Documents on Jewish History in S- and W-Austria 1387-1404

A remarkably high number of medieval sources on the history of Jews has survived for the territory of today`s Austria. Therefore, the Institute for Jewish History in Austria has engaged in preparatory work to publish this source material. In the course of previous FWF-sponsored projects, the sources on the history of Jews from today`s Republic of Austria were processed until the year 1386. In the course of the project "Documents on Jewish History in Southern and Western Austria 1387-1404", this work will be continued for today`s federal provinces of Styria (including the region of former Lower Styria), Carinthia, Tyrol, Salzburg, and Vorarlberg up to the year 1404. Charters as well as historiographic and literary sources containing references to Jews will be collected and processed according to scientific criteria. This material includes a number of texts which have not been published at all or treated with regard to the Jewish aspect yet. Research will be conducted in archives both in Austria and abroad; besides, material contained in earlier publications will be collected as well. The publication consists of a chronological series of document summaries. Additionally, an extensive index as well as commentaries that will be added to the respective documents will make the source texts accessible to the reader. The history of the Jews in Southern and Western Austria has for the most part not been researched in detail so far for the time period covered by the project. It is however of crucial importance to any comprehensive study of this period that it be based on the entirety of the source material, most notably on the hitherto unpublished, extensive body of business charters. The sources collected and processed in the course of this project will allow a detailed analysis of the policies of the authorities towards the Jews (of the Habsburg dukes Albrecht III, Wilhelm and Albrecht IV as well as the archbishop of Salzburg and the many local "minor" authorities, particularly in Carinthia and Vorarlberg) during a time period when the Jews were not only subjected to more and more restrictions that aimed at mere financial exploitation, but also had to face the first wide-ranging persecution that had been initiated by the ruler (1404 in Salzburg). In addition to that, the sources will provide insights into the legal, social and economic situation of the Jews during this period as well as information on the interaction of the Jews with their Christian environment.

The series "Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich im Mittelalter" aims at providing a comprehensive collection of the vast source material on Jewish history in Austria. Charters as well as contemporary historiographic and literary sources containing references to both Jews and Austria are being collected and processed. The publication consists of a chronological series of document summaries. Additionally, an extensive index as well as commentaries are being added to the documents in order to make the source texts more easily accessible to the reader. Volumes 1-3 (published by Eveline Brugger and Birgit Wiedl as results of earlier FWF-sponsored projects) cover the time period from the first appearance of Jews in Austria up to the year 1386. In the course of the project "Documents on Jewish History in Southern and Western Austria", this work was continued for today's federal provinces of Styria (including Lower Styria/tajerska), Carinthia, Tyrol, Salzburg, and Vorarlberg up to the year 1404. Research was conducted in archives in Austria and abroad; besides, material contained in earlier publications was collected as well.The collected sources cover a time period in the history of Jews in the southern and western territories of today's Austria that had not been researched in detail yet. Documents which resulted from Jewish-Christian business transactions remain the most common type of source material. They show a general decline of Jewish business contacts with rulers and high-ranking nobility, causing families of important Jewish moneylenders to leave for other territories. Yet the amount of Jewish financial transactions itself did not decrease, and while formerly flourishing communities such as Friesach were reduced to merely local relevance, other already prosperous communities like Marburg/Maribor continued to thrive or, like Graz, began to gain importance. In contrast to earlier decades, the source material of this project'stimeframe also yielded more information on Jewish settlements in smaller towns and market places as well as on business activities of Jews of a lower social standing.The Jews of the Southern and Western territories were under the rule of a number of different authorities, whose divergent policies greatly influenced the living conditions of their respective Jewish subjects. While most rulers still emphasised their legal rights to the Jews, the idea of protection was gradually replaced by the extortion of financial profit and thus constant pressure. Up until the end of the fourteenth century, outbreaks of violence had remained few and local, yet in 1404, the Jews of the Archbishopric of Salzburg suffered a persecution and expulsion that not only went beyond the local scope but for the first time in Austria was instigated by the ruler. The source collection provides an indispensable basis for detailed research on Austrian Jewish history, particularly in combination with the results of the project P 24404-G18 ("Documents on Jewish History in Eastern Austria"), which will be published in volume 4 of the "Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich im Mittelalter".