Strasbourg massacre

The Strasbourg massacre occurs on February 14, 1349, when several hundred Jews are publicly burnt to death, and the rest of them expelled from the city as part of the Black Death persecutions.

It is one of the first and worst pogroms in pre-modern history.

Starting in the spring of 1348, pogroms against Jews had occurred in European cities, starting in Toulon

By November of that year they had spread via Savoy to German-speaking territories.

In January 1349, burnings of Jews had taken place in Basel and Freiburg, and on 14 February the Jewish community in Strasbourg is destroyed.

This event is heavily linked to a revolt by the guilds five days previous, the consequences of which had been the displacement of the master tradesmen, a reduction of the power of the patrician bourgeoisie, who had until then been ruling almost exclusively, and an increase in the power of the groups that are involved in the revolt.

The aristocratic families of Zorn and Müllenheim, which had been displaced from the council and their offices in 1332, recover most of their power, the guilds, which until then had had no means of political participation, can now occupy the most important position in the city, that of the Ammanmeister.

The revolt had occurred because a large part of the population on the one hand believed the power of the master tradesmen was too great, particularly that of the Ammanmeister Peter Swarber, and on the other hand, there had been a desire to put an end to the policy of protecting Jews under Peter Swarber.

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