less than a week later?,In 1614, 1,380 Jews – the entire Jewish community of Frankfurt, including its rav, Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, author of the Shlah (Shnei Luchos HaBris) – were expelled from the city after being pillaged by a mob. A year and a half later, Frankfurt’s Jews were back, and celebrated 20 Adar as “Purim Vincenz” or “Purim Fettmilch” for several centuries thereafter.
Emperor Matthias son of Maximillian II and grandson of Emperor Charles V through his mother Maria was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Frankfurt in 1612. At the time of his coronation Vincent Fettmilch a Calvinist and rabid anti-Semite became a ringleader and head of Frankfurt’s bakers’ guild. (A guild was a medieval association composed of merchants or artisans with the goals of maintaining strict standards for its members and of protecting their interests. It constituted a local governing body.) In the early seventeenth century tensions rose between the members of the guilds and the Lutherans who dominated Frankfurt’s city council leading to substantial unrest.
The guilds demanded more control regarding fiscal policies and requested that the Jewish community’s rights be restricted. They also requested a reduction in grain prices and that the high rates charged by the Jewish money lenders be slashed by 50 percent.
In late 1613 the city council working towards a compromise reached an agreement with Vincent Fettmilch and his supporters granting the guilds increased power and rights. It was soon revealed however that the city was in terrible debt and the city council had misappropriated taxes that had been collected from the Jews. Fettmilch declared the city council deposed and seized the city gates and the Fettmilch Rebellion named for its leader ensued.
Part of the populace mainly craftsmen revolted against the city council. Merchants and lawyers also supported Fettmilch who hoped that the expulsion of the Jews would free of them of their debts to Jewish moneylenders. The Emperor who had originally remained neutral in this dispute demanded a reinstatement of the city council. He threatened anyone who opposed him with an imperial interdiction which would strip the offender of all rights.
Create a free account to keep reading.
