Introduction: Protection

Medieval W. Christendom
In order to maintain Jewish life in areas of prior Jewish settlement or in areas of
new Jewish settlement, the first requirement was physical security. Without the promise
and the reality of physical security, Jewish life was unsustainable. Thus, the lay
authorities of medieval western Christendom were by and large deeply committed to
assuring the safety of Jews living in their domains.

Assuring Jewish physical security meant, first and foremost, standing by the Jews
at points of duress, when Jewish life and property were threatened. As noted, the first
significant explosion of popular anti-Jewish violence took place in 1096, as an offshoot
of the papal call to the First Crusade. While we know mostly about the failed efforts of
the Rhineland authorities to protect their Jews, the fact that anti-Jewish atrocities are not
reported elsewhere is—at least in some measure—a tribute to more effective protection
by other lay authorities. In subsequent crusades, the authorities were better prepared for
anti-Jewish agitation and thus more effective at providing requisite protection.

As the traditional imagery of historic Jewish enmity to Christ and Christianity was
superseded by the growing sense of here-and-now Jewish hostility, combating the new
canards became a concern of both ecclesiastical and lay leadership. Major lay
authorities—like King Louis VII of France, Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman
Empire, and King James I of Aragon—all resolutely dismissed the new allegations. The
case of Emperor Frederick II is especially striking in that he empanelled a commission of
converts from Judaism—who would be knowledgeable, but hardly inclined to be overly
sympathetic to their former co-religionists—to investigate the allegation of Jewish use of
Christian blood. The negative conclusion of this commission enabled the emperor to
dismiss the new charge categorically.