The Black Death

The Black Death, a pandemic of the bubonic plague, killed about a quarter of the population of Europe between 1347 and 1350.  Not knowing the medical/scientific causes of the plague, many placed blame on the Jews, who lived in more isolated communities in Europe and Asia. Rumors spread that they caused the disease by deliberately poisoning wells. Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence, in particular in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Germanic Empire. Although the Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull in 1348 declaring that Jews were not responsible, many Jews were burned alive or hanged by enraged mobs. The large and significant Jewish communities in such cities as Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Mainz were wiped out at this time.