History glossary
Rhineland massacres
the attacks on Jewish communities in Rhineland cities during the first wave of the First Crusade in 1096.
- Category
- Religious violence
- Region
- Rhineland, western Germany
- Date range
- 1096
What it means
The Rhineland massacres were attacks on Jewish communities in cities such as Worms, Mainz, and Cologne during the first wave of the First Crusade in 1096. Some crusading bands turned their violence against Jews in western Germany before ever reaching the eastern Mediterranean. Local bishops and civic leaders sometimes tried to protect Jewish residents, but many people were killed, forced to flee, or coerced. The massacres show how crusading enthusiasm could become anti-Jewish persecution inside Europe itself.
