As sovereigns’ need for money peaked during the Thirty Years War, toler-
ation of Jews increased. Emperor Ferdinand II (1619–37), though militantly
Catholic and overtly anti-Jewish, was bailed out of a financial crisis in 1620
by the Jews of Vienna, whose assistance allowed him to provision his troops.
When Prague was sacked by the emperor in 1620 in his effort to reconquer
the city from Protestant Czech rebels, the Judenstadtwas left intact. During
the 1620s, the Judenstadtwas enlarged, and Protestant houses were confis-
cated and given to Jews. In 1627, the emperor granted all Jews open access to
all Bohemian trade fairs. In Vienna, Jews were allowed to congregate in
Leopoldstadt beginning in 1624. The Jewish population of Vienna increased
from 50 families in 1625 to 2,000 by 1650.
The financial strain caused by the war also placed a premium on highly
capable and resourceful Jewish merchants. Jacob Bassevi von Treuerberg
(1580–1634), who dealt in silver, was ennobled by the emperor and granted
the right
to engage in any business whatever, in any part of the empire, whether
cities, towns, or marketplaces, in Prague and Vienna, and other places
where Jews are allowed to reside or are not; to acquire property and to
reside anywhere he pleases. His property in any form is to be free from
taxes, imposts, and duties; he is allowed to reside in the imperial quar-
ters; and he is responsible to no tribunal, except that of the marshal of the
court.Such Jews were also able to provide protection to other Jews. When the Prague
rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller was arrested and fined 12,000 florins, Bassevi
personally paid off nearly a quarter of the fine and helped secure his release.
Protestants, too, mollified their treatment of Jews for economic reasons.
When the Swedes invaded and dominated central Europe during the 1630s,
they imposed heavy taxes on Jews, but there was no retribution against Jews
by the Swedish crown or the Lutheran populace under Swedish rule. When
the Swedes “liberated” Prague from the Catholics in 1632, they sacked the
city but spared its 7,000 Jews. Under Swedish rule, in 1639 the Jews of
Mayence were allowed to build a synagogue for the first time in centuries.
The Treaty of Westphalia, which brought the Thirty Years War to a close in
1648, marked the end of the wars of religion; from this point on, European
wars would be waged for economic, territorial, and political reasons. In some
cases, this meant overturning the religious-based policies of the past. As part
of the international settlement in 1648, the king of France annexed Alsace and
Lorraine, which had been part of the empire. Suddenly there were several thou-
sand Jews in France, in violation of the 1394 edict that had expelled the Jews
in perpetuity. At this point, the French crown chose the potential benefits of
revenue from Jews through taxation and gifts, and the stimulation Jews could
provide to regional commerce, and allowed the Jews to remain. In retrospect,
World Jewry in flux, 1492–1750 113