JACOB VON KONIGSHOFEN


Popular Quotes

Jacob von Konigshofen

On Saturday - that was St. Valentine's Day-they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about two thousand people of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared. Some say that about a thousand accepted baptism. Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their fathers and mothers. And everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled, and the Jews had to surrender all pledges and notes that they had taken for debts. The council, however, took the cash that the Jews possessed and divided it among the working-men proportionately. The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt
0  
Citation

In 1349 the Black Plague Ravaged Europe. Millions died. Some blamed the Jews for “poisoning” the wells and causing the deaths. In most cases as in Strasbourg the plague was the excuse for even baser motives as this quotation illustrates.

Jacob von Konigshofen

The Jews were burnt all the way from the Mediterranean into Germany, but not in Avignon, for the pope protected them there.
0  
Citation

Some bigots blamed the Jews for the Black Plague, then rampant. This is documentation of the Pope’s intercession to protect Jews. Pope Benedict XII, ?-1342, was an enlightened and moral leader who did not share the superstitions of many and realized that something was transmitting the disease. See {611790} for his behavior. The graphic is of the Pope.

Jacob von Konigshofen

The pope at Avignon stopped all sessions of court, locked himself in a room, allowed no one to approach him and had a fire burning before him all the time.
0  
Citation

The time described was 1349 when the Bubonic Plague had ravaged Europe. This “prevention methodology was probably intended as some sort of disinfectant but in reality the fire would inhibit the rats which were the main carriers of the plague and his isolation would have protected him from being infected by other people. The Pope’s method was about as good as one could do at the time. The Graphic is of the Pope—not Konigshofen.q

All Quotes
No Photo Available
  • Born:
  • Nationality:
  • Profession:
Biography