Craftsmen and Jews

Within Regensburg, the craftsmen formed a distinct group, and one that had particular points of contacts with the Jewish population.

Christian craftsmen were also commissioned by Jewish residents where required. An Urfehdebrief (oath of peace) of 31 October 1512 tells us that the mason Steffann Petz was to lay stone flooring in a chamber in the house of the Jew Abraham von der freyenn statt. When he removed the old screed, he found a leather pouch (peygurttel) containing gold Hungarian guilders. The mason and his wife kept the money and spent some of it, which eventually came out, and the craftsman was imprisoned.

Although this theft signifies a breach of the client's trust, the case does show that such everyday jobs were being commissioned just a few years before the Jews' expulsion.

In the period from 1516 on, the city council was obviously seeking the expulsion of the Jews from Regensburg. One tool it used was to submit letters of complaint as evidence to the imperial government in Innsbruck as part of the Innsbruck trial (1516-1522). In those letters, traders and members of certain craft guilds complained that the Jews bought up the necessary raw materials and then sold them on at higher prices. They also complained that members of their households pawned things with the Jews that then had to be redeemed at great cost, they criticised the fact that the Christians preferred to seek medical care from Jews, and much more.

In this letter from the Jewish community of 17 July 1518, the community responded to the various points at issue with the City of Regensburg and to the complaints listed.