Christoph Hoffmann (pseud. Ostrofrancus). De Ratisbona metropoli boioariae et subita ibidem judaeorum proscriptione.

(GERMANY).

Silvan Otmar, imprensis Ioannis Wagner

Augsburg

1519

This account of the tragic expulsion of the Jews from Regensburg in 1519 was written by Christoph Hofmann, a Benedictine monk at St. Emmeran in Regensburg. Most of Regensburg Jews were engaged in trade, and although under imperial protection, growing social tensions and the general decline and impoverishment of Regensburg as a whole, made the years leading up to 1519 a period of increased hostility against the Jews. When Emperor Maximilian died in January 1519, the citizens of Regensburg seized the opportunity to force its Jewish population (some 500-600 in number) out of the city within a few days. Gravestones were forcibly uprooted from the Jewish cemetery, the synagogue was razed and replaced with a chapel. Surprisingly, Hofmann describes this particular incident in a factual and rather understanding manner. This 1519 account of the events in Regensburg is one of the earliest printed (factual) narratives relating to Jews in German-speaking lands, written from a historical perspective. All other such early printed books relating to Jews are of an anti-Semitic nature, or concern conversion and religious topics, lawsuits and other legal matters.