Acts – Page 18 – OAJA.org

1. Full Date of Act	May 1246 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by Council of Bezier
3. Geography of Act	France [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	No member of the religion of Moses shall physic a Christian.
5. Source	“Twelve centuries of Jewish persecution: a brief outline of the sufferings of the Hebrew race in Christian lands, together with some account of the different laws and specific restrictions under which they have ar various times been placed.” Gustav Pearlson. Page 200
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 9, 1246
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Writ of Conrad IV of Germany
3. Geography of Act	Germany; Holy Roman Empire
4. Text of Act	Conrad IV commands Gerhard [I.] of Sinzig (‘Sintzig’), his Burggraf […] to immediately pay (turn over) one hundred Mark to Gerhard von Bruneck from the Jews, whom he has imprisoned.
5. Source	Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland während des Mittelalters. Bearbeitet von Dr. M. Wiener. Erster Teil. (Regesta regarding the history of Jews in Germany during the Middle Ages. First Part.); (Hannover; 1862)
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2020
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	May 15, 1248
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Condemnation of the Talmud” issued by Odo of Chateauroux
3. Geography of Act	France
4. Text of Act	Condemnation of the Talmud by Odo, May 15, 1248…Certain books by the name of Talmud having been presented by the Jewish masters to us armed with apostolic authority, we have examined these books and caused them to be carefully examined by men of discretion…Whereas we found that these books were full of innumerable errors, abuses, blasphemies, and wickedness such as arouse shame in those who speak of them and horrify the hearer, to such an extent that these books cannot be tolerated in the name of God without injury to the Christian faith, therefore, with the advice of those pious men whom we caused to be gathered especially for that purpose, We pronounce that the said books are unworthy of tolerance, and that they are not to be restored to the Jewish masters, and we decisively condemn them. We are also possessed of full knowledge as to the place and time of other books not shown to us by the Jewish masters nor by us examined, although we have often made demands for them; and we shall do what there is to be done with regard to them.
5. Source	“Odo of Chateauroux, on the Jewish Tamud (1247, 1248).” Jacob R. Marcus, Accessed online.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1250
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Papal Bull” issued by Pope Innocent IV
3. Geography of Act	Papal States
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) Refused permission to Jews of Cordova to build a new synagogue. Jewish Encyclopedia: The Popes, jewishencyclopedia.com
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 1251 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Writ of Conrad IV
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“Conrad IV pledges to Gotfried von Hohenloch for 3000 Mark silver the city Rotenburg and its Jews along with Gebsattel.”
5. Source	Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland während des Mittelalters. Bearbeitet von Dr. M. Wiener. Erster Teil. (Regesta regarding the history of Jews in Germany during the Middle Ages. Edited by M[eir] Wiener, PhD. First Part.); (Hannover; 1862);
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2020
8. Notes	Researcher The above is a translation of a German summary of the original Latin text. The original can be found in Stälin’s Wirtembergische Geschichte (History of Württemberg).

1. Full Date of Act	1252
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Ad Extirpanda” Bull issued by Pope Innocent IV
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Italy
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) “...in 1252, Pope Innocent IV authorizes the use of torture by the Inquisitors against Jews and other apostates.” “Jewish Persecution.” Online article
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Apr. 27, 1252
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Decree, issued by Conrad von Hochstaden, Archbishop of Cologne
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	Whereas the Jews, as We Ourselves believe, must live in hope of being protected, and that the effects of divine grace may be beneficial to them, be it known that We hereby award them Our protection, here in the City of Cologne, which they may enter and settle down in, for a term of two years, in exchange for either servitude, or a tribute paid twice a year on the feast of St. John the Baptist and on Christmas Day, and that they shall not negotiate this, under any circumstances, through anybody, be it an advocate, an assembly, or anyone else.
5. Source	Weyden, Ernst. Geschichte der Juden in Köln am Rhein von den Römerzeiten bis auf die Gegenwart nebst Noten und Urkunden (History of the Jews in Cologne on Rhine from Roman Times to the Present, accompanied by Notes and Documents). DuMont-Schauberg: Cologne, 1867. Page 353.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2020
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jan. 31, 1253
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Ordinances of 1253, decreed by King Henry III of England
3. Geography of Act	England
4. Text of Act	The King has provided and decreed, etc. that no Jew dwell in England unless he do the King service, and that as soon as a Jew shall be born, whether male or female, in some way he shall serve the King. And that there be no communities of the Jews in England save in those places wherein such communities were in the time of the lord King John, the King’s father. And that in their synagogues the Jews, one and all, worship in subdued tones according to their rite, so that Christians hear it not. And that all Jews answer to the rector of the parish in which they dwell for all parochial dues belonging to their houses. And that no Christian nurse hereafter suckle or nourish the male child of any Jew, and that no Christian man or woman serve any Jew or Jewess, nor eat with them, nor dwell in their house. And that no Jew or Jewess eat or buy meat in Lent. And that no Jew disparage the Christian faith, nor publicly dispute touching the same. And that no Jew have secret intercourse with any Christian woman, nor any Christian man with a Jewess. And that every Jew wear on his breast a conspicuous badge. And that no Jew enter any church or any chapel save in passing through, nor stay therein to the dishonour of Christ. And that no Jew in any wise hinder another Jew willing to be converted to the Christian faith. And that no Jew be received in any town without the special licence of the King, save in those town wherein Jews have been wont to dwell. And the justices appointed to the guardianship of the Jews are commanded to cause these provisions to be carried into effect and straitly kept on pain of forfeiture of the goods of the Jews aforesaid. Witness the King at Westminster on the 31st day of January.
5. Source	English Economic History: Select Documents, Edited by Alfred Edward Bland, Richard Henry Tawney. Macmillan: New York, 1919. p. 45. Accessed online
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2016
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jul. 23, 1253
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Bull “Sicut Tua Nobis Fraternitas,” issued by Pope Innocent IV to the Archbishop of Vienne
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	Since Your Fraternity tells us that the souls of the Christians are known to be threatened with serious danger because of intercourse with the Jews of your Province whom you say that you have tolerated in that Province until now because of the command of the Apostolic Throne, though not without loss to Christians and scandal on the part of many, we, aspiring wholeheartedly toward the salvation of souls, grant to you, by the authority of these letters, full power to expel the said Jews from your province, either through your own power or that of others, especially since, as we have heard, they do not obey the above-named statutes issued against them by the Apostolic Throne.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. Church And the Jews In the XIIIth Century: a Study of Their Relations During the Years 1198-1254, Based On the Papal Letters And the Conciliar Decrees of the Periods. The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning: Philadelphia PA, 1933. P. 293.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	Researcher Both the Latin Viennensi as well as the English Viennese may refer to either Vienne, France, or Vienna, Austria. Even the French Viennois can mean either one. Footnotes make it clear that the bull was sent to Vienne, not Vienna.

1. Full Date of Act	1254 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Regulations of Ottocar” (“Codex Juris Municipiorum”) issued by Ottocar
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Czech Republic [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“[…] 1) Jews may take interest at a rate of 5 pfennig in the mark, 6 pfennig in the pound, and 1 pfennig in 30. 2) When a Jew is a plaintiff against a Christian, he must produce Christian as well as Jewish witnesses, and vice versa. 3) A Jew found with an unmarried Christian woman shall be sentenced to death. 4) A Jew found with a married Christian woman shall be sentenced to death. 5) Blood-stained garments may not be taken in pledge. 6) A Christian killing a Jew shall be sentenced to death. 7) A Jew taking an ecclesiastical vessel in pledge shall surrender it on demand without reimbursement. 8) A Jew called upon to take an oath in a lawsuit concerning a Christian shall swear by the Pentateuch. […]”
5. Source	The Jewish Encyclopedia: The History, Religion Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People From the Earliest Times to the Present Day; edited by Isidore Singer; New York/London;
6. Researcher	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research	2018
8. Notes	Researcher Charles IV confirmed Ottocar’s regulations in 1356 and King Wenceslaus IV renewed them in 1393.

1. Full Date of Act	Mar. 14, 1254
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Letter, issued by Pope Innocent IV to the Bishop of Constance
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	Although, after careful deliberation, it was decreed in the sacred General Council that the Jews should be distinguishable from the Christians by their clothes, lest Christians and Jews be able to have sinful intercourse with women of the other faith, nevertheless, we have been informed, the Jews of your Province and Diocese do not observe this decree, and as a result they may dare to commit the sin of forbidden intercourse under the veiling of error. Wanting, however, that this statute should be rigorously observed, we, through Apostolic Letters, command Your Fraternity, if this is true, to compel the Jews to wear the sign so that by their clothes they may make themselves distinguishable from Christians. This you shall do by shutting them off from communication with the faithful, after due warning, but without the right of appeal.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. Church And the Jews In the XIIIth Century: a Study of Their Relations During the Years 1198-1254, Based On the Papal Letters And the Conciliar Decrees of the Periods. The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning: Philadelphia PA, 1933. P. 295.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Blood libel
3. Geography of Act	England
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) "Life was incredibly hard for England’s Jews at the time. The first instance of a blood libel - where Jews were accused of killing a Christian child in order to use his blood in Jewish rituals - occurred in 1144 in the English town of Norwich. A second blood libel took place in 1255 - during Licoricia’s lifetime - when the body of a young child was found in a well in the town of Lincoln. The boy’s friends accused local Jews of kidnapping, torturing and murdering the child. Lincoln’s sheriff arrested over 90 Jews; 18 were executed. Both of the children at the centers of these blood libels were made into saints (St. William of Norwich and St. Hugh of Lincoln), stoking Christian hatred of local Jews still further." Dr. Yvette Alt Miller, "The Most Famous Jewish Woman in Medieval England," aish.com
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	"Jews Sold" by Henry III
3. Geography of Act	England
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) Henry III of England sells his rights to the Jews (regarded as royal "chattels") to his brother Richard for 5,000 marks. Avraham, Yerachmiel Ben: All in the Name of Jesus: The Murder of Millions (2016)
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Mar. 15, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Writ of King William II of Holland
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	William (‘Wilhelm’) loans/grants (‘verleiht’) ten Mark annually to the Speyer citizen Evelinus ante Monasterium for this loyalty as hereditary fief from the Jews in Speyer which he instructs them to give.
5. Source	Urkunden zur Geschichte der Stadt Speyer. Mit Historischen Verein der Pfalz zu Speyer gewidmet von Heinrich Hilgard-Villard. Gesammelt und herausgegeben von Alfred Hilgard. (Strassburg; 1885); (Official documents regarding the history of the city Speyer. With the Historical Society of the Palatine of Speyer, dedicated by Heinrich Hilgard-Willard. Collected and published by Alfred Hilgard. (Strasbourg; 1885);
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2020
8. Notes	Researcher The above is a translation of a German summary of the original Latin text both of which can be found in the cited source.

1. Full Date of Act	May 6, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by the Council of Beziers
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	§23.— Moreover, we command that the ordinances with regard to the Jews shall be observed most carefully. These are as follows: Jews shall desist from usury, blasphemy, and magic. The Talmud, as well as other books in which blasphemies are found, shall be burned. The Jews who refuse to obey this shall be expelled, and transgressors shall suffer punishment according to law. All Jews shall live from the labor of their own hands, or from commerce without contracts and usury. §27.— Moreover, we command that the decrees issued by us with the advice of our nobles at Melun, shall be adhered to and observed, viz. that none of our barons, bailiffs, or other persons shall contract a debt to a Jew. Nor shall anyone in our whole Kingdom retain the Jew of another. Nor shall anyone hinder another to recapture his Jew, as if he were his own slave, no matter how long the Jew shall have resided under the jurisdiction of someone else. §28.— Moreover, as far as Christians are concerned, in accordance with the contents of the above-named decree, we strictly forbid our barons, bailiffs, or other persons to let the Jews obtain any usury. By usury we mean anything above the principal.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. Church And the Jews In the XIIIth Century: a Study of Their Relations During the Years 1198-1254, Based On the Papal Letters And the Conciliar Decrees of the Periods. The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning: Philadelphia PA, 1933. P. 337.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 29, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Law on maximum interest rate charged by Jews, passed by the City Council of Mainz
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	Under penalty of 10 Cologne marks […], no Jew shall take more than two cents weekly per pound.
5. Source	Schaab, K.A. Geschichte des großen rheinischen Städtebundes, gestiftet zu Mainz im Jahre 1254 durch Arnold Walpod, Volume 2. Kupferberg: Mainz (Germany), 1845. Pp. 26f.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Oct. 19, 1255
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Constitution of the Synod of Valencia
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Spain
4. Text of Act	No cleric shall serve as a guarantor to a Jew or pledge chalices, vestments, altar cloths or books to Jews.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 276.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jan. 10, 1256
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	The Regulations of the Church of Nicosia
3. Geography of Act	Cyprus
4. Text of Act	XIV. That no one should have recourse to an infidel physician. We also strictly prohibit any Christian, healthy or ill, from summoning an infidel physician, namely Jew or Saracen, nor shall [the Christian] receive any medicine from [the infidel] or by his counsel, because the holy canons prohibit this, after pious consideration. For from this it happens that our faith comes to be viewed with contempt, since the Jews or Saracens themselves scorn the use of the Christians' ministration of this sort, and consider it therefore an offense to their law.
5. Source	Christopher Schabel, “The Synodicum Nicosiense and Other Documents of the Latin Church of Cyprus, 1196-1373,” Cyprus Research Center, 2001, p. 97, available at archive.org.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2024
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Nov. 16, 1256
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Market Ordinance (“Marktordnung”), issued by Henry, Duke of Lower Bavaria, for the City of Landshut
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Germany
4. Text of Act	12. Diseased meat and meat from sows may only be sold at least 7 feet [apart] from the meat market; the same applies to meat sold by Jews.
5. Source	Heil, B. Die deutsche Stadt im Mittelalter [The German City in the Middle Ages]. Teubner: Leipzig, 1919. Page 23.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2020
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	1257 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Episcopal constitution of the Diocese of Salisbury
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“Jews of our diocese may not employ any Christian women as wet-nurses, midwives, or damnably venture to retain them in other servile occupations; or have sexual relations with a Christian woman, thus scandalizing our faith. Any Jew who confesses to such a crime or is convicted of it, shall be cut off from all intercourse with the Christian community by ecclesiastical censure.”
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 241.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 22, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canons issued by the Provincial Council of Canterbury, held in London
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom
4. Text of Act	XXXII. Jews guilty of offenses against Church property or clerics, as well as sacrilege, and, in particular, the use of violence against a cleric, are to be tried by Courts Christian. The same applies to the case of adultery with a Christian woman. The king has tried to prevent this by claiming the Jews have their own judge and justiciars. Yet, these judges have no cognizance in the above matters; furthermore, anyone convened by them may purge himself of wrongdoing without an oath.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 284.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Sep. 3, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal decree requiring Jews to wear a yellow badge, issued by Pope Alexander IV for Burgundy
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	TO THE NOBLE DUKE of Burgundy: In the sacred general assembly, through careful deliberations, it was decreed that the Jews be distinguished from Christians by the quality of their garb, lest those of the former might be damnably confused with those of the latter. In the same council it was also decreed that Jews not be preferred for public office, since under such pretext they are often dangerous to Christians. However, as we understand, the Jews of your land do not observe this edict, as a result of which an excess of damnable confusion can be presumed under the guise of error. Also, the same Jews are preferred for offices contrary to that edict. Since it is fitting that you provide properly for these matters, we request and exhort your nobility, through apostolic writs addressed to you, ordering that, since power has been transmitted to you by God, you compel the aforesaid Jews to wear a badge by means of which they can be distinguished from Christians by the quality of their garb and that they not be preferred for the aforesaid offices. Moreover, you must cause those books which are popularly called Talmud, in which are contained errors against the Catholic faith and horrible and intolerable blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Virgin Mary, His mother, to be surrendered by all the Jews of the aforesaid land. Your sincerity should provide in these matters in such a way that the mercy of the eternal King manifest for you that which it bestows for pious acts and that we extend for this full appreciation to your devotions. – Given at Viterbo, September 3, in the fourth year of our pontificate [1257].
5. Source	Birnbaum, David, The Crucifixion Book 2. Millenium Education Foundation: New York, 2010.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Oct. 13, 1257
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Bull, issued by Pope Alexander IV to the King of Navarre, Count Palatine of Champagne and Brie
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	From your parts reaches us credible knowledge that in spite of your prohibition thereof, the Jews among your subjects continue to practice usury, a crime condemned by the pages of both Testaments. You will instruct your judiciary to apprehend those Jews and seize their usurious gains, and restore to various persons what has been extorted in that way, and if those persons cannot be found, put that property to pious uses.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 58.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 6, 1258
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Statutes issued by the Church of England at the Council of Merton
3. Geography of Act	Present-day United Kingdom
4. Text of Act	Jews who commit offenses against Church property or ecclesiastical persons are to appear before ecclesiastical judges. All contact with Christians is denied them if they refuse to comply.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 285.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 23, 1258
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Papal Bull, issued by Pope Alexander IV to the archbishops and bishops of France
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	If the Isrealites of the Old Testament, living under the shadow of the Law, used the vestments and vessels employed in the performance of animal sacrifices solely for that purpose, how much more then, in the time of the New Testament, ought the Christian clergy—who have seen the grace and humaneness of the Savior and at the same time have experienced the mystery of God’s Kingdom—treat with reverence and guard with solicitude those vestments of their ministry, the sacred ornaments, the chalices, and the ecclesiastical vessels with and through which they perform the unique and ever lifegiving sacrifice of the son of God. […] Yet we have heard—and we speak of it not without bitterness of heart—that some clergy make no distinction between the sacred and the profane, that they dare leave such vestments, ornaments, and vessels as loan pledges with Jews. And these very Jews, like ingrate enemies of the Cross and Christian Faith—for Christian piety through mercy alone accepts them to dwell in our midst—treat these pledges with irreverence, to the disgrace of the Christian religion, and act so nefariously toward them as is shameful to speak of and horrible to hear. […] We request Your Fraternity and order you to command each one of the clergy of your dioceses never hereafter to dare, under pain of excommunication and the loss of office and benefice, to pledge vestments, ornaments, and vessels with Jews. […] In our behalf, you shall take good care to warn these Jews that if, […] after this warning, they continue to accept these articles, […] they will lose not only the gain accruing from the debt, but also incur the loss of the principal.
5. Source	Grayzel, Solomon. The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century, Volume II (1254-1315). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America: New York, 1989. Page 62.
6. Researcher	Dominik Jacobs
7. Year of Research	2019
8. Notes	None