Events during the 1550s were indicative of this narrowing toleration of
Jews. In 1552, a request by a Venetian Jewish publisher that the ecclesiastical
censors investigate an edition of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torahthat a rival Jewish
publisher had published with a controversial contemporary commentary led to
a renewed accusation of blasphemy against Italian Jews. This renewed accusa-
tion dovetailed with the pietistic mood of the Counter-Reformation,
culminating in the pope’s order in 1553 to burn the Talmud. Two years later,
the pope confined all Jews in and around Rome to a newly created ghetto.
Despite such setbacks, however, the Counter-Reformation prevented the
complete collapse of Jewish life in the Holy Roman Empire and the Italian
States. In 1544 and 1546, the emperor reaffirmed his protection over all Jews
in the empire. As the Catholic princes and prince-bishops turned to the
emperor for support against Lutherans, thereby extending imperial authority,
renewed imperial protection took on greater importance. In addition, the
emperor and Catholic princes regarded Jews as a counterweight against an
often recalcitrant Protestant middle class. On the other hand, the emergence
of the Jesuit order as a major player in politics led to new source of anti-
Jewish hostility. The pope’s about-face in 1553 reflected, among other things,
the growing influence of the Jesuits on all ranks of the church.
On balance, the Reformation and Wars of Religion eventually worked to
the advantage of Jews in central Europe, Luther’s virulent anti-Judaism
notwithstanding. The Protestant reinterpretation of Communion undermined
the accusation of Host desecration. Moreover, the Thirty Years War – which
began as the last great European war of religion in Europe – accelerated the
reintegration of Jews into central European society that had begun slowly dur-
ing the 1570s. As late as 1618, Jews had been excluded from much of the
empire: from all larger states, except Bohemia and Hesse; from all major impe-
rial free cities, except Prague, Frankfurt, and Hamburg; and from most lesser
imperial cities.
The survival of Jewish life in the empire at the end of the sixteenth century
was made possible by a combination of pro-Jewish attitudes on the part of
most emperors, the support of ecclesiastical princes who helped Jews to offset
influence of the Lutheran bourgeoisie and from the emergence of new politi-
cal strategies such as mercantilism and early absolutism. To be sure, popular
opposition to Jews continued. In 1614 and 1615, for example, anti-Jewish
riots broke out in Frankfurt and Worms. The rioters were suppressed by
imperial and ecclesiastical troops.
These factors allowed first conversosand then Jews to move beyond money-
lending and a restricted array of commercial endeavors to more lucrative
forms of commerce such as international trade. By 1618, Portuguese conversos
were importing sugar and spices from Asian and African colonies. There was
also a concurrent rise in the Jewish population of commercial centers such as
Prague and Frankfurt. The Jewish population of Frankfurt increased from
400 in 1542 to 2,000 by 1600.
112 World Jewry in flux, 1492–1750