Papal crusade propaganda and attacks against Jews in France in the 1230s: a breakdown of communication?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents a case study of the papal communication accompanying crusader violence against Jews in France in the mid 1230s. The pogroms perpetrated during the preparatory phase of the so-called Crusade of the Barons, during which 1000s of Jews were killed, are the best-documented anti-Jewish attacks of the thirteenth century. They coincide with a period of unprecedented crusade propaganda in Europe when crusades to the Holy Land, the Latin Empire and the Baltic were preached. The article argues that the pogroms were at least in part provoked by Pope Gregory IX’s crusade message, which formed the basis of propaganda, even though the pope never called for violence against Jews and on the contrary condemned the attacks sharply. The fact that so many Jews were killed by crusaders in France in the mid 1230s can, therefore, be described as the result of a partial breakdown of papal communication.