Because of hostility, Jews found it hard to earn a living by farming, and sometimes they were the victims of violence. Rulers took their property at will. Jews became bankers and moneylenders (usury).
An even larger number went into marginal areas of the economy, such as buying and selling secondhand clothes.
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The Jews were largely excluded from the feudal system and from society.
1096 - Some 'Crusaders' exploited the religious fanaticism of the times to rob and murder Jews - and try to force the survivors to convert to Christianity. There were widespread massacres of Jews in the Rhineland.
1144 onwards - The Jews in various places were accused of ritual murder. These accusations were often followed by anti-Jewish riots and killings.
1215 - The Church ordered governments to pass laws to make the Jews wear a distinctive badge on their outer clothing (usually a red or yellow wheel or the Star of David).
1290 - All Jews ordered by Edward I to leave England. No reason is recorded. Some were murdered on their way out of the country.
1348-51 - During the Black Death, Jews in many places were accused of causing the plague by poisoning wells.
Adolf Hitler and his followers, the Nazis.
The Askenazim are the Jews who descend from the Jews in medieval Germany who migrated into central and eventually eastern Europe. The Yiddish word for Germany was Askenaz. The secular language of the Ashkenazim was Yiddish, a medieval form of German, mixed with Hebrew, and later also with Slavic words, that was written with Hebrew characters.
The Jews were the ones who got blamed for outbreaks of diseases. People accused them of poisoning the wells. Which is not true.
schools became less common in medieval Europe
For generations, Jews have had jobs as skilled merchants, and many worked in the money-lending trade. Before anti-semitism became such a large problem in Europe, Jews were seen as integral members of society. People may have even been jealous of them!
In medieval times, Jews were utterly mistreated.
How were Jews often missed treated in midieval Europe
In medieval times, Jews were utterly mistreated.
They had laws that made it very hard for Jews to make a living, and how they couldn't own any land.
catholic rule not christian
It was one of many blood-libels in medieval Europe and was an excuse to kill Jews.
Today we call it anti-Semitism. At that time, the phrase hadn't yet been coined.
Adolf Hitler and his followers, the Nazis.
The Askenazim are the Jews who descend from the Jews in medieval Germany who migrated into central and eventually eastern Europe. The Yiddish word for Germany was Askenaz. The secular language of the Ashkenazim was Yiddish, a medieval form of German, mixed with Hebrew, and later also with Slavic words, that was written with Hebrew characters.
The 1919 progroms against the Jews in Odessa, the Ukraine.
The people who took refuge in Poland during the Late Middle Ages were Jews form various parts of Western Europe. There is a link to an article on the history of Jews in medieval Poland below.
In medieval Europe, attitudes toward Jews shifted notably from initial coexistence to increasing hostility and discrimination. Early on, Jews were often seen as valuable for their roles in trade and finance, but growing religious fervor and economic competition led to widespread scapegoating. By the late medieval period, Jews faced violent persecution, forced conversions, and expulsions, exemplified by events like the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain in 1492. This decline in tolerance marked a significant and tragic transformation in Jewish-European relations.