In the month of the Expulsion

From 1516 at the latest, the city council pushed for the expulsion of the Regensburg Jews. The Jewish community fought back against these attempts in the Innsbruck trial (1516-1522). However, when Emperor Maximilian I (reigned 1486-1519) died on 12 January 1519, the Jews of Regensburg lost their protector. The city council exploited the power vacuum and, on 21 February 1519, passed a decision to expel the Jews: they were to leave the city within one week.

The Jewish community had had huge debts since the ritual murder trial (1476-1480). These included 10,000 guilders to the emperor for his support and another 8000 guilders to the City, which was required to pay that sum as a fine to the emperor and had passed on the debt to the Jews. The dukes also had financial claims against the Regensburg Jews. Poor as it had become, the Jewish community was almost incapable of paying its regular taxes. Nonetheless, the Jews of the city had still managed to settle part of their debt to Duke Georg the Rich (died 1503).

Now that Emperor Maximilian and Duke Georg were dead, Duke Georg's heirs, Ottheinrich of the Palatinate and Philipp of Palatinate-Neuburg, demanded repayment of the debt still outstanding. This promissory note was issued by fifteen representatives of the Jewish community to the two heirs' guardian, Friedrich II, Elector Palatine (1482-1556), on 27 February 1519. Nine people signed personally, eight of them in Hebrew characters, but in German.