Under the Crozier of Mainz: Specific Conditions for a Mobile Elite?

After the persecutions of the Black Death in the Middle of the 14^th century CE and after the turbulence for the Jewish communities caused by the so called ‘Judenschuldentilgung’ (declaration of nullity in favour of people indebted to Jews) towards the end of the same century, we can see some intensified (or before not known) presence of Jews in the Erzstift Mainz, the territory of secular authority held by the archbishops as their temporalities. These prince-electors seem to have made some remarkable efforts to hold the Jews in their sphere of influence. These phenomena coincide with the expulsion of the Jews from the neighbouring countries: the prince-archbishopric of Trier (1418 CE) and the County Palatinate of the Rhine (1390s CE).

Did the Archbishops of Mainz just see these events as an opportunity to get some more Jews under their jurisdiction? Or was there even a pro-Jewish agenda of these ecclesiastical princes and the clergy? Which were the impacts on the country’s economic and social fabric? What was the role of local noblemen? Who were in fact the decisive players?

For the late 14^th century and for the first half of the 15^th century CE, questions like these will be examined in the presentation given.

Data gathering primarily took place for the long term project ‘medieval-ashkenaz.org.’, so documents used are mostly archival material – whether already edited or to be published in future.