Der Juden zu Franckfurt Stättigkeit und Ordnung

Book Description

EARLIEST BOOK RECORDING THE STATUTES IMPOSED UPON JEWS OF THE FRANKFURT GHETTO, THE LARGEST JEWISH COMMUNITY IN 17TH CENTURY GERMANYSymbolizing the closed doors and locked gates preceding Enlightenment and Jewish Emancipation in EuropeDer Juden zu Franckfurt Stättigkeit und Ordnung. Frankfurt am Mayn: Johann Saurn, 1613. Text in German. Small quarto 44pp. Title page with colored yellow circular ring, 2 woodcut illustrations. Age toned throughout with some expert restoration. Very Good Condition.FIRST PRINTING of this extremely rare publication stating the privileges of Jews, the “Judenstättigkeiten” of Frankfurt. In 1462, creating one of the world’s first Jewish ghettos, the Jews of Frankfurt were compelled to move from the center of town to a remote and barren locked street, the Judengasse. They took what little they had been handed and managed to survive, even prosper. The Ghetto of Frankfurt became the foremost Jewish community in Germany and was well known for the financial power that resided within its walls. Although long subjected to rules governing their legal status, prior to this pamphlet, none had been ever printed. In 1612, on the occasion of an imperial election, Frankfurt’s guilds, long restive, took the occasion to voice their dissatisfaction with the city council. Its policies, they charged, favored the export trade and did nothing about local unemployment and the falling value of currency. The Jews, of course, were involved in export and money exchange, especially during the commercial fairs, and struck guildsmen as a growing menace. Unable to enlist the newly elected Emperor Matthias or the city’s council to their cause, the guilds set about to take matters into their own hands. This publication was created to ensure that not only would Jews know their subservient position in society but the general population would as well. These codes dictated such matters as where the Jews could live, what trades they could or could not engage in, what taxes they were required to pay, and how they could dress. Specifically, these rules required the wearing of a tall yellow conical hat (illustrated by a woodcut on page 13) and a yellow circular ring sewn onto their clothing (title page). Each house on the Judengasse was made to display a name sign on its front. Many were taken from the environment and nature and evolved into the surnames we know to this day: Rothschild (red shield), Gruenbaum (green tree), Schiff (ship), Nussbaum (nut tree), Wolff (wolf) Einhorn (one horn) etc. Despite the appearance of these “Judenstättigkeiten", the guilds continued to express their displeasure with the Jews until they could no longer be contained. On August 22, 1614, vigilante mobs led a particularly vicious attack on the ghetto, plundering all the houses. Those Jews that survived fled into the surrounding countryside where they were treated with understanding sympathy. Two years later, the Emperor having been outraged at the treatment of “his” Jews, welcomed them back to their old habitat.The Frankfurt Ghetto has come to symbolize the closed doors and locked gates that German Jews strove to open from the period of the Enlightenment to the beginnings of emancipation at the end of the 18th century.PUBLISHING HISTORY:1613161417051735RARITY: No copy recorded at auction in the US or UK. Not in OCLC, RLIN, BMC or NUC, however our research indicates that copies are located In the collections of of the following institutions: Harvard, University of Chicago (Rosenberger collection), Leo Baeck Center, NY, UC Berkeley: Boalt Law Library

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.