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There are many possible reasons why Jews were accused to be the cause of the plague. Anti-Semitism was widespread in the 14th century, and in some locales, the plague was stated to be the work of Jews as retribution for the dying's wicked ways.
In the 19th century religious persecution gave way to racial persecution. The Jews were seen as parasites. This change in attitude came from a volatile brew of Social Darwinism and rising European nationalism. The Jews were seen to be the outsiders who not only did not belong but needed to be removed as a threat to society.
The Black Death was an epidemic of various contagious diseases, bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic, all caused by the same bacillus, pasteurella pestis, a combination of which raged throughout Europe between 1348 and 1350. It was the worst plague experienced since the sixth century. Between one-quarter and one-half of the total population perished.
Nov 10, 2016 · And then in the 14th century, in the context of the Black Death, in which you have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the population decimated by this plague that no one has any idea what the cause of it actually is, the idea that Jews are poisoning the wells and that this is the source of contagion that's leading to this mass death.
In desperate times, Jews often became scapegoats for many natural catastrophes. For example, some clerics preached and some parishioners believed that Jews brought on the "Black Death," the plague that killed millions of people in Europe in the 14th Century, as divine retribution for their allegedly blasphemous and satanic practices.
This economic resentment, allied with traditional religious prejudice, prompted the forced expulsion of Jews from several countries and regions, including England (1290), France (14th century), Germany (1350s), Portugal (1496), Provence (1512), and the Papal States (1569).
This massive loss of life led to many changes, including much less land under cultivation, greater social mobility, and a rise in violent anti-Semitism because Jews were blamed for the plague.
