"Granny's Chapters" (on scriptural subjects) / The New Testament, with a Sketch of the Subsequent History of the Jews.

by Lady Mary Ross

After John the Second became King of France, a.d. 1351, the Jews tried to obtain leave to return to France; but the permission was not granted until 1356, when, John having been taken prisoner by the English, the money of the Jews was needed to raise the sum demanded for his ransom. The children of Israel were, therefore, re-admitted into France for twenty years, on condition that they should at once pay a considerable sum, and that each Jew should pay annually a fixed tax. They would have been wiser to have remained out of the kingdom; for during the reign of Charles the Sixth, which began in 1380, they were often fined, scourged, and many of them executed, on pretence of their having committed various crimes. The wicked absurdity of many of these accusations is proved by the fact, that when Charles the Sixth became mad, the Jews were accused of having deprived him of his senses!

Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the people of France again became clamorous for the banishment of the Jews; and supported by certain noblemen who owed those unhappy creatures money, they broke into their houses, murdered the inhabitants, and seized all the property they could find. Some of the persecuted race took refuge in one of the prisons: their wives attempted to follow them, with their children in their arms, but the mob forced the little ones away from their mothers, and carried them off to be baptized. The government, too weak to venture on punishing the perpetrators of these crimes, replaced the Jews who survived in their houses; and ordered that all persons who had taken any of their property should give it back to them—an order which was, of course, only laughed at. In a.d. 1394, an Act was passed, banishing the Jews from France for ever; but as the town of Metz, in that part of the country called Lorraine, was then a free city, under the protection of the Emperor of Germany, the Jews continued to reside there in peace; and after Lorraine became a part of the kingdom of France, the French monarchs did not molest the Jews in Metz. But though, until the seventeenth century, Metz was the only city in France where the Jews were allowed to reside, a few were always to be found in different parts of the kingdom. Mary de Medicis, the wife of Henry the Fourth, who became king a.d. 1589, sent for a Jewish physician to Paris, where he was allowed free exercise of his religion for himself and his family.

The Jews, who were driven out of France in 1394, went mostly into Germany, where, however, they could not have much hope of peace, as their brethren in that country had suffered much from the beginning of the fourteenth century. About the middle of the century, a number of ignorant and superstitious Christians, imagining that the Almighty had ordered them to scourge themselves and kill the Jews, formed themselves into a company, called "Flagellants," for the purpose of carrying out what they conceived to be the Divine commission. They proceeded to whip themselves in the most cruel manner, and then began their work of destruction. After many of the Jews had been murdered, the Flagellants came to some agreement with their unhappy victims; but this was rendered useless by the conduct of a Jew of Frankfort, who, not being satisfied with the agreement made, set fire to one of the public buildings, which was burnt down, with all the valuable papers it contained: the flames spread to the cathedral, and burnt that also to ashes. For this crime, not only the guilty Jew, but all his innocent brethren also, were put to death; with the exception of a few, who managed to escape, and took refuge in Bohemia.

The year after the affair of the Flagellants, the Jews in Germany were accused of poisoning wells and springs, and a fresh massacre took place all over the country.

At Metz, the Jews not only defended themselves, which they were perfectly right to do, but in revenge put to death, in a barbarous manner, 200 unarmed Christians, who were in no way answerable for the attack upon them.

The enraged populace punished this real crime, by killing many thousands of the Jews, and setting fire to their houses. The flames spread, and did much damage in the town. This persecution extended over the whole of Germany; some of the princes and nobles tried to save and help the miserable victims, but with little success.

The Jews who had fled into Bohemia suffered equally at Prague; during the Feast of the Passover, they were burnt in their synagogues whilst engaged in their devotions.

Soon afterwards another persecution was raised, on the old charge of poisoning springs and rivers; and this persecution extended through Germany and into Italy, Provence, and other parts. The Emperor of Germany himself, convinced of their innocence of this pretended crime, endeavoured to convince his Council that it was impossible for the Jews to have committed it; but such was the feeling against the Hebrew race, that in order to save them from worse calamities, the Emperor was forced, at the close of the fourteenth century, to command these unhappy creatures either to be baptized, or to leave the country. The Jewish historians tell us, that very few did give up their religion; or, as they expressed it, "forsake the glory of their God."

In Spain, the Jews suffered dreadfully at the beginning of the fourteenth century from the Shepherds, who, after finishing their work of destruction in France, carried fire and sword into Spain; marking out the race of Israel as their especial victims: and a pestilence that broke out in the army of the Shepherds increased their fury against these devoted people, whom they accused of having caused it by poisoning the rivers. This story was readily believed, or at least accepted, by those who ought to have known better; and great numbers of Jews were actually imprisoned on this charge: after a long confinement, the judges declared them to be innocent. The king, unwilling to allow that he had imprisoned them unjustly, pretended that he had only kept them in prison in order to convert them; but he caused a large number who refused to be baptized, to be put to death.

Alphonso the Eleventh, king of Castile, was the friend and protector of the Jews, and had one of that nation for his principal minister and adviser. But this displeased his turbulent and rebellious subjects, who accused a Jewish boy of having in some way insulted the Sacrament: they became so violent upon the subject, that the king was obliged to summon a Council, to decide whether the Israelites should be put to death, or banished. Banishment was decided upon; and they were commanded to leave the country within three months' time: but mean time it was discovered that a Christian, and not a Jewish lad, had committed the offence complained of; and the king recalled the sentence of banishment, to the great disappointment and indignation of the enemies of the Jews, who declared, that the witnesses who had proved the Christian lad to be guilty, had been bribed to do so.