A quarrel in the Synagogue

The following criminal case in November of 1373 is recorded: the Jews Ameran, son of Mändlein, and Zächerl von Wien – both citizens of Regensburg – had beaten Gnendlein in the synagogue and wounded him. Gnendlein (synagogal name: Peter b. Moses) was one of the heads of the Regensburg community, worked as a moneylender and had his own seal.

Arbitration proceedings were initiated after the beating, and they resulted in Ameran and Zächerl issuing this "Hintergangsbrief" (agreement in arbitration) for the city council. In the presence of the parnas, they promised on oath, swearing on the Five Books of Moses (in Moyses püch), that they would accept any punishment that the city council imposed upon them. The oath and authentication were witnessed by the Jews Abraham von Rax and Veivel zu Regensburg.

As the entry in the Gelbes Stadtbuch (Yellow City Book) shows, the city council and Ameran had agreed that the Jew could settle in Regensburg for four years. It is stressed that he, as a der Stadt versprochner jud (a Jew who has committed to the city), has broken the "Burgfrieden" by beating up Gnendlein within the city boundaries. Burgfrieden was an official state of truce that the city council had declared for Christians and Jews and which the citizens of Regensburg had sworn an oath to respect. That is why Ameran accepted the punishment by the city council.

This example shows that disputes between Jews could also play out before the municipal courts. In this case, the matter was of public interest, as the parties involved had behaved in contravention of the Burgfrieden, which the members of the Jewish community were also bound to respect.