The Dukes and the Jews

The Regensburg "Judensteuer" (tax on the Jews) was pledged to the dukes of Lower Bavaria from 1322. They claimed the tax up until 1503, and sometimes pledged it themselves in turn. Together with the City of Regensburg, the Lower Bavarian dukes were the main Gerichtsherren (lords exercising judicial authority) over Regensburg's Jews. The dukes also issued the Jews with letters of protection, for which the Jews paid them money.

As holders of the Judenregal ("right to the Jews"), they issued the Jews with a privilege in 1325, a contemporary copy of which can be seen here. Dukes Heinrich XIV, Otto IV and Heinrich XV confirm that the Jewish community of Regensburg has the right only to have to swear on the Five Books of Moses, and before the synagogue (Synagoge vor irer schul), as was the tradition. Moreover, the Jews had the right to choose their own judges, and they could only be prosecuted before their shul and before their judges. Regensburg was defined as the sole place of jurisdiction. This corresponds to the entitlements of the other citizens of Regensburg.

The dukes' policy towards the Jews was defined by personal interests. Where Duke Friedrich (1375-1393) was in charge of the cancellation of debts to the Jews under King Wenzel IV (died 1419), his son Duke Heinrich XVI (died 1450), who became the protector of the Regensburg Jews in 1447, pursued a policy of support. His son Duke Ludwig IX the Rich (died 1479), on the other hand, was extremely anti-Jewish and expelled the Jews from his duchy immediately after taking power. This expulsion did not affect Regensburg's Jews, as Regensburg was an imperial city and therefore subject not to the Duke of Bavaria but directly to the king of the Romans.