Throughout the thirteenth century, crusaders continued to come and go through European Jewish communities. But crusaders were not the only instigators of organized anti-Jewish attacks. As a result, the number of martyrs steadily increased in the memorial books (Memorbuch) and eulogies of European Jewry. These Hebrew sources concerned themselves mainly with the names of the martyrs and only occasionally with their methods of dying. Metaphors of priestly sacrifices and aqedot remained prominent in these documents. Less emphasis was given to the events themselves and the reasons for their outbreak. The picture these authors depict, therefore, is not always clear. As we shall see next, this caveat is worth remembering when dealing with our thirteenth- and fourteenth-century sources. These centuries, I shall argue, witnessed the growing tendency to eliminate rather than convert Jews, for popular Christian opinions viewed the “unredeemable” Jew as a tangible threat to Christianity and Christians. In some instances, the latter justified their attacks on the grounds that medieval Judaism had become heretical. Yet despite these developments, the twelfth-century Ashkenazic martyrological genre continued to characterize our sources. They depict all Jewish casualties as willingly dying to avoid conversion. Moreover, the traditional use of metaphors may give the inaccurate impression that numerous Jews took the lives of fellow Jews before destroying themselves.

IMAGERY AND REALITY

Elazar bar Judah dedicated a eulogy to the martyrs of Erfurt in 1221. Elazar's poem provides limited and general information. Noticeable is the slaughter of his martyrs by unspecified antagonists.