The Black Death and the persecution of the Jews. Understanding the papal response to the Black Death massacres of the Jews during 1348-1350.

Abstract

Many studies have explored papal-Jewish relations in the period between the eleventh and thirteenth century. However, less attention has been devoted to the fourteenth century, which is curious given the fact that whole Jewish communities were massacred during that age. Paradoxically, the wider studies on the Black Death appeared to be a popular research subject, but when you look specifically at the well-poisoning accusations and at the pogroms in the German-speaking countries, its starts to look less significant. This obvious gap in the research on papal-Jewish relations during the Black Death period is therefore the subject of this study, in which the main question is how can we understand papal responses to the accusation of well-poisoning against Jews and their consequences during the Black Death period?