j 6. The discovery of America, the restoration of letters I occasioned by the invention of the art of printing, and the reformation in the Christian Church opened in a certain sense a somewhat more beneficial jera to the Jews. It is true, they reaped the benefits of this trans- I formation less than any other portion of European soci- ety ; " still, the progress of civilization was silently pre- paring the way for greater justice bemg done to tliis people ; and their conduct, in circumstances where they were allowed scope for the development of their better qualities, tended greatly to the removal of the preju- dices that existed against them." They fomid a friend in Reuchlin (q. v.), who made strenuous exertions in behalf of the preservation of Jewish literature. Lu- ther, in the earlier part of his public career, is supposed to have favored the conversion of the Jews by violent means (questioned by some ; comp. Griitz, Geschichte des Juden, ix, 220 sq.; 333 sq. ; Etheridge, p.440 sq.; Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums v.s. Sekten, iii, 217) ; and it is a fact that all through tiermany, where the Protestant element, if any where, was strong in those days, their lot actuaOy became harder than it had ever been be- fore. See below. On the other hand, we find a Komaa pontiff (Sixtus V, 1585-90) animated by a far more wise and kindly spirit towards them than any Protes- tant prince of his time. In 1588 he abolished all the persecuting statutes of his predecessors, allowed them to settle and trade in every city of his dominions, to enjoy the free exercise of tlieir religion, and, in respect to the administration of justice and taxation, placed them on a footing with the rest of his subjects. Of course, all this was done for a consideration. The Jews had money, and it he made them furnish freely, but then they en- joyed at least certain advantages by virtue of their pos-
Strange indeed must it ajipcar to the student of his- tory that one of the first countries in modern days that rose above the barbarism of the Jliddle Ages, and grant- ed the Jews the most liberal concessions, was a part of the possessions of their most inveterate enemy, Philip II of Spain, and that one of the principal causes contrib- uting to this change was the very instrument selected
JEW
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JEW
bv the hatred of the Domiiucans— the bloody Inquisi- tion. It was the active, energetic, intelligent Holland- er, readilv ai)[)reciating the business qualifications of his Jewish bVotiier, that permitted him to settle by his side as earlv as 1G03. It is true, the Jew did not enjoy even in Iloliand the rights of citizenship until, after nearly two hinidred years of trial (179G), he had been found the e(iiial of his Christian neighbor whenever he was per- mitt.-.l to exchange the garb of a slave for that of a j master. It was iloliand that afforded to the hunted | victims of a cruel and refined fanaticism a resting-place on which they could encamp, and finally enjoy even cqualitv with the natives of the soil. Many of the Por- tuguese Jews (so the Jews of the Spanish peninsida are termed) left their mother country, and in this new re- public vied with its citizens in the highest qualities of commercial greatness. Soon came the Jews of Poland and (Jermany also to enjoy the special privileges which the Dutch stood ready to administer to them. Denmark and Hamburg partook of the liljeral spirit, and there also the Jews were heartily welcomed. In England, also, they soon after (1G55)", by the success of the Indepen- dents, gained anew a foothold. It is true, they did not really obtain public permission to settle again in the island until the reign of Charles II (10(50-85), but Cromwell, it is generally believed, favored their admis- sion to the country, and no doubt permitted it quietly in a great many instances. The right to possess land, however, they did not acquire until 1723, and the right of citizenship was not conferred on them until 1753. Into France, also, they were, in the middle of the 16th century, admitted again, though, of course, at first the places which opened their gates to them were few in- deed. Most of those who came thither were relics of that mighty host of exiles which liad left Spain and Portugal after the establishment of the Inquisition (see above). They went in considerable numbers to the provinces Avignon, Lorraine, and Alsace, and of the cit- ies among the first to bid them enter were Bayonne and Bordeaux. The outbreak of the French Revolution, to- wards the close of the 18th century, finally caused here, as elsewhere, a decided change in their favor (of which more belo^^■). In Germany, as we have already said, their worth failed to be recognised. Thej' were mal- treated even under the great and otherwise liberal monarch, Frederick II; and, as Prussia (Brandenburg) was even then in the vanguard of German affairs, the intolerant treatment which they here received was aped in the other and less important realms of the em- ])ire. They were driven out of Bavaria in 1553, out of Brandenburg in 1573, and similar treatment befell them elsewhere. They also excited numerous ]K)pular tu- mults (as late even as 1730 in Hamburg, of whose liberal treatment of the Jews we spoke above in connection witli the Low Countries), and, in fact, during the whole of the 17tli and nearly the whole of the 18th century, the hardships inflicted on them by the German gov- ernments became positively more and more grievous. liussia also failed to treat with the least consideration the Jewish jwople. Admitted into the realm l)y Peter the Great (l(l«0-17-25), they were expelled from the em- pire, 35,000 strong, in 1743 by the empress Elizabeth. They were, however, readmitted by the empress Cath- arine H. The only other two countries which truly afforded the Jews protection were Turkey and Po- land. Tlic Mohammedan -1, as we have already had cip|"irliniily to observe, ha. -e, ever since the decease of thf founder of their religion, been considerate in their dealings with tlieir Jewish subjects. In Turkey, the Jews were at tliis period held in higher estimation than the cou<|uered Greeks ; the latter were termed teMr (slaves^, but the Jews monmphir (visitors). They were permitted to re-estal)lish schools, rebuild synagogues, and to settle in all the commercial towns of the I.evant. In Poland, v.here they arc to this dav more numerously represented than in any otlier European countrv, they met a most favorable receiition as early as the l-l'th cen-