Rhineland massacres in the context of "First Crusade"

⭐ In the context of the First Crusade, the Rhineland massacres are considered a consequence of which preceding event?

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⭐ Core Definition: Rhineland massacres

The Rhineland massacres, also known as the German Crusade of 1096 or Gzerot Tatnó (Hebrew: גזרות תתנ"ו, "Edicts of 4856"), were a series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Crusade in 1096 (4856 in the Hebrew calendar). These massacres are often seen as the first in a sequence of antisemitic events in Europe which culminated in the Holocaust.

Prominent leaders of Crusaders involved in the massacres included Peter the Hermit and especially Count Emicho. As part of this persecution, the destruction of Jewish communities in Speyer, Worms and Mainz was noted as the Hurban Shum (Destruction of Shum). These were new persecutions of the Jews in which peasant Crusaders from France and Germany attacked Jewish communities. Many historians have referred to the violence as pogroms.

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👉 Rhineland massacres in the context of First Crusade

The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first and most successful of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, which were initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Their aim was to return the Holy Land—which had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century—to Christian rule. By the 11th century, although Jerusalem had then been ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years, the practices of the Seljuk rulers in the region began to threaten local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest impetus for the First Crusade came in 1095 when Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent ambassadors to the Council of Piacenza to request military support in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, at which Pope Urban II gave a speech supporting the Byzantine request and urging faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

This call was met with an enthusiastic popular response across all social classes in western Europe. Thousands of predominantly poor Christians, led by the French priest Peter the Hermit, were the first to respond. What has become known as the People's Crusade passed through Germany and indulged in wide-ranging anti-Jewish activities, including the Rhineland massacres. On leaving Byzantine-controlled territory in Anatolia, they were annihilated in a Turkish ambush led by the Seljuk Kilij Arslan I at the Battle of Civetot in October 1096.

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Rhineland massacres in the context of Peter the Hermit

Peter the Hermit (c. 1050 – 8 July 1115 or 1131), also known as Little Peter, Peter of Amiens (French: Pierre d'Amiens) or Peter of Achères (French: Pierre d'Achères), was a Roman Catholic priest of Amiens and a key figure during the military expedition from France to Jerusalem in 1096 known as the People's Crusade. Amongst Jews he is best remembered for the massacres of Jews that occurred under his leadership and the precedent they set for subsequent Crusades. He has sometimes been called "Blessed" Peter the Hermit, although he has not been beatified in the Catholic Church.

After leading his followers through Europe, Peter’s armies were almost entirely annihilated by the Seljuk Turks, forcing him to winter in Constantinople and join up with the Prince’s Crusade. After that, he continued to have a leadership role in varying degrees of significance as the Crusaders invaded the Levant and took Jerusalem.

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Rhineland massacres in the context of Ekkehard von Aura

Ekkehard of Aura (Latin: Ekkehardus Uraugiensis; born c. 1080, died 20 February 1126) was the first abbot of Aura from 1108. The monastery was founded by Bishop Otto of Bamberg on the Franconian Saale river, near Bad Kissingen, Bavaria. It is thought that Ekkehard was a member of the Bavarian aristocracy.

A Benedictine monk and chronicler, he made updates to the World Chronicle (Chronicon universale) of Frutolf of Michelsberg, adding important German history between 1098 and 1125 during the reign of Emperor Henry V, in which he sided strongly with the papacy in the Investiture Controversy. He was a participant in the Crusade of 1101 (Lerner, 1989), and provided important source material for the Rhineland massacres of Jews and for the First Crusade.

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Rhineland massacres in the context of Emicho

Emicho was a count in the Rhineland in the late 11th century. He is also commonly referred to as Emicho of Leiningen or Emich of Flonheim, and not to be confused with Bishop Emicho of Leiningen. In 1096, he was the leader of the Rhineland massacres (sometimes referred to as the "German Crusade of 1096") which were a series of mass murders of Jews that took place during the People's Crusade.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← First Crusade ← Peter the Hermit ← Ekkehard von Aura ← Ekkehard of Aura ← Emicho
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Hebrew language → Pogrom → Franks → Germanic peoples → People's Crusade → Hebrew calendar → Antisemitism in Europe → The Holocaust → Peter the Hermit → Emicho → History of the Jews in Speyer → Worms, Germany → Mainz → Takkanot Shum →