The Jews and their Protector

The protector of the Jews was the king or emperor, who exercised the Judenregal ("right to the Jews"). He granted sovereign rights over the Jews and the right of taxation. In 1182, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa (died 1190) declared that the Jews of the empire belonged to his imperial camera (ad imperialem cameram), taking them under his protection. Emperor Friedrich II (died 1250) bound the Jews even more closely to the empire by calling them his "kammerknechte" (serfs of the royal chamber) or servi camerae. The rulers that followed also cited that principle.

In 1382, King Wenzel IV (died 1419) issued the Jews of Regensburg with a document confirming all the rights that had been granted to them by his predecessors. He released them from all services to and demands from the empire for as long as they were pledged to the Bavarian dukes. The emperor also confirmed that the Jews had the right only to be brought before court in Regensburg.

The emperor was not only the Jews’ protector, he could also tax them. If he needed, he could also pledge the Jews and the tax on them, and this was the case in Regensburg from 1322.

After the death of Duke Georg the Rich in 1503, who at that point was the pfandherr (pledgeholder lord) of the Jews of Regensburg, King Maximilian I (died 1519) issued a document in which he recorded that the annual Judensteuer (tax on the Jews) would now return to the empire following the death of the duke. He also acknowledged the Jews' payment of the charges of 800 guilders for 1504 and assured them of his protection.