Rudolf I°
RUDOLF I°
RUDOLF I ° (of Hapsburg ), king of Germany and Holy Roman emperor, 1273–91. In 1275 Rudolf confirmed a papal bull against *blood libels, adding that Christian and Jewish witnesses were necessary for sentencing a Jew. In 1286 Rudolph supported the archbishop of *Mainz against the tumultuous burghers who opposed any investigation of a blood libel. Nevertheless, such accusations as well as Rudolf 's oppressive taxation influenced the Jews of the Rhineland to leave in large numbers for the Holy Land, under the leadership of *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg. Rudolf decreed, in accordance with the concept of *servi camerae regis, the immediate confiscation of the property of Jews who had left. When the burghers of Mainz refused to give up such property, Rudolf compensated the archbishop of Mainz by granting him jurisdiction over the Jews of *Thuringia, Ostmark, and *Meissen. R. Meir was arrested and imprisoned in Ensisheim by Rudolf and an exorbitant ransom was posted for his release. Rudolf was offered 20,000 marks for Meir's release and for the punishment of the instigators of blood-libel pogroms in Oberwesel and *Boppard. Rudolf accepted the money, guaranteeing the life and property of Jews in the two communities, but he did not release R. Meir, who died in confinement.
bibliography:
Graetz, Hist, 3 (1894), 611, 634–40; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), index; Baron, Social2, 9 (1965), 152–5.