|
1410 MEIR ALGUADES (Spain)
The chief rabbi and former physician to King Henry III (Castile) was accused by Paul de Santa Maria of desecrating the host. He was tortured until he "confessed". Then he was killed and the synagogue was converted into a church.
1412 January 2, FRA VINCENT FERRER (Castile, Spain)
A Dominican friar who threatened and forced Jews into mass conversions. Ferrer would preach in synagogues with a Torah in one hand and a cross in the other. Together with Paul of Burgos (de Santa Maria) they instituted 24 edicts against the Jews in order to drive them to Christianity. These included a ban on working in handicrafts, trading in wine, flour, meat or bread, carrying arms, shaving, leaving the country, etc. Punishment was 100 lashes and a fine. The king, John II of Castile, was a child ruled by his mother Catherine and his uncle, Ferdinand I.
1413 UNION OF POLAND AND LITUHANIA
Under Under King Vladislav Yagilu (Jagiello) the privileges of the Jews were temporarily reduced.
1413 February 7, TORTOSA DISPUTATION (Aragon, Spain)
Ferrer returned, assisted by an apostate Joshua Lorki (Geronimo de Santa Fe), known to the Jews as Hamegadef (the blasphemer). He convinced Pope Benedict XIII to stage a disputation at Tortosa. It was presided over by the Pope himself and lasted for a period of twenty-one months in sixty-nine sessions. The Jews, led by Vidal Benvenisti and Joseph Albo, were faced with an opening salvo by Benedict in which he made the expected outcome clear. Hamegadef attacked the Talmud as anti-Christian and urged its banning. None of the Jews' counter-arguments were officially recorded.
1415 May 11, EDICT OF BENEDICT XIII (Spain)
Was enraged by the lack of voluntary conversions after the Christian "victory" at the Tortosa disputation. As a result, he banned the study of the Talmud in any form, instituted forced Christian sermons (where Jews were forced to listen to conversion sermons each Sunday), and tried to restrict Jewish life completely.
1416 JEWISH SYNOD (Bologna, Italy)
Tried to formulate a plan of defense against Vincent Ferrer.
1418 May 18, REGIONAL CONFERENCE (Flori, Italy)
Representatives from the Jewish communities of central and northern Italy met to discuss raising funds for self-defense as well as instituting sumptuary regulations so as "not to show off in the presence of Gentiles." It is plausible that the issuing of these sumptuary regulations, influenced Pope Martin V to issue a protective Bull the following year.
1419 - 1436 HUSSITE WARS (Germany)
Occurred after the Church executed John Huss for his outspoken criticisms. The Jews were attacked by the anti-Hussite Catholics, who were urged onward by the Dominican preachers.
1419 SARAH OF WUERZBURG (Bavaria, Germany)
Received a license from Archbishop Johann II von Nassau (1396-1419) to
practice medicine, making her one of the few women allowed to do so.
Other Jewish women physicians during this age included Sarah La
Migresse, Sara de Saint Gilles and Rebekah Zerlin of Frankfort. For the
most part, women were limited to helping other women.
|