In the year 5296 (1535/36), the Landvogtei Hagenau, and also Ensisheim (18), waged war against me due to tale bearing and bad men. I had to go up and do battle with the Landvogtei Hagenau in Heidelberg, and also many times in Ensisheim. With the help of the One who aids me, they were unable to vanquish me, and He saved us from their evil designs and from the hands of villains. May God continue and increase His aid to me from the Heavens. May it be His will. Amen.
In the year 5297 (1536/37) Duke Hans of Saxony (19) outlawed us, and refused to permit the Jewish people even one foot's breadth of space in all his land. This was due to that priest named Martin Lo Tohar (20) — may his body and soul be bound up in hell! In the many heretical books that he wrote and disseminated, he said that there was no hope for anyone who aided the Jews. His numerous writings so inflamed the rulers and peoples against us that it was well nigh impossible for the Jews to maintain themselves. With the agreement of our rabbis, I procured excellent letters from other sages of the nations and from that place Strasbourg, and I journeyed up to request an audience with the Duke in Meissen and Thuringia. However, I did not succeed in presenting the letters until he came to Frankfurt, to meet the other prince, including the Duke of Brandenburg (21), who likewise had intended to expel all the Jews. However, it so happened that through the disputations that I had in the presence of many gentile scholars (22), I was able to refute the arguments of Luther and Bucer (23) and their followers with proofs from our Holy Torah, and they acknowledged the truth of my words. And a miracle within a miracle was performed for us, for it was revealed and made known to many, and to the same Margrave Joachim, that all those martyred persons who had been burnt at the stake in the days of his father in the year 5270 (1509/10)—38 Jewish souls—were burnt because of a lying, malicious, false accusation. For already at that time, the robber had retracted his false testimony, but an evil enemy and adversary, the Bishop, had ordered the priest not to divulge to the Duke the robber's last confession. As a result of hearing all these things, the Dukes (24) repented of their evil ways and gave them [the Jews] a foothold in their lands. To this day Duke Joachim has faithfully kept his word, but the Duke of Saxony has gone back on his promise, and has done us great harm by outlawing us. For that reason, he has been overthrown (25), and has received his just deserts. Blessed be God who has avenged His people.
In the year 5301 (1540/41), when I came to the Reichstag [Imperial Diet] of Regensburg to obtain improved conditions for our people in the form of further privileges from our lord the Emperor, judgement was wrought upon the Jews of Naples. Although the man from Rome named Solomon Romm was there in Regensburg and did all that he could to prevent the expulsion, the Emperor refused to listen to his words, and issued his harsh decree expelling them [the Jews] from that entire kingdom. He forbade Solomon to continue his endeavours on pain of forfeiting his head. The man had to go into hiding, and from there gained a little time, by means of his secret contacts with esteemed governors (26).
In that same year, 5301 (1540/41), a child disappeared in Weissenburg Forest (27), and was discovered stabbed to death—a putrid corpse trodden underfoot. Jews in that vicinity, [of?] the holy community of Tittingen [Tüttlingen], were falsely accused and placed under arrest. I had to intercede very strenuously with the Duke of Neuburg (28) and also with the Lords of Pappenheim (29) until, with the help of God, blessed be He, they were freed. And I cannot write of all the travails I suffered during those days. The Imperial Court of Justice (30) issued the Lords a summons in my name. And under pressure, the Swabian people retreated and withdrew from the battle. At all events, with the help of God, blessed be He, the Lords of Pappenheim were filled with fear and dread of them [?], and they released the Jews from their enforced confinement and acquitted them of the false accusation. Blessed be God who has not failed us in His loving kindness.
(18) Ensisheim in Upper Alsace was the seat of government for the Austria lands on the Upper Rhine.
(19) Not Elector John (b. 1468, r. 1525-32) but his son and successor, John Frederick I (1503-54).
(20) Martin Luther.
(21) Elector Joachim II (1505-71), margrave of Brandenburg.
(22) Protestant theologians. This was not a Diet of the Empire but of the Protestant alliance known as the Schmalkaldic League.
(23) Martin Bucer (1491-1551) the principal Protestant clergyman of Strasbourg.
(24) The electors of Brandenburg and Saxony.
(25) Refers to the defeat, capture, and expropriation of John Frederick by Charles V in 1547.
(26) Probably refers to Imperial councilors.
(27) Weissenburg im Nordgau, today in western Bavaria.
(28) "Duke of Neuburg" refers to the ruler of Pfalz-Neuburg, a Palatine Wittelsbach appanage created in 1505.
(29) The counts of Pappenheim’s lands lay in the modern state of Bavaria about thirty kilometers from Neuburg on the Danube.
(30) The Imperial Chamber Court [Reichskammergericht].
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