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EXPULSIONS OF JEWS IN THE 12TH‒17TH CENTURIES

ANTI-JUDAISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM OVER THE CENTURIES

ANTI-JUDAISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM OVER THE CENTURIES

EXPULSIONS OF JEWS IN THE 12TH‒17TH CENTURIES

Towards the end of the 12th century hatred of Jews also resulted in their expulsions. The Jews were first expelled from England, then from France and other West European countries. However, the most famous example was that of Spain, from where the Jews were expelled in 1492. This led to the decline of the original Sephardic culture, that had flourished in the Iberian Peninsula for several centuries. Jews fleeing form persecution in Western Europe most frequently settled in the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Persecution and expulsion of Jews in Europe (11th‒17th centuries)

Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1290 – Jews expelled from England


Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1306 ‒ Jews expelled from France


Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1394 r. – Jews expelled from Provance


Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1492 ‒ Jews expelled from Spain


Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1497 ‒ Jews expelled from Portugal


Graphic design: Leszek Nabiałek

1495‒1504 – Jews expelled from Germany, Hungary, Bohemia and Austria


Exercise 1

Click the arrows to trace the migration routes of European Jews in the 12th-17th centuries. Complete the table (drag&drop), putting your answers in the appropriate squares: original country (from where the Jews were expelled), year of expulsion, host country (where the Jews eventually settled).


Egypt, Kievan Rus
France
Spain, Provence
Portugal, Mediterranean countries
North Africa, North Germany, the Netherlands
Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Crimea (1016)
←
 
England (1290)
←
 
France (1306)
←
 
Spain (1492)
←
 
Portugal (1497)
←
 
Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Austria (1495-1504)
←
 
Check
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Exercise 2

  • On the basis of the illustrations, map and historical texts, describe the situation of the Jews in medieval Europe.
  • What were the attitudes of secular rulers and church authorities towards the followers of Judaism and what did these attitudes result from?

Exercise 3

  • Explain why the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation failed to improve relations between Christians and Jews.
  • How would you explain the persistence of hostility towards the Jews in the 17th and 18th centuries?

The expulsion of Jews from Prague in 1542 according to the Jewish Annals of Joseph Ha-Kohen entitled Emek Habacha [Vale of Tears]:

In the year 5302, i.e. 1542, many towns in Germany burned, and the smoke rose to the sky, but nowhere were those who had started the fires found. It was then that Jews and shepherds were accused of supposedly committing the crime, and they were subjected to torture. Under torture they confessed to crimes they had not committed, after which, they were burned at the stake. Look down on them, Lord, and take pity on them. That was when the Jews were expelled from Prague. In the month of Adar the Jews left that city and with wagons moved to Poland and settled there. Many, however, died on the way, and others were murdered with the sword. Yet the Lord lifted their shame, for after they had left, the city of Linz went ablaze, so much so that only 20 houses were left standing.

Source: Majer Bałaban, Historia i literatura żydowska ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Żydów w Polsce, (reprint) vol. II, Lvov/Warsaw/Cracow, 1925, p. 67.