ABSTRACT
"In their armed march to Jerusalem, countless people from parts of different nations forced Jews to be baptized and struck dead those who resisted in an immeasurable bloodbath. In Mainz, Jews were killed, men, women, and children, 1,014 in number, and the greatest part of the city was burned down. In many places, Jews were made into Christians, and they turned away from Christianity again." 1 This brief account from the Annales Hildesheimenses describes the persecutions against the Jews during the First Crusade. From April through July 1096, Jewish communities in the Regnum Teutonicum suffered severe persecutions which far exceeded those of the past in their extent and intensity. Even before setting off to the crusade initiated by Pope Urban II. armed groups from every social level had formed under the leadership of clergy and nobility, among them Peter the Hermit and Emicho of Flonheim. This movement is often characterized as the Peasants' or People's Crusade, sometimes called the proto-crusade. even though it is difficult to distinguish from the main body of the crusade itself. Although religiously motivated, it pursued material interests as well, reinforced by a period of famine which had begun in 1090. It contributed to anti-Jewish sentiment and was directly responsible for the persecutions in which inhabitants of the affected cities were also involved. 2
