Why were Jews persecuted in 1200?

Answer 1

2000 years ago, Judea, the country of the Jewish people, was ruled by the Roman Empire. Jews were not normally persecuted; Romans were remarkably tolerant of other religions, and sometimes even stole these other religions (or concepts from them) for themselves. Judea had joined the Roman Empire as a "client state"- they were a kingdom, but under the "protection" of the Romans. Eventually the kings died out and Judea became directly ruled by Rome; but the Jews were afforded special rights, like that they did not have to participate in pagan ceremonies or use money with Roman gods and emperors on it.

Every once in a while, however, an unscrupulous Roman official would try to force the Jews to do something they didn't want to do, like have the Great Temple use its internal funds to pay an arbitrary tax, or have Jewish people participate in a pagan religious ceremony.

Usually the Jews would just go through the normal Imperial bureaucracy to have that official removed or transferred elsewhere. But sometimes, especially when the bureaucracy failed to help them, there would be riots... and riots usually led to revolts. The Romans hated revolts, and had zero tolerance for them.

There were three major Jewish revolts against the Romans, all of which were intense, bloody wars:

• The first was the revolt in 66 AD that lasted 7 years and resulted in the destruction of the Great Temple. Emperor Nero died halfway through it, and the Roman General Vespasian had to leave to go become the new emperor. His son Titus finished the war, massacring the rebels and looting/destroying the temple. Jews began the "diaspora", where they left Judea to live in other parts of the Roman Empire.
• The second war started in 115 AD in North Africa, mainly around what is now Egypt and Libya. It only took about two years for the Roman Army to crush the revolt, slaughtering another huge number of Jews.
• The third and final war is often called Bar Kokhba's revolt. It started about 20 years after the start of the second war; in this one, Simon Bar Kokhba was believed to be the Jewish "Messiah", a great leader who would create a holy kingdom that had been promised by God. Bar Kokhba was successful for a couple years, and even set up his own independent kingdom, but a massive Roman Army eventually arrived and destroyed him and his followers.

After the third war, the Roman Emperor, who did not want to deal with Jewish revolts anymore, banned all Jews from Judea. Judea was rebuilt by the Romans and renamed "Syria Palaestina", after the Philistines, an enemy tribe of the ancient Jews- this is where the term "Palestine" comes from. The Jewish population was devastated, and the religious center became Babylonia (modern Iraq), where Jewish schools had been set up. There were later revolts by Jews against the Romans, but they would never again have the success they had in the first three.

Jews would not be able to return to their ancient homelands in great numbers until the last 150 years or so; but in the time between Bar Kokhba's war and their return, other non-Jewish peoples moved into the area. This is where the conflict between Israel and Palestine originates, and it gets even worse when you factor in things like Christian eschatological beliefs that Jews need to be back in Judea for Jesus to return....

Answer 2

The crusades were accompied by an upsurge of religious zeal and fanaticism. In places this spilled over into anti-Judaism, for example in Northern France and the Rhineland. Moreover, over the course of the crusades, vicious anti-Judaism became deeply embedded in European ways of thinking.

When King Richard I (the Lionhearted) was crowned in 1189, nearly a hundred years after the start of the crusades, representatives of the English Jewish community appeared to do homage to him as their feudal lord. His courtiers stripped them naked and beat them up; Jews' houses in London were set on fire. The violence spread to the provinces and in March 1190 a howling mob beiseged the Jews in York (Clifford's Tower). In desperation they committed mass suicide.

Answer 3

The religious zeal of the Crusades was one of the main reasons.