The Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

 pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

occurred on February 14, 1349, when several hundred Jews were publicly burnt to death, and the rest of them expelled from the city. It was one of the first and worst pogroms in pre-modern history.

Since the spring of 1348, pogroms against Jews had occurred in European cities, starting in France. By November of that year they spread via Savoy to German-speaking territories. In January 1349, burnings of Jews took place in Basel

Basel massacre

The Basel massacre of Jews took place in 9 of January 1349.Following the spread of the Black Death through the surrounding countryside of Savoy and subsequently Basel, the Jews were accused of having poisoned the wells, on account of the fact that they suffered a lower mortality rate than the local...

 and Freiburg, and on 14 February the Jewish community in Strasbourg was destroyed.

This event was heavily linked to a revolt by the guilds five days previous, the consequences of which were, the displacement of the master tradesmen, a reduction of the power of the patrician bourgeoisie, who had until then been ruling almost exclusively, and an increase in the power of the groups that were involved in the revolt. The aristocratic families of Zorn and Müllenheim, which had been displaced from the council and their offices in 1332, recovered most of their power, the guilds, which until then had no means of political participation, could occupy the most important position in the city, that of the Ammanmeister. The revolt had occurred because a large part of the population on the one hand believed the power of the master tradesmen was too great, particularly that of the then-Ammanmeister Peter Swarber, and on the other hand, there was a desire to put an end to the policy of protecting Jews under Peter Swarber.

Anti-Semitism in the population

The causes of the increased anti-semitism are easy to make out. Its development found fertile territory in the religious and social resentments against Jews that had grown deeper over the centuries (with allegations such as host desecration

Host desecration

Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christianity involving the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host— the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service or Mass...

, blood libel

Blood libel

Blood libel is a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays...

, deicide

Deicide

Deicide is the killing of a god. The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from medieval Latin *deicidium, from de-us "god" and -cidium "cutting, killing")...

, and Jewish conspiracies for world domination).

Through their role as money-lenders, the Jews took an important position in the city's economy. However, this brought serious problems. The chroniclers report that the Jews were criticised for their business practices: they were said to be so arrogant that they were unwilling to grant anyone else precedence, and those who dealt with them, could hardly come to an agreement with them. This supposed ruthlessness of the Jews did not, however, derive from any particular hard-heartedness, but was rather due to the huge levies and taxes that they were made to pay, mostly in exchange for protection. Formally, the Jews still belonged to the King's chamber, but he had long since ceded these rights to the city (the confirmation of the relevant rights of the city by Charles IV occurred already in 1347). Strasbourg therefore took in the most part of the Jews' taxes, but in exchange had to take over their protection (the exact amount of the taxes was determined by written agreements). In order to satisfy the city's demands, the Jews therefore had to do business accordingly, but in doing so further increased the population's, and certainly the debtors', anti-Semitism.

With the threat of plague, there were also accusations of well poisoning

Well poisoning

Well-poisoning is the act of malicious manipulation of potable water resources in order to cause illness or death, or to deny an opponent access to fresh water resources....

, that added to this anti-Semitism. This laid the blame for the Black Death on the Jews' shoulders, and therefore prepared the way for calls for revenge. It is therefore not surprising that there were some who now openly called for burnings of Jews.

The government's policy of protecting Jews

Unlike the majority of the population, the council and the master tradesmen remained committed to the policy of protecting the Jews and attempted to calm the people and prevent an uncontrolled pogrom.

Tactical measures

At first the council tried to rebut the claims of well poisoning by initiating court proceedings against a number of Jews and torturing them. As expected, they did not confess to the crimes. Despite this, they were still killed on the breaking wheel

Breaking wheel

The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by bludgeoning to death...

. Furthermore, the Jewish quarter was sealed off and guarded by armed persons, in order to protect the Jews from the population and possible over-reactions. The master tradesmen wanted to maintain the legal process with respect to the Jews; in their situation in which they themselves increasingly came under attack, this was a matter of self-preservation and holding on to power. A pogrom could easily escalate and turn into an uncontrollable revolt of the people. How seriously this threat of revolt was taken is shown by a letter from the city council of Cologne on 12 January 1349 to the leaders of Strasbourg, which warned that such riots by the common people had led to much evil and devastation in other towns. Furthermore, this unrest could give the opponents the possibility of taking power themselves. The bourgeoisie had after all come to occupy the leading political positions in a similar way, when they had used the dispute between the Zorn and Müllenheim noble families to their advantage.

The duty to protect the Jews

As the de facto master over the Jews, the city had a duty to protect them, especially since they paid significant amounts of money in exchange for this. Peter Swarber also pointed to this: the city had collected the money, and had given in return a guarantee for their security - with a letter and a seal. The city must fulfill this duty towards the Jews. He therefore could not and would not agree to an extermination of the Jews, a stance in which he was surely strengthened by the fear of the negative effects on the economic development of the city. A weakening of the city would also mean a weakening of the patrician bourgeoisie, that was reliant on stable political conditions and a healthy city economy for their long-distance trade. The Jews especially had an important role to play in this: people depended on their credit for large-scale investments, their supra-regional role as bankers ensured a positive balance of trade for Strasbourg, and they filled the city coffers through the taxes they paid. There were reasons enough, therefore, to remain attached to the policy of protecting the Jews.

Overthrow

The motivations of the master tradesmen were concealed from the people of Strasbourg. Instead, they thought another reason far more likely: there were rumours that the master tradesmen had allowed themselves to be bribed by the Jews, which was why they were protecting them so determinedly against the will of the majority. It was therefore seen as important to first remove the masters from power, which would allow the majority to push through the will of the people.

Rebellion of the artisans

The chronicles have delivered a detailed overview of the process of the deplacement of the masters. On Monday 9 February, the artisans gathered in front of the cathedral and, in front of the crowd, informed the masters that they would not allow them to remain in office anymore, as they had too much power. This action appears to have been organised beforehand among the guilds, since they had their guild banners with them and also appeared organised by guilds.