Source 10.2: Jewish Perspectives on the Crusades

European anti-Semitism had a long history and many expressions. The old idea that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus provided a religious basis for hatred of the Jews. Their economic marginalization into occupations deemed impure although necessary, such as tax collection and moneylending, engendered hostility. These conditions, in combination with distinctive Jewish religious practices, gave rise to any number of stereotypes and negative images: Jews had magical powers derived from a pact with the devil; Jews murdered Christian children and drank their blood; Jews deliberately desecrated the host or communion wafers used in Catholic worship. Depending on time and place, Jews could be forbidden to own land or practice certain trades, forced to live in restricted areas, subjected to special taxes, and required to dress in distinctive ways. All of this marked Jews as “other,” distinctly different from their Christian neighbors.

The Crusades provided an opportunity for this European anti-Semitism to be expressed in action. On a number of occasions some Crusaders on their way to the Middle East took time to wreak havoc on Jewish communities in Europe, although such actions were widely condemned by political and religious authorities. Source 10.2 provides a description of these horrendous attacks in 1096, written by a twelfth-century Christian historian named Albert of Aix-la-Chapelle based on interviews with returning Crusaders. He was not a participant in the Crusades or an eyewitness to the events he describes.

Questions to consider as you examine the source:

An Account of Attacks on Jews during the First Crusade, Early to Mid-Twelfth Century

At the beginning of summer in the same year [1096] in which Peter and Gottschalk [leaders of the First Crusade], after collecting an army, had set out, there assembled in like fashion a large and innumerable host of Christians from diverse kingdoms and lands; namely, from the realms of France, England, Flanders, and Lorraine. . . . I know not whether by a judgment of the Lord, or by some error of mind, they rose in a spirit of cruelty against the Jewish people scattered throughout these cities and slaughtered them without mercy, especially in the Kingdom of Lorraine, asserting it to be the beginning of their expedition and their duty against the enemies of the Christian faith. This slaughter of Jews was done first by citizens of Cologne. These suddenly fell upon a small band of Jews and severely wounded and killed many; they destroyed the houses and synagogues of the Jews and divided among themselves a very large amount of money. When the Jews saw this cruelty, about two hundred in the silence of the night began flight by boat to Neuss. The pilgrims and crusaders discovered them, and after taking away all their possessions, inflicted on them similar slaughter, leaving not even one alive.

Not long after this, they started upon their journey, as they had vowed, and arrived in a great multitude at the city of Mainz. There Count Emico, a nobleman, a very mighty man in this region, was awaiting, with a large band of Teutons, the arrival of the pilgrims who were coming thither from diverse lands by the King's highway.

The Jews of this city, knowing of the slaughter of their brethren, and that they themselves could not escape the hands of so many, fled in hope of safety to Bishop Rothard. They put an infinite treasure in his guard and trust, having much faith in his protection, because he was Bishop of the city. Then that excellent Bishop of the city cautiously set aside the incredible amount of money received from them. He placed the Jews in the very spacious hall of his own house, away from the sight of Count Emico and his followers, that they might remain safe and sound in a very secure and strong place.

But Emico and the rest of his band held a council and, after sunrise, attacked the Jews in the hall with arrows and lances. Breaking the bolts and doors, they killed the Jews, about seven hundred in number, who in vain resisted the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. The Jews, seeing that their Christian enemies were attacking them and their children, and that they were sparing no age, likewise fell upon one another, brother, children, wives, and sisters, and thus they perished at each other's hands. Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with knives and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands rather than to be killed by the weapons of the uncircumcised.

From this cruel slaughter of the Jews a few escaped; and a few because of fear, rather than because of love of the Christian faith, were baptized. With very great spoils taken from these people, Count Emico, Clarebold, Thomas, and all that intolerable company of men and women then continued on their way to Jerusalem. . . .

So the hand of the Lord is believed to have been against the pilgrims who had sinned by excessive impurity and fornication, and who had slaughtered the exiled Jews through greed of money, rather than for the sake of God's justice, although the Jews were opposed to Christ. The Lord is a just judge and orders no one unwillingly, or under compulsion, to come under the yoke of the Catholic faith.

Source: August. C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1921), 54–56.