Trudy Gold
Jewish Migrations Eastwards, the Black Death, and a New Resting Place

Trudy Gold | Jewish Migrations Eastwards, the Black Death, and a New Resting Place | 05.05.22

Visuals displayed throughout the presentation.

- All right, well, good evening everyone from London, and today we are going to look at the events in Western and Central Europe that is going to push the Jews to the East. One of the issues when you’re teaching Jewish history, the great quote of Isaiah Berlin, “The problem of the Jews, too much history, not enough geography.” In order to understand the whole pace of Jewish history, you really have to take on that it’s really the Jewish contact with other peoples. As a Zionist historian would say to you, “All that could happen is the outside world would act and the Jewish world would react to it.” Now, what I did yesterday, because obviously we’re starting this big series on Russia, I want to make clear, apart from a small settlement in Kievan Rus, and of course the Radanites as they passed to, through in Khazaria, there was no real settlement in the Russian Empire as it develops. What I’m looking at now is where the Jews did settle in Eastern Europe, and of course they settled in the important kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, which later incorporated the Ukraine. Why are we calling this whole presentation Russia? Because in terms of Jewish history, the Jews are then incorporated into other people’s empires.

Beginning in 1772, culminating in 1815, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth is wiped off the map and they, and the majority of Jews living in those areas become subjects of the Czars. Another 100,000 become subjects of the Prussian, later German, Empire. And the other group, about 70,000 of them, and mainly in Galicia, they become subjects of the Habsburg Empire. So, that’s why we are looking at this. And also, I think what is fascinating about Jewish history, remember what a tiny percentage of the world’s population the Jews are. And yet they have a very distinct history, very much marked by the religiosity of Christianity. They’re forced out of normal occupation patterns. They cannot be connected to the land. And so what they do is they move into those niches where they can find a resting place for themselves and also to earn a living. And in a main, that’s merchanting, trading, and money lending. And of course that’s going to add to the hostility. But now I’m taking you back to Western and Central Europe.

I’m going to begin around the time of the Third Crusade. And we’re going to discuss how events unfold in the West that make life in the West totally unpalatable for the Jews. And ironically, as the Western Europe closes up for them, Poland, particularly under Casimir the Great, who we referred to already. And I’m going to talk a lot about this settlement next, in my next session, he actually invites the Jews in, beginning with his ancestor, Boleslaw, the Jews are invited into Poland because this vast kingdom, particularly after its annexation with Lithuania and also taking of the Ukraine, they have a peasant population. 7% of the population are nobles. So, you have the nobility and the peasantry. And what do you need? You need a vital, fluid, interesting group of people who are prepared to really work the economy. And what the Polish crown is going to do for the Jews, they’re almost going to allow them to set up a kingdom within a kingdom. And this really does become, as far as Ashkenazi Jewry is concerned, a golden age. And I’m putting a question mark on that because everything is relative.

So basically, let’s go back to Western and Central Europe and to go to the reign of Innocent III, Pope from 1160 to 1216. Can we please see the first slide, Judi? Yeah, there’s Pope Innocent III, one of the most powerful of the medieval popes. And please see this time as a period of great conflict between the papacy and the secular rulers. And the whole motif is who rules in a kingdom? Who is really in charge? Is it papal rule or is it secular rule? And it, this is an incredible tussle that quite often the Jews are going to be at the center of. He wants to assert the supremacy of the Church. He’s also not just worried about the rise of Islam, the other great monotheistic religion. One of the most important motifs of European and Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam for nearly 1,000 years, is the clash of civilizations. And this is where this tiny community of Jews also have a very important role because who do you think are the people that can cross from empire to empire?

Now going back to Innocent III, he is zealous for the Church. The Catholic Church is a monolith. All heresy must be suppressed. He is going to be very much behind crusades. What does he want from crusades? It is a movement that began in 1095/96 to capture Jerusalem from the Muslims. The Muslims had created a huge empire. They had taken Jerusalem, which of course is sacred to Christianity. And this was a real blot on Christendom. And in addition, if you could persuade people to go on crusade, what is the reason for it? Well, the way medieval structure worked, if you were a noble with say three sons, the oldest son would inherit your land. The second son would go into the Church. What would the third son do? He’d be landless. It was a wonderful way of pillage. And also of sometimes being able to take property. A crusader kingdom was set up in the Middle East. But also in terms of Christianity, if you went on a crusade, you assured your place in the world to come. The world to come was seen, when you died, you went to purgatory. And the greatest good deed you could do in this world was to go on crusade for the love of Jesus and for the love of the Church.

So there was a religious motif, and there was also an economic motif. And this pope, very much rankling over the loss of Jerusalem, let’s have a slide on the loss of Jerusalem. In 1187, Jerusalem of course was lost. Who is the great conquering monarch who takes Jerusalem? It’s course, it is, of course, Saladin, the great Saladin who was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. He was a founder of a huge dynasty. He came, and I’m going to give you the limit of his empire because this is important. He controlled the Hejaz, which is now Saudi. He controlled Egypt, Yemen, southern Turkey, northern Iraq. And he was very much the custodian of the two holy mosques. Remember, he controls Mecca and Medina. And his aim was to unite all the Arabs, all the warring Arab dynasties. How could he unite them against the crusaders? So basically, Jerusalem has been lost to the Christians. So, there’s economic and political reasons. And then in 1189, the Pope Innocent III summons the kings of Europe to crusade. It’s the Third Crusade. It’s actually known as the Crusade of the Kings. And can we see a painting of that, please, Judi? There you are.

The Third Crusade and the picture of the man you see is of course Richard the Lionheart. Richard the Lionheart, a son of Henry II. He spent nearly all of his time outside of England. He’s one of the kings of myth and legend. Those of you who know English history, it’s in his reign you have the legend of Ivanhoe, the legend of Robin Hood. In fact, as far as monarchy was concerned, he was a terrible king. He was prepared to leave England almost ungoverned to go on crusade. And to give you an indication of what happened to Jews at the time of the crusade, well, when Richard announces he’s going on crusade and he’s crowned, the Jews of the, of the Jews of the country went to pay homage to him. They’d lived reasonably happily under his father, the brilliant Henry II. The rumor went around that the Jews were plotting to kill the king. And the mob went on the rampage and murdered Jews in London. It spread.

It spread all the way to York where there was a terrible massacre in York. And the Jews committed Kiddush HaShem rather than give in to mob rule and be murdered that way. So, it also gives you an indication of crusading was always a dangerous time for Jews because it whips the people up into all sorts of religious frenzy. But more importantly, actually, it’s the economic motif. For knights princes to go on crusade, they have to buy armor. They’re in debt to the Jews. The Jews are the money lenders of the kingdom. If you murder the Jews, you don’t have to pay the debts back. In fact, Richard was angry at the riots because any, the percentage of all debts to Jews went to the crown. So consequently, the Third Crusade, Richard goes off to Jerusalem with other kings. It’s an absolute disaster because the kings all quarrel amongst themselves. And frankly, they capture a little, they lose a little, but in the end it fails. So, what does Innocent go for? He goes for a Fourth Crusade. And the Fourth Crusade was even more disastrous. Can we see a painting of the Fourth Crusade, if you don’t mind? Yeah, that’s the Fourth Crusade.

What happened was, again, it’s to recapture Jerusalem. And, but in 1203, so you’ve got this big army on the march, they enter into a deal with the Prince of Byzantine, Alexios Angelos, to divert the army to Constantinople for a short time to restore his deposed father to the throne. They don’t have enough money, the crusaders, they want more money. And here you have the son of the deposed King of Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, the Eastern wing of Christianity, to restore the father as emperor. That, and in return, he promises that if they restore the father, he would then give them financial and military help to take Jerusalem. So, what happens is the crusader army reached the city on the 23rd of June 1203, and a small contingent went on to Acre. The siege of Constantinople, they manage, it’s a terrible sacking of a city, but Isaac is put on the throne. But then there’s a popular uprising. So, the crusaders didn’t receive their promised money, so he’s murdered. So, the crusaders, what they do is they sack the city, they plunder the city. And consequently, only a handful of them went on to try and take back Jerusalem, which of course failed.

But it also gives you a notion of the motivation behind the crusade. Of course, the Pope is absolutely furious. And something else, a Christian Catholic army is actually sacking an Eastern Orthodox city. And this really furthered the problem of the schism between East and West, which of course is important because those of you, of course, we’re all very interested in what’s going on in the Ukraine. And I’ll be talking about that next week. Ukraine is also divided religiously, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic. So, this division is very, very important. I think it’s important to remember that people saw the world in a religious way. If you, if, I dunno if there were any free thinkers, but if they were, the last thing they’re ever going to do is to express it. Now meanwhile, the Pope is having to fight heresy. There’s all sorts of heresies. And he allows the establishment of two orders that are going to be very important in the fight against heresy.

One is the Franciscans. And you will know them of course as the, in England as the Greyfriars. Can we see the next slide, please? There you see the Franciscans. They were actually founded by St. Francis of Assisi. I do find inside out history interesting. I sometimes enjoy watching very bad films. And I was watching a very bad film made by Hollywood, an old film on the life of Francis of Assisi, who of course, Saint Francis of Assisi, who preached penance and poverty. He’s, his order is approved by Innocent III. But the point about the Franciscan is they are going to become involved in the Inquisition, which is going to be set up by another pope in 1231 to break down heresy. So interesting. And of course the Inquisitors could use all sorts of torture. So, we look at characters like the Franciscans, who I said, as I said, are known in England as the Greyfriars. They were granted their own land in England.

As the Dominicans, another order that was created in 1216. The Dominicanis, the hands, palms of God are known as the Blackfriars. Now interesting you already see the beginnings of schools in Paris and Oxford. Well, who do you think is teaching at these schools? The Franciscans and of course the Dominicans. And there’s a very interesting character called Bernard Gui. He wrote a lot about the Inquisition, conducted the Inquisition into heretical depravity. He pronounced over 600 people guilty. These orders, the Franciscan Order and the Dominican Order, and if you read about them in the Catholica Encyclopedia, the leaders are made into saints. And yet from Jewish point of view, they were responsible for the most appalling tortures of conversos. And also they were involved in the fight against other kinds of heresy, such as the Albigensians. In the south of France, there were individuals, the Cathars, who took a different approach to Christianity. They hated the wealth and the panoply of the Catholic Church. They believed there should be no intermediary between God and man. Women had a seat at the table along with men. And they were, that, and as a result, they were, they believed that the God of this world is an evil God. They believed in a higher power outside that. And of course they were considered heretics.

It is the Dominicans and the Franciscans who are going to go against them in the terrible Albigensian Crusade where so many thousands of people were just mowed down. There were other heresies in Bohemia and also along the borders of the Czech lands, the Hussites, the Waldensians, and the Church put these down with absolute ferocity. There can be no, there can be no dissidents in the Catholic Church. So in England, the Dominicans are known as the Blackfriars. In France, by the way, they’re known as the Jacobins. And something else that Innocent institutes is the Fourth Lateran Council. So, he is fighting heresy. He needs to pull together the Church. He’s fighting the Muslims, the arch heretics. He hates the Jews. This is what he wrote in a letter to the Count of Nevers, “The Jews against whom the blood of Jesus Christ calls out, although they ought not to be killed, let the Christian people forget them, lest the Christian people forget the Divine Law.” Jews have to live degraded lives to witness the true faith of Christianity. “Yet as wanderers, ought they to remain on the earth until their countenance be filled with shame.” Like Cain, they shouldn’t be killed.

This is where the legend of the wandering Jew comes from. And basically, they don’t want to kill the Jews, but they want them to live totally degraded lives. And the Fourth Lateran Council, over 1,000 delegates are called together. It also gives you a notion of the power of the Pope. And I’m reading to you some of the clauses from the Fourth Lateran Council. This is Canon 68. “Jews and Christians shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so that no”, sorry, “Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so no Christians shall come to marry them ignorant of who they are.” We have to set these people apart. And remember that the Muslims had their own countries. So, the people who are really most at threat, apart from Christian heretics, are now Jews. Canon 69. “Jews must never be given preferment in public office since this offers them the pretext to vent their wroth against the Christians. It will be too absurd for a blasphemer of Christ to exercise power over Christians.”

Now, interesting, this particular Pope is, those of you who live in America, he’s one of the two popes depicted in the marble reliefs above the gallery doors in the House of Representatives in honor of his influence in developing American law. So, what am I saying to you? Again, it’s inside out history. These characters are heroes in the Christian world. To the Jews, they are the subject of misery and horror. Peter the Venerable, Saint Peter the Venerable, one of the most important clerics of the time. He said, “It is our duty to hate the Jews, but it isn’t our duty to deny them.” Another statement of Pope Innocent III, “The Jew who denies the Messiah has come lies. Herald is the devil. The Jews are demons. That one is king of the Jews. This one is king of the demons.” Now again, another remark of the council, which he’d already echoed. “Do not wipe out the Jews completely lest perhaps Christians might be able to forget thy law, which the former, although not understanding it, presented in their books to those who do understand it.” You see, this is fascinating. They’re talking about what we call the Hebrew Bible, what they call the Old Testament.

Let me repeat it. It’s very important. “Do not wipe out the Jews completely lest perhaps Christians might be able to forget thy law, which the former, although not understanding it, presented in their books to those who do understand it.” They’ve given it to us. And we really do understand. Now, this led to a huge upswing in Christian fanaticism. In fact, ironically, England was the first country in Europe to actually enact the Council, the Lateran Council in the Council of Oxford in 19, of 1222. It was the first country to issue the wearing of the Jew badge. Fascinating. The evidently the church wants to have a ceremony of reconciliation next in England this year. So, we will see, watch this space, we will see what happens. Now, so what you have, can we see the next slide please, Judi? That is a slide of the Dominican, the Fourth Lateran Council. You see some of the, you know, this is the cardinals, these are the some of the clerics who become saints. The reason that sainthood is so important in Catholicism is if you attain sainthood, you go straight to heaven. That’s why it’s so important. And can we see the next slide, please, Judi? Yes, that is the establishment by Saint Dominic, Saint Dominic, of course, of the Dominican Order.

So, these are the two groups, the Greyfriars and the Blackfriars who are going to be the Inquisitors and they are allowed to use torture. And the next slide will be a painting of the Albigensian Crusade. That was the most terrible crusade. The bishop of Albi was asked, “How do we know who’s Protestant? How do we know who’s a Cathar? How do we know who’s a Catholic?” And the response to the bishop, from the bishop was, “Kill them all, God will know His own.” That’s in the south of France, around the town of Albi in Carcassonne, that whole region. It’s a fascinating region to visit. Its full of Jewish history and also Cathar history. I know those of you who go to France, most of you go to the south, but go southwest if you are there for long enough, because it’s really, historically, it’s so interesting and it’s redolent with Jewish history as well, particularly in that area between Spain and France. Okay, now we, I want to move on, I want to move on please, because I’ve set the scene. But what is actually happening from country to country? And what we’re going to see is expulsions, first from England and then from France. So, let us see the first expulsion I want to talk about is that of Edward I.

Edward I, 1239 to 1301. He is considered to be one of the great kings of England. He of course is the king who went against Scotland. And he is the king whose son was crowned Prince of Wales, which of Edward said he was Prince of Wales, which of course is the title that Prince Charles holds. Now, of course, and I’ve discussed Anglo-Jewish history with you before, so I’m only going to just touch on it briefly. Jews first came to England in the reign of William the Conqueror. He invited them in. They were the money lenders of the kingdom. They were incredibly useful to him. And there were highlights, for example, in the reign of Henry II. By the time you get to the reign of Edward’s father, Henry III, you have the Council of Oxford. He’s a very pious man. And by this time you begin to see the rise of the Italian banking houses. The Jews are no longer useful. So consequently, they’re no longer useful, there’s not that many of them. So, the pious Edward I, he actually throws them out. And the official reason given, you see back in 1275, he decided that Jews had to turn to useful professions, but it didn’t work.

They were given no money to get to set up farms. There’s about 5,000 of them. They’re totally impoverished. And so in 1290 on, the edict of expulsion is actually given when? You can guess, the 9th of Av. They have to be out of England by the 1st of November, which in the Christian calendar is All Saints Day following on from Walpurgis Night, October the 31st. Okay, see how the Pagan calendar interacts with the Christian calendar. And basically they are allowed out of England. They’re given officially safe conduct. But we do know that off the shore in Queensborough, a captain actually believed that the Jews had all swallowed their gold. They slit the bodies open, they murdered them all. He was hanged for it because Edward I wanted to keep, he really wanted to keep order in his realm. And of course, in England it’s interesting because England always meant to be such a haven. England had seen the first blood libel in the first English Civil War. It was the first country to actually throw the Jews out. And where would they have gone? Of course, they would’ve crossed the Channel. They would’ve gone first to France. But things were not looking so good in France because what happened? Can we see the next slide, please? There you see a picture of the expulsion of the Jews from England. And now he’s given his edict.

Now, and of course, all our sources of this time come from where? They come from Church chroniclers. Can we see the next slide, please, Judi? Here you have Philip Navarre IV of France, better known as Philip the Fair. Fascinating character. In fact, his story, I’m sure you’ve heard about it, because he is the king who destroys the Knights Templars. One of the things that had happened is that various countries had set up Orders of knights to protect the road to Jerusalem for pilgrims and for Crusaders. And the Knights Templars were one of the most important orders. They had land all over Christendom. And they were the king’s bankers. They were incredibly wealthy. And he’s going to destroy them. Now, not only, before I get onto that, I should mention that there’ve been many disputations on the Talmud, beginning in Aragon, but also in Paris. There were in Paris after a disputation between Christianity and Judaism. Because one of the points of Christianity, if you could convert a Jew and you have to save his soul and for the God, for the goodness of Jesus.

So, it was one of the greatest things a Catholic could do, was to save a Jewish soul. Now, there was a long dispute in Paris. And it was Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. And of course, even if intellectually they win the argument, what happens in Aragon, it was the great Nachmanides who disputed with the Dominicans. And what happens to him is he won the argument. The king thought he’d won the argument. But nevertheless, he had, rumors went around that the Christians had run the argument, he published and he had to be exiled and both he, Yechiel of Paris and he finished up in Jerusalem. So, disputation was another method of bringing the Jews to Christ. And we know that already in Paris, over 20 cartloads of Talmuds were born. And one of the, up until his reign, the Jews had been tax collectors of the king. But gradually the Italian banking houses were taking over that role. So, they’re no longer very useful. In 1306, Philip IV was bankrupt. He was always short of money. He’d had a problem with the revaluation of his coinage. And also there was a Flemish war. He was at war with Flanders. And consequently, he needed money to arm his troops.

Then he had a solution. If he expelled the Jews, he could confiscate their possessions. And in fact, the Jews were already his possessions. They were known as servi nostri camergi, I can’t pronounce it properly. Anyway, they, my Latin is not as good as it used to be. There were servants of our chamber. The day after the 9th of Av in 1306, thousands of Jews were arrested. They were imprisoned. They were sentenced to exile. And they were given, they were actually given a month to get out. All their possessions were auctioned. And all debts to the Jews were transferred to the king. There were, but at this stage, France, the dynasty based in Paris didn’t control all of France. There were other pockets of Jews to the south. In 1315, his son reversed the decree, but expelled them again in 1322. The yo-yoing goes on right up until the 1390s. And it’s, so you have a situation where the Jews are expelled from England, they’re now expelled for France. Now was, what was Philip’s motive? Well, obviously he was venal and he was short of money.

But the historian Elizabeth Brown says that the evidence, again, you have to look at lots of sources, that he really believed that the Jews were evil and a danger to his rule. He was very much influenced by the Franciscan Order, who was called, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, by the way, by this time, are calling for the expulsion of all the Jews who are unwilling to convert. And ironically, there was another approach of the Augustinians, these are the Whitefriars, who wanted the Jews in a degraded state so that they would see the true faith of Christianity, and therefore they would convert. So, basically you’ve got a terrible situation for the Jews. So, they’re expelled from France, and where are they going to go? And as we’ve already discussed, they’re going to go eastwards. But then, and I should also mention with Philip IV, it, he’s a very, he’s a character that you really should read about. He executed, he accused the Knights Templars.

I’m sure you’ve seen the island in the middle of the Seine where the Jews were killed and where the Knights Templars were killed. Jacques de Molay, their leader, was tortured and killed. And evidently a curse was placed on Philip of France and all his, none of his sons ever ruled. It’s a very interesting story to read. But of course the important issue that’s now going to engulf Europe is the Black Death. There’s a brilliant book by Barbara Tuchman called “A Distant Mirror”, where she compares the third, the 14th century to the 20th century in terms of war, carnage, and horror. Anyway, the Black Death in Europe is going to kill about 40% of the population. Can you just imagine, look, we’ve had enough conspiracy theories as a result of the pandemic, and we have at our disposal what? We have at our disposal modern medicine. Can you imagine what it was like in a world where the majority of people believed that the earth was flat, where there was divine punishment, and nobody really understood what it was all about? Now, for example, Magnus, the King of Sweden, he believed it was due to God being angry and because of man’s sins.

So, he ordered food-less Fridays and shoe-less Sundays. The papal physician actually admitted, I’m quoting, “It was most humiliating for us who are unable to render any assistance.” In the Islamic world, Ibn al-Khatib, who was one of the greatest of the physicians, was murdered by the mob because he stated the, it was contagion that spread the pestilence. What did they have? All sorts of herbal remedies. Some doctors said, “Avoid exercise, avoid bathing, avoid sex to prevent bad air entering your pores.” And of course, who are going to be the scapegoats? Look, we have a good picture now. There’s a brilliant book by Philip Ziegler called “The Black Death”. We know it arrived in October 1347 on Genoese trading ships. They arrive in Messina in Sicily. They already had the plague aboard. We know that it was incredibly virulent. And it appeared more terrible because victims knew no prevention. Just think about it. And by the mid-1350s, one in three people have died. The population was so ravaged, you know, is it an act of God? What on earth is going on?

Now at this stage, the Jewish population of Europe was very small. There were about 2 million Jews living in Europe. And who are the most hated group in Europe? Well, it must be the Jews, must it not? And the rumor went around that the Jews were poisoning the wells. And consequently, you begin to see one of the darkest periods in Jewish history. It begins actually in Spain. In May 1348, 20 Jews were killed in Aragon. This is the papacy, this is the Church on the rampage. The king tries to stop the violence. Riots begin to spread all over Europe. It even happened in areas which were not yet affected by the plague. Why? Look the affluent are indebted to the Jews. They aided in the conspiracy by opening the gates to cities. In Essingen, in the Rhineland, the Jews preferred to commit Kiddush HaShem. In Strasbourg, over half the community were burnt after being pushed into a house. And on their way, they’re stripped of all their possessions. The Rhineland was almost decimated of their Jews.

This is from a chronicler of the time, Heinrich Truchsess von Diessenhofen. “Within one year, all the Jews between Cologne and Austria were burnt. And in Austria, they await the same fate. Therefore, they are accursed of God.” That is the canon of Koblenz Cathedral. Again, this is the Franciscan friar, Herman Gigas, “In a number of regions, many people, noble and humble alike here laid down plans against them, which they will never abandon until the whole Jewish race has been destroyed.” Stories circulated that the Jews were plotting against Christianity. They are plotting to poison all the wells. They were no longer, you see, so you the shift, they’re no longer outcasts, they’re no longer just people who deny Jesus. They are becoming more and more dangerous. These are the people who are poisoning Christendom. In Mainz, the community hit back, 200 of the attackers were killed, but then they were overwhelmed. They commit Kiddush HaShem. And it’s at this stage that some kings did try to stop the ravagement. Because remember, the kings, it’s not necessarily out of decency. The kings have a percentage of the debts. Some protected, but then gave way to the mob. The Holy Roman Empire was facing tax losses if the Jews were annihilated.

But they allowed the destruction of the Jews of Nuremberg in return for a cut of the spoils. And it’s at this stage, you can imagine, of course you have the Polish nobility, which make up 7% of the Polish population, knowing what’s going on in Europe, actually encouraging them to come in. Now it was this, and it should be pointed out, this is the second great disaster to strike the whole of Europe in the 14th century. There’d been a terrible famine between 1315 to 1317. Now, what the Black Death did was of course to destroy much of the old ways in Jewish, in European civilization. It’s going, if I can call it that, it’s going to stop. It’s going to really stop feudalism in England because there just weren’t enough peasants around. And it’s interesting because if you think about it, there are no Jews in England. And yet of course, the, England was just as ravaged as the rest of the of Europe. So the fact that, but there’s never ever any logic in conspiracy theories. What you have is an upswing in religious fervor. People are experiencing unbelievable loss. Medicine is no use against it. Let’s find a scapegoat who we can blame. And who are the prime scapegoats? Well of course, it’s the Jews.

The other groups that were targeted were actually lepers, itinerant pilgrims. And because it’s the inexplicable that is always so terrifying. And also a theory has been put forward but there’s not enough evidence, that ritual cleansing, if you think about Judaism itself and the laws, the mikvah, the ritual washing of the hands. Was it cleanliness? Who knows? To give you a notion of the kind of horror, let me turn to the next slide, please. Now, one of the most extraordinary outpourings of the Black Death were these groups of flagellants. They went from town to town, village to village, beating themselves, crying out for their sins, appealing to the Almighty to save them. As the murders went on from town to town in France, in the Toulon province, because although the Jews were expelled from the Paris region, they’re still there. The Jewish quarter is sacked. Barcelona is finished.

As it spreads through Germany, as I’ve already mentioned, Moritz, the whole of the community in the Rhineland is what is wiped out. And of course, the flagellants encourage the murders of the Jews. These are absolute fanatics who believe that if they’re only by giving penance and murdering the Jews, can they atone to the Almighty for this terrible plague. A monastery in Cologne, this was a comment from the chronicler, “Jews wish to extinguish all Christendom through their poison of frogs and spiders mixed in oil and cheese.” They’ve now come up with what they’re actually doing. Pope Clement VI did not support this. He actually, because he didn’t want the anarchy, he also didn’t support the flagellants. He pointed out that Jews were dying in England and yet the, sorry Jews, people in England were dying. And there were no Jews there. And in fact, but in Germany, the emperor of Bohemia granted immunity to the leaders for German towns allowing them to murder the Jews. It’s actually official and canceling any debts to Jewish money lenders.

Now, I’ve been looking at some fascinating research coming out of Germany. And I’m going to bring it up now because I think it’s interesting for us to ponder on. Some German historians have been looking at the towns and villages in the Rhineland where there were terrible pogroms during the Black Death. And what they seem to illustrate is that after Hitler’s rise to power, and I’m talking about the ‘20s now before he actually takes power in Germany, you see higher levels of anti-Semitism and popularity of the Nazi party if they had a history of pogroms during the Black Death. I dunno what we do with this information. I just thought it was just interesting for you to know. And the overwhelming majority of towns with a Jewish population witnessed mass killings between 1348 and 1350, 73% of the towns and villages in the Rhineland recorded pogroms. Now, in the Languedoc in the south of France, southwest of France, they, it was a chroniclist suggested that the Jews had bribed the lepers to poison the wells. And the story also of the wandering Jew really did, it really gets a lot of purchase at this time. Also the Jew as Antichrist.

This is Philip Siegler, what he had to say. “The Black Death concentrated latent fear and hatred of the Jews into one burning grievance, which not only demanded vengeance, but offered the tempting extra dividend that if the Jews could only be eliminated, then the plague for which they were responsible might also be limited, too.” But this is the Pope, “Even though we detest the perfidy of the Jew, who persists in their stubbornness, refuse to interpret correctly the sayings of the prophets, and the secret words of their own writings, and take notice of Christian faith and salvation, we nevertheless are mindful of our duty to shelter the Jews.” “The laity has been accustomed to hear the Jews bitterly condemned from the pulpit,” I’m quoting from Norman Cohn here, “Condemned from the pulpit as perverse, stubborn, and ungrateful because they refuse to admit the divinity of Christ.”

So, basically what I’m saying is this was one of the most terrible episodes in Jewish history. The powerlessness of the Jew. And also it is so much inspired by the role of Christianity. But now as the horror intensifies, those who are, those who survive what happens to them, they now find a welcome in Poland. Where ironically the kings, although they’re Christian kings, although how Christian is Lithuania is another story. But certainly the Poles have become Christianized. Why are they allowing the Jews in? Because they have a large country with a feudal economy. And as I said before, 7% nobility. So, we’re going to invite them in because they will oil the wheels of our economy. And in return, we will give them freedom within their own confines. And what develops in Poland is something known as the Council of the Four Lands. And it’s going to become the home of the great Yeshivat.

But I think this story, this episode that I’ve looked at with you, I think for me it brings out so many points. And the most important point, and it’s quite painful actually to deal with, is the role of the Christian Church in anti-Semitism, in anti-Judaism which leads to anti-Semitism. And I really do think that it’s behind the economic motif. And as I look at the rise of anti-Semitism today again, I really think that it’s, even though we live in a more secular world, I think it’s so deep in European culture. I dunno what it’s going to take to root it out. But I wanted to bring this to your attention because I think it’s important also to understand the role of the Jew. And also, yes, of course some Jews gave in and converted, but they would’ve seen at this stage their culture as so much more superior to that of the people who are persecuting them.

So, I think I’ll stop there, it’s been a dark one. When we look at Poland, it’s going to be a much brighter one. But against the backdrop of this horror, don’t forget we are the people who survive. And so I don’t want to give you a completely negative story. Yes, this was a terribly, terribly evil episode in Jewish history, but out of it, another country opens up. This is what’s made us so flexible, so intricate. And of course in Poland, we’re going to be concentrating on what happened in the Yeshivat and pilpul. Do you believe in genetic memory? I’d be fascinated to know. I dunno if it’s fashionable to talk about things like that. Anyway, Judi, should we have a look at the questions?

Q&A and Comments

Michael, “Shalom from Israel on its 71st birthday.” “I am Aura, I’m new to this group. I might be the one non-Britain in the group.” No, definitely you are not the one non-Britain in the group. I’ve, I’m not sure whether England is still the primary country or America. I dunno which way round it is yet, Judi. But I know we have a contingent from Canada. A big contingent from South Africa, of course. A contingent from Israel. I’ve just seen from a friend of mine who’s coming to England next week. Hi, Michelle. Look forward to seeing you. Michelle is in Holland. There are quite a few in Europe. I think there are some in South America, aren’t there, Judi? And I believe also we have a couple of insomniacs in Australia. Debbie likes the expression, “Too much history, not enough geography.” Oh, Wilma, thank you.

Q: “How did the Jews get to Western and Central Europe in the first place?” A; They spread out be, once they’re expelled by the Romans, they spread out through the whole of the Roman world. Rome falls, remember? But they stay.

Q: “From where did the Jews come before ending up in Russia and Prussia?” A: This is what I’m trying to explain, David. It’s this movement East. When I talked about Khazaria yesterday, I said that all the evidence is that the majority of the Eastern European Jews were not from Khazaria. Some of them might have been. These, we do this on language, mainly. That’s what most historians believe because they spoke Yiddish, which is a middle German.

David is saying, “Mine came from Toledo, Spain.” My mother’s family originally came from Spain. But why were they in Spain, David? Because it had once been a Roman colony. “Ended up in Lithuania.” Yes, yes, yes, a lot of Sephardi did. They’re expelled from Spain. But the majority of Sephardi did not go to Eastern Europe. But some did. A lot of them went to, a lot of them went to Holland after Holland broke away from Spain. That’s what happened to my family. Some went into the Ottoman Empire, which was very positive about the Jews by the way. Whose quote was, “Too much history, not enough geography?” The late great Isaiah Berlin.

Jackie, “I heard years ago that 'Hip hip hooray’ stems from the ‘hep hep’.” Yes, I’m afraid “Jerusalem is lost” is, yes, it is the battle cry of the, is the battle cry of the crusaders. You see what happens. You live in a country, you take on that country. Sandy, “My eighth grade teacher taught us almost a whole Jew, taught us almost a whole Jewish class that Richard the Crusader was almost a god. When I married my history loving husband so many years later, did I find out the truth. Teachers do have an influence to those who don’t want to delve the truth of history.” Look, it’s problematic. Richard is a hero in England. Jewish history is inside out history if you like. It’s not often that there is a hero. I mean, look, for example, when I look at 1648, I’m going to be looking at Bogden Khmelnytsky. He’s one of the great horror stories of Jewish history. He’s a great hero of Ukrainian nationalism. And also by the way of Russian nationalism.

Q: “What did the Franciscans have on their heads?” A: I didn’t notice. Looked like swords. That was just, I dunno, was would that be the sword cutting through heresy?

“The Jews were often brought to Poland as tax farmers, and they were large and sober and literate in contrast to the peasantry. They were prominent in the liquor business, often owned the taverns.” Yes, of course. You see in what we’re going to look at, Jonathan, is how they went into so many more ranges of occupation than they did in the West. And yes, as tax farmers for the nobility, of course, that made them very unpopular with the peasants. Yes, Marilyn, I totally agree with you. She says, “It’s interesting that when Jews are being expelled from one country, another country welcomes the Jews in. The Ottoman Empire welcomed the Jews fleeing from the Spanish Inquisition.” Yes, the Sultan had ships waiting for them. He couldn’t understand what on earth Ferdinand and Isabella were doing.

Q: “To what degree has the Catholic Church repented for its sins against humanity? What information can you share regarding the mass burials of children from the indigenous peoples of Canada?” A: That is not my subject. I do have friends who know about it. So, the second part of your question, I cannot adequately answer. To what degree has the Catholic Church repented for his sins? Oh, that’s a complicated one. Well, it’s certainly no longer praise for the perfidious Jews. There is a problem because to the Catholic Church, unless you embrace it, your soul is damned. Protestantism, is not, does not believe that. So, in an ironic kind of crazy way, they think they’re helping us by trying to convert us. It’s so complicated. And please, let’s be careful here. Catholicism, Protestantism, every religion has its morality. It’s just that as far as the Jews are concerned, the world of monotheism is complex. We never had that problem in China or in Hindu India. So, what happened in China, they all assimilated. Or as an American friend of mine said to me, “Go figure.”

Yes, that’s right, Aurif. Jews came to England, they were invited in. They were invited in by William the Conqueror.

Q: “Will Jews be forced to wear a symbol of identification for this proposed meeting of reconciliation?” A: Well you know something, David? Oh, I like your humor. I wonder what that proposed meeting of reconciliation will be? The day they equivocally, oh no, I’m not going to, I’m becoming political. I’m not going to do that.

Q: “Weren’t the Templars German?” A: You are thinking here about the Teutonic Knights who I’ve will, I’ve already talked about them and I will be talking about them again.

Q: “Who on earth knows who the real Jesus was? To what extent did the gospels depict the real individual? How many of the gospel writers were contemporaries of Jesus?” A: Very good question, Elliot. I’m actually thinking of running a session, and I don’t know whether to do it yet, called “False or Failed Messiahs”. I, you see, the concept of messiahship in Judaism is “anointed one”. The concept of messiahship is never divinity. If Jesus existed, and we haven’t got much evidence, again, let’s say he did, he probably was a reforming teacher around the time of the Roman occupation when Pontius Pilate, who we do know a lot about through the Roman sources, was one of the most tough procurators the Jews ever had. The Jews were pretty warlike in those days, you know. So, I’ve got to make up my mind whether to do that particular session because I think it might blow the roof off.

Q: “By the same token, who on Earth knows who the real Moses was?” A: Yes, you see, it’s faith. Religion is based on faith. It’s not based on logic. Faith.

Jonathan likes Barbara Tuchman’s book. Yes, she is.

Q: “What is the basis of Kiddush HaShem?” A: It means sanctification of the your name. Suicide in Judaism, as you know, is frowned upon deeply. But if you commit suicide in the name of the Almighty to say for conversion, then it’s Kiddush HaShem. Okay? Think of Masada. Think of the zealots at Masada.

Yes, Joy. Jackie, “Tuchman also wrote ‘The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam’, an excellent book about how countries make appalling errors of judgment. In particular how she explains how the Renaissance popes made such dreadful mistakes that led to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.” Yes, I find her, not only is she a good historian, she’s incredibly readable. I love historians who write as novelists, because then you really want to turn every page. Yes, I totally agree with you. I love your comment on Martin Luther though. The Renaissance popes, you’ve got to remember those popes at the time of the Renaissance, like my favorite Alexander Borgia, they were renaissances princes. Or think about the Medici. They were secular rulers, really? But look at the wonderful arts that came out of it all. That’s the problem. There are many facets to everything that we talk about.

Q: “Barbara Tuchman had written that the crusaders believed the Jews were the cause of the Black Death. And they, as they crossed Europe on the way to Jerusalem, they managed to kill off 50% of the Jews. Do you agree?” A: Yeah, yeah. I think I’ve pretty much said that. Barbara Tuchman, by the way, is Jewish. So whether she, so she would look at it from inside history as well, inside Jewish history. Yeah. Of course they did. Look, if there’s something going on and you can’t explain it rationally, what are you going to do? Is it a curse from the Almighty? You don’t want to believe that. Well, what if there are these evil beings who killed God? Then maybe they’re responsible. This is really the demonization of the Jew. This is where it begins, the demonization of the Jew. And there are some historians like Hyam Maccoby and Robert Wistrich go as far as to say that is the major plank that leads to the Shoah.

Peter, “This depressing lecture reinforces the absolute necessity for Israel.” Yes, Peter, I totally share your opinion. Yeah. I’m not going to say anymore. “What an irony, how sad it was that so many Jews lost their lives because they were Jews or did not accept the Christian Messiah who was a Jew.” Yeah. You know that quote of Mark Twain, don’t you? “How odd of God to choose the Jews, but not so odd as those who choose a Jewish God, and scorn the Jews.” Thank you, Michelle. Thank you.

Q: “During these years, crusades, Black Death, what was going on in China?” A: China was developing a great civilization. But I think I mentioned to you, the end of the route of the Radanites was Kaifeng with about a million people living in a very, very cosmopolitan city. But another point to make. Whereas in the West, there’s, through the Enlightenment, Renaissance Enlightenment, there’s going to be a move towards the power of the individual. That doesn’t happen in China. It’s a completely different civilization.

Adele, “It’s a miracle that the Jewish religion survived.” Yes. Yeah. Aura, there are several other Americans here. Yes.

Q: “What makes you say that the Jews of this period considered themselves superior?” A: Because to start with, they were literate. And also they would study. And I think they, you’ve got to remember what Europe was like. It was very stratified. You have a peasant society. And they, and also the, this is a complicated one. Are we the people of Bar Kokhba or the people of ben Zakkai? You can make the case that the rabanim had, the Talmudists actually suppressed Messianism because it leads to revolt. We, and what were we turning to? Study, the Talmud, study. Now, obviously, not every Jew was learned, but the aspiration was there. The problem was that when the Jews finally emerged from the ghettos of Europe at the time of the Enlightenment, Europe had passed them by in their own thinking. You see, Europe is going to explode with knowledge. So when you get to the late 18th/19th century, the Jews who back on their own planet had their tradition of learning. Can you imagine what it was like when they landed in modern Berlin, modern Paris, modern London? It was a love affair. And because of that tradition of learning, and because they were outsiders and because they were mobile and because they had learned to think intricately, they exploded into the modern world, took it by the horns, and pushed it forward. And that’s a problem. I would never forget my American viewers. I’ve just, I had one of the greatest holidays of my lifetime a couple of weeks ago in New York with my grandson, with Wendy. It was such a good time.

Thank you. Sheila, “I’m constantly amazed that my ancestors survived. It seemed a miracle.” Carol, “Genetic memory, what an interesting possibility.” Okay.

Q: “Why did they end up speaking Yiddish?” A: Because it’s a kind of dialect of German written in Hebrew letters.

Yes, Poland was affected by the plague. It was.

Q: “Did we go to Italy?” A: Yeah, there was a very interesting, the Borgia pope allowed them in.

No, the Jews were not blamed in Germany, blamed in Poland. I think the plague did reach Poland, but not so badly. Oh, this is interesting from Gita. “Glad you raised the question of generational memory, Trudy Gold.” I so love our group because there’s going to be someone in it who knows a lot of whatever we are talking about. “This was one of my research questions when I did my doctorate, subsequent paperback on Amazon includes this subject, ‘The Inheritors: Moving Forward From Generational Trauma.’” Yes, this is very interesting, isn’t it? And I know that work is being done in Israel on Holocaust trauma and whether it’s actually genetically acquired after a generation.

Q: “Who wrote "A Distant Mirror”? A: That was Barbara Tuchman.

This is Mira. “I’m a proud Israeli who believes in genetic memory.” And you are being asked to message. Good. Yes, Pauline, “The Polish nobility wants to build up the merchant class.” Yes, of course. It was pragmatic. It wasn’t love except I think Casimir III liked Jews. Jews, no, nobody came up with any cures for the Black Death. “Were ancient Jews probably brown skinned.” Yes, I would imagine so. They lived in the Middle East. This is from Dr. Blackman, Los Angeles. I love it when you’re all over the world. “My son, age five, after one day at school in Oxford came home and said, ‘I didn’t know that the Jews killed Jesus in 1972.’” I’m afraid I can go one better on that, unfortunately. My little grandson, who’s now eight, he goes to a school in Cornwall. And Easter, he came home and he said exactly the same thing. In fact, he was crying. My blonde, blue-eyed grandson. My son-in-law went to see the teacher, but not my daughter. And talked about it and the teacher said, “Oh, I didn’t want to upset him. But it says so in the Gospels.” “Israelis, the Jewish life vote.”

Anna Lee, no, I haven’t read “The Pope and Mussolini”. That looks interesting. This is from Della. Hi Della. “The Jews had better hygiene because of their religious rituals.” The same that, the problem is that we don’t have enough evidence. That’s the problem, Della. “Also, Jews were often seen as rats, which caused the disease as the Nazis thought.” Yes, the image of Jews and rats. Okay, I think that’s it, Judi.

• [Judi] That’s it. We got through our questions.

• All right, my darling, I wish you all well, I’m sorry it was such a dark subject. It won’t be quite so dark. But never forget, we do survive. We do go on. So, thank you all very much.

• [Judi] Thank you, Trudy. And thank you everybody, good night.

• God bless.

• [Judi] Bye-bye.