahmed. The Mongols of Persia were, however, dissatisfied with this proceeding: Ahmed was dethroned, and put to death. His successor, in the Perso-Mongolian kingdom, was Argun, the son of Abaka (1284–91). Argun displayed marked aversion to Islam, and a special liking for Jews and Christians. This Grand Khan had a Jewish physician, named Saad-Addaula (perhaps the same as Mordecai Ibn-Alcharbiya), a man possessed of wide learning, acute intellect, political insight, and disinterested character. As he had frequent dealings with Mongols, he was acquainted with their language as well as with Arabic. He had a handsome appearance, charming manners, and the suppleness of a diplomat. He also had a taste for poetry and science, and in later years became their patron. Saad-Addaula practised in Bagdad, where Argun very often held his court. The Grand Khan once fell ill, and was restored to health by Saad. He conversed with the physician to whom he owed his recovery, upon state matters, and learnt from him particulars of the condition of the revenue, which the officials and courtiers, out of avarice, had diligently concealed from the Grand Khan. From that time Saad-Addaula became his favorite and counselor, and rose step by step to the position of the highest state official.
Many wealthy Jews of the districts of the Rhine and the Maine started on their journey; and Meïr of Rothenburg reached Lombardy, together with his whole family. He was only waiting for the members of his congregation in order to take ship in Italy, and, together with other exiles, steer their course towards the East into the haven of safety. Unfortunately, Meïr was recognized by a baptized Jew, who was passing through the same town in the train of the bishop of Basle. At the instigation of the bishop, the captain, Meinhard of Görz, took him prisoner, and delivered him to the authorities. Emperor Rudolph ordered him to be placed under arrest in the tower of Ensisheim, in Alsace (4th Tammuz—19th June, 1286). The emperor did not intend to punish the runaway rabbi, but to keep him safe and prevent him from emigrating. He was afraid that, by the departure of the Jews en masse, the imperial income obtained from these serfs of the chamber ("servi cameræ") would suffer heavy loss. Meïr's imprisonment was, therefore, not a severe one. He was permitted to receive visits, to instruct his pupils, and to perform all the functions of a rabbi, but he was not permitted to leave the place.
The German Jews, however, could not feel easy while their highly respected chief remained in custody: they, therefore, sent deputies to Emperor Rudolph, when he paid a visit to the Rhine country (in the year 1288). Being then, as usual, in need of money, he entered into negotiations with them. The Jews offered him 20,000 marks of silver if he would inflict punishment upon the murderers of the Jews of Oberwesel and Boppard, release Meïr from custody, and guarantee to them security against murderous outrages at the hands of the populace. The emperor acceded to their terms, and laid a heavy fine upon the citizens of Oberwesel and Boppard. Meïr was not, however, released from prison, either because the emperor hoped to make capital of the respect of the Jews for their rabbi, and to extract large sums of money from them, or, as is related, because Meïr himself refused to be liberated on these terms. He feared that the precedent of imprisoning the rabbis to extort ransoms from the Jews, would be frequently resorted to in after times, and therefore continued for five years longer under arrest. From prison he sent replies to inquiries addressed to him, and composed several works there. He died in prison, and the successors of Rudolph kept his corpse unburied for fourteen years, in order to extort money from the congregations. At length a childless man from Frankfort, named Süsskind Alexander Wimpfen, ransomed the body for a large sum, and interred it in Worms. The only reward which the noble Wimpfen demanded was that his bones might be laid by the side of the pious rabbi.
At about this time the Jews of England suffered the extremity of misfortune. They were more unhappy, if that was possible, than the German Jews. Before being expelled, they had to pass through every degree of misery. At the accession of the new king, Edward I, they had prospects of a secure existence, seeing that this monarch, the very opposite of his father, was severe but just; he showed them no favors, but, on the other hand, he extorted nothing from them, and at all events was able to protect them from the attacks of the deluded mob. Edward took very great care that the Jews of his land be not made to suffer nor be subjected to caprice, and that no injury be done either to their persons or their property. They might have lived on in this lowly state, bowed down beneath the burden of the imposts, and wearying themselves to satisfy, through usury, the insatiable demands of the royal treasury, had not a slight occurrence made them the object of the bitter hatred of the monks.
In London there lived a Dominican, named Robert de Redingge, who inflamed the minds of the people by his eloquence in the pulpit. He had studied the Hebrew language, on the cultivation of which so much stress had been laid by the third general of the order, Raymond de Penyaforte, to enable the monks to convert the Jews by means of their own writings. But instead of converting them, the preaching friar, Robert de Reddinge, became himself converted. He was inspired by so deep a love for Judaism that he underwent circumcision, assumed the name of Haggaï, and married a beautiful Jewess (summer of 1275). When he was summoned to answer for his apostasy, he defended his new faith with great warmth. King Edward handed him over for punishment to the archbishop of Canterbury. What was done to him is not known; but it appears that he, together with his wife, escaped unhurt. The Dominicans were, however, enraged at his conversion, for they considered the apostasy of one of their members as a disgraceful blot upon their order. Touched to the quick by the mockery of the people and their rivals the Franciscans, who deeply hated them, the preaching friars sought to wreak their vengeance upon the Jews. As the king could not be approached except by some intermediate agent, they brought their influence to bear upon the bigoted, avaricious queen-mother Eleanor, and they succeeded. She identified herself with the cause of the Dominicans against the Jews, and did not desist till the English Jews had drained the cup of tribulation to the dregs. She first expelled the Jews from the town of Cambridge which belonged to her, and personally fostered the hostile feeling against them throughout the whole country, especially among Christian merchants.