Jews Facing the “Armleder” Pogroms in Franconia, 1336–1337: A New Look at Regional Court Records

Both the Landgericht (“district court”, “regional court”) of Rothenburg, installed by King Rudolph I in 1274, and the Landgericht of the bishops of Würzburg, whose sentences are preserved from 1317, were popular among the Jews of the “Land of Rothenburg” and the “Land of Franconia”, respectively. They used it for voluntary and civil litigation, particularly for enforcing debt claims against Christian borrowers. The paper will address the entries stemming from the times of the “Armleder” pogroms in Franconia (1336/37) and offer a micro-historical analysis in view of the potential resilience strategies employed by the Jews of the region.