EpiMedDat
The Open Data Collection for Historical Epidemics and Medieval Diseases

1348-00-00-Germany

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Date startStart date of the disease. 1348 +
Date endEnd date of the disease. +
SeasonSeason (spring, summer, fall or winter)
Date otherOther mentioned dates.
PlacePlace(s), city or location of the disease. Avignon, Bern, Freiburg, Friburg, Strasbourg, Zofingen
RegionHistorical region(s)
CountryCurrent country Germany
RiverMentioned river(s)
Natural eventMentioned natural event(s)
PersonMentioned persons(s) Pope, Pope Clement VI
GroupGroup(s) of people mentioned
VictimIndication of victims +
AnimalMentioned animal(s)
DiseaseMentioned disease(s) Plague
Epidemic waveAssociated epidemic wave
Social responseSocial response that happened in reaction to the disease Persecution, Poison
LanguageLanguage of the original text Latin
KeywordFurther keyword(s) Epidemics, Jews, Mortality, Persecution, Poison, Wells
last edited 23. 12. 2025 by EpiMedDat-Bot.

Jews were accused of poisoning the water and wells. Thus they were persecuted and burned in many parts in Germany

Text originalOriginal text

[115.] De mala fama et infortunio Iudeorum in diversis terris et regionibus.
Et infamati sunt Iudei, quod huiusmodi pestilenciam fecerint vel auxerint fontibus et puteis iniecto veneno. Et cre*mati sunt a mari usque ad Alamanniam preterquam Avinionis, ubi ipsos papa Clemens sextus defendit. Post [p. 265] hec tortis quibusdam in Berna, in comitatu Froburg et alibi, et reperto in Zovingen veneno, extinctisque Iudeis in pluribus locis, scriptoque *de hoc consulibus Basiliensis, Friburgensis et Argentinensis civitatum, maioribusque ad defensionem nitentibus Iudeorum, ac quibusdam eciam nobilibus Basilee pro quadam iniuria Iudeis illata ad longum tempus bannitis: ecce irruit populus cum baneriis ad palacium consulum. Quibus territis et querente magistro, quid vellent, responderunt se nolle abire nisi bannitis reversis. Pro quibus illico est transmissum, consulibus non audentibus egredi, quousque venerunt. Adiecitque populus se nolle, quod inibi amplius remanerent Iudei. Et iuratum est per consules et populum, quod in ducentis annis inibi nunquam residerent Iudei.
Conveneruntque pluries nuncii meliores earundem trium civitatum, quibus cordi erat reten*cio Iudeorum, set populi timuerunt clamorem. Capti sunt autem undique in partibus illis Iudei. […][p. 266]
Et sic modo in uno loco, postea in alio sunt cremati. Alicubi autem sunt expulsi. Quos vulgus apprehendens hos cremavit, aliquos interfecit, alios in paludibus suffocavit. [...]

Text translationEnglish translation of the text

116. Of the slander and persecution of the Jews in various countries and kingdoms. And the Jews were accused of having caused or aggravated this plague by throwing poison into springs and wells. They were burned from the seashore to Germany, except in Avignon, where Pope Clement VI protected them. After some had been tortured in Bern, in the county of Froburg and in other places and poison had been found in Zofingen, they were murdered in many places and written about to the councillors of the cities of Basel, Freiburg and Strasbourg, and since the rulers sought to protect them and even some nobles of Basel were banished for a long time because of an injustice done to the Jews, the people rushed to the town hall with their banners. The councillors were startled by this and the mayor asked: "What did they want?", to which they replied: "They would not leave until the exiles had returned"; so they were immediately sent for, because the councillors did not dare to leave until they had returned. Then the people said: "They would no longer tolerate the Jews in the city," and the councillors and the people swore that within two hundred years no Jew should live in the city. But the nobles of these three cities, who were anxious to keep the Jews, repeatedly came together, but they feared the clamour of the people. But the Jews were captured everywhere in that region. [...] and so they were burned sometimes in this place, sometimes in that. In some places they were merely expelled, but the people caught up with them, burned some and beat others to death or suffocated them in swamps. [...]

References

  1. ^ Matthias de Nuwenburg Chronica 1924-40 
  2. ^ None 

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