Mainz

German city in the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt; on the left bank of the Rhine; the seat of an archbishop, who was formerly one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. It has a population of 84,251, of whom 3,200 are Jews. Although there are no historical documents relating to Jewish settlements while Mayence was under Roman rule, it may be assumed that Jews followed the Roman legions to the Rhine in the first centuries of the common era. Legend reports that Charlemagne called Kalonymus of Lucca as rabbi to thecongregation of Mayence, but documentary evidence of the existence of Jews in Mayence does not antedate the first half of the tenth century, when Archbishop Frederick (937-954) made an unsuccessful attempt to restrict Jewish commercial activity. In 1012 the peace of the Jews of Mayence was disturbed by a religious persecution instigated by Henry II., and which led to apostasy or banishment. After a few months, however, the exiles returned to the city, and most of the converts to Judaism. In the following period of peace the intellectual life of the Jews of Mayence flourished as never before, under various members of the KALONYMUS (2) family and under other Talmudic authorities, including in particular GERSHOM BEN JUDAH.

Massacres During Crusades.

The Cemetery of the Jewish Community of Mayence.(From a photograph.)

In 1084 the Jews were accused of having caused a conflagration which destroyed a large part of the city, and many emigrated in consequence. These refugees were received by Bishop Rüdiger Huozman of Speyer, who desired to build up his city. (The charter dated 1090 and supposed to have been issued by this bishop is a forgery of later times, based on a document of Henry IV.) Under the leadership of Emicho of Leinigen the Crusaders attacked the Jews of Mayence May 27, 1096, massacring more than eleven hundred in the city and fifty-three who had fled to the neighboring Rüdesheim, in spite of their brave resistance and of the protection of Archbishop Ruthard. Included by Henry IV. in the "king's peace" of 1103, the community slowly recovered, until in 1147 the Second Crusade claimed more victims, in consequence of the agitations of the monk Radulph. Persecutions which threatened the Jews in 1187 and 1188 were averted by the bishop and the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Toward the end of the thirteenth century the accusation of ritual murder was raised at Mayence. In June, 1281, R. Meïr b. Abraham ha-Kohen was slain and the synagogue desecrated and burned; on April 19, 1283, ten Jews were slain by the populace. The persecutions spread throughout the vicinity, and in 1285 the Jews of Mayence, Worms, Speyer, Frankfort-on-the-Main, and the Wetterau decided to abandon their property and to emigrate to Palestine under the leadership of R. Meïr of Rothenburg. The real estate left at Mayence—in the most beautiful part of the city, the so-called "Judenerben"—was seized by the city in 1286, but was confiscated to the state by Archbishop Adolf II. in 1462. The Jews of Mayence escaped the massacres of 1298 under RINDFLEISCH and 1338-39 under Armleder. In August, 1349, at the time of the Black Death, nearly the whole community perished, and the ghetto was set on fire. The community gradually revived, however, and lived in peace for nearly ninety years, until the Jews were expelled from the city July 25, 1438, in consequence of municipal quarrels; their cemetery and synagogue were confiscated, and the tombstones were used for building purposes. When the old city government was overthrown in 1414 the Jews were permitted to return by Archbishop Diether, who claimed them as his property. Expelledagain in 1462 by Archbishop Adolf, though soon readmitted, they were obliged to leave the city definitely in 1473, their synagogue being transformed into a chapel. On March 6, 1492, a Jew named Isaac was permitted to occupy and manage the "miḳweh" (ritual bath), which had been owned by the state for twenty years, and to bury in the "Judensand," mentioned as a cemetery as early as 1286, the Jewish dead brought into the city.

In the Archbishopric.

The sufferings of the Jews of the metropolis were shared by those in various localities in the archbishopric, where Jews had settled since the Carlovingian time. This is clear from the following partial summary of places which suffered: Aschaffenburg, persecutions in 1147, 1337, 1349; Amorbach, 1349; Bensheim, 1349; Bingen (mentioned in 1160-73), 1349; Dieburg, 1349; Eltville, 1349; Erfurt, 1221, 1266, 1349; Fritzlar, 1349; Heppenheim, 1349; Heiligenstadt - im - Eichsfeld, 1349; Klingenburg, 1298; Königheim, 1298; Königshofen, 1298, 1349; Krautheim, 1298; Külsheim, 1337; Lahnstein, 1287, 1349; Lorch, 1276, 1337; Miltenberg, 1349; Neudenau, 1298; Ostheim, 1298; Seligenstadt, 1349; Tauberbishofsheim, 1235, 1298, 1337, 1349.

Community Reorganized.