Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Harsimaja t1_j8a93qx wrote

‘Only’ is a bit simplistic: there were periods of oppression there too (like the Massacre or Granada in 1066, and there was always a level of discrimination against all non-Muslims (who were the majority) we’d find unacceptable by today’s standards.

It was far more tolerant of Jews than most of Europe, but the Middle Ages saw other periods and areas of relative religious tolerance, like Poland under Casimir the Great, which is why many Jews moved there (he also married a pagan Lithuanian princess, and was relatively enlightened for his time).

Similarly, Jews in the Byzantine Empire were mistreated by earlier emperors but from around 700 onwards they had a golden age of their own, until the Fourth Crusade brought more intolerant Frankish rule.

Most of the major countries of Christian Western Europe expelled the Jews at some point, and there were intermittent massacres, blood libel and discrimination across it. But Medieval Europe as a whole was a very large, diverse region over the course of a millennium.

2

WikiSummarizerBot t1_j8a95jq wrote

1066 Granada massacre

>The 1066 Granada massacre took place on 30 December 1066 (9 Tevet 4827; 10 Safar 459 AH) when a Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, in the Taifa of Granada, killed and crucified the Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela, and massacred much of the Jewish population of the city.

Casimir III the Great

Relationship with Jews

>On 9 October 1334, Casimir confirmed the privileges granted to Jews in 1264 by Bolesław V the Chaste. Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian baptism, and he inflicted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. While Jews had lived in Poland since before his reign, Casimir allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as people of the king. About 70 percent of the world's European Jews, or Ashkenazi, can trace their ancestry to Poland due to Casimir’s reforms.

^([ )^(F.A.Q)^( | )^(Opt Out)^( | )^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)^( | )^(GitHub)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)

0