Bible Encyclopedias
Chronology

• Jules Oppert, Salomon et Ses Successeurs, 1877;
• idem, Noli Me Tangere, in Proceedings of Soc. of Biblical Archeology, Dec., 1897.

(II.) Biblical:

In this article there will be briefly given (1) the methods used for dating events and periods in the Old Testament; (2) the scientific data upon which the most reliable chronological system has been founded; and (3) the most valuable results in the fixing of important dates.

1. Methods of Dating:

Two main stages may be distinguished in the attempts made by Bible writers of the various periods to indicate the times of occurrence of events. The first is that in which the narrator chooses any one out of a number of well-known events as a time-mark; and the second is that in which an authoritative system is assumed as already prevailing.

Unsystematic Usages: Reference is made to: (a) a memorable phenomenon of nature; thus Amos (1:1) dates from an earthquake (compare Zechariah 14:5); (b) a great national movement; thus, the establishment of the Hyksos dynasty in Egypt is marked by the building of the city of Zoan (Numbers 13:22); (c) a decisive military movement, as the expedition of Sargon of Assyria against Ashdod (Isaiah 20:1); (d) the death of a king of the writer's country, as of Uzziah or of Ahab (Isaiah 6:1. 14:28).

Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

A Conventional System: Such devices as the abovenamed could have only local vogue and value. Familiarity with the businesslike methods of outside communities, especially in the days of the later kings and during the Exile, led to the adoption of a methodical scheme for the dating of events. The decisive epoch was the period between Isaiah and Jeremiah, when the Judahites were completely under Assyrian domination. Dates are attached to several individual prophecies of Jeremiah; and the statements are, for the most part, of contemporary origin (Jeremiah 27 et seq.). The point of departure in the reckoning is the beginning of the reign of the then King of Judah, sometimes with the addition of the regnal year of the great King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar (e.g., 32:1). A little later Ezekiel's prophecies were regularly dated, as was natural to a writer living in Babylonia. In accordance with the same custom several of the prophetical books were furnished with headings indicating the limits of the professional careers of the authors. But these were added by later editors.

Jeroboam and Asa.

More systematic and extensive are the chronological data of the books of Kings and Chronicles, where, throughout the history of the divided kingdoms, are found not only the lengths of the reigns of the several rulers, but the dates of their accessions, in two separate series of synchronisms. Thus it is said: "In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Asa to reign over Judah. . . . Forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem" (1 Kings 15:9,10). Many of the numbers given, especially the synchronisms, are erroneous, as is proved by the fact that no attempt to harmonize the two series has been successful [see, however, Chronology (I.)]. The sum of the years of the kings of Israel from the schism to the Exile is 242; while that of the years of the kings of Judah for the same period is 260. Startling inconsistencies are also found where the several synchronisms for the same king are worked out.

The Dates Assigned to Ahaz.

Thus, for the accession of Ahaz of Judah one has to choose between 727, 720, and 715 B.C., according as one set of data or another is followed. Inferential evidence points conclusively to the fact that all of these numbers were inserted, as a separate part of the narrative, in the editorial period that followed the loss of Jerusalem. It is equally certain that the synchronisms were a matter of independent calculation. But there is good reason to believe that if the regnal years were not found in surviving royal annals, they were at least preserved by a fairly reliable tradition supported in part by documentary testimony. By the help of Assyrian data they may be used with a fair degree of accuracy.

From the Exodus to Solomon.

One step backward beyond the division of the kingdom, Solomon, David, and Saul are each credited with a reign of forty years. This suggests a conjectural systematization. The hypothesis is strengthened by the frequent occurrence of the number forty in numerations made for still earlier personages and events. Indeed, the summation of the years between the Exodus and the beginning of Solomon's Temple, found in 1 Kings 6:1, has been plausibly conjectured to be made up of twelve generations, each of forty years. The number 480 thus given is, however, too large by one-half; since the Exodus can not have occurred much before 1200 B.C., and the Temple was built about 960 B.C.

The Earliest Period.

For the chronology of the long period before Moses there are no sure data, since the numbers of the Masoretic text differ widely from those variously given by the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Book of Jubilees (first century C.E.). In the Masoretic data there are, moreover, several artificial schemes of systematization. For the details of these any good modern commentary on Genesis or special treatise on Bible chronology may be consulted.

2. Scientific Data:

All chronological accuracy depends upon the fulfilment of two conditions. To ascertain or verify the date of any event there must be a fixed point of departure, from which or to which the event in question is to be reckoned. Again, the data from which the time of the event is inferred must be adjusted to a connected system of time-reckoning reliable throughout. In other words, some ancient authority, referring to an established scheme or system, must have made a notation of the event itself or of something synchronous with it.

Babylonian Methods of Numeration.

The Babylonians, and their kindred and disciples, the Assyrians, were the only people of Oriental antiquity who duly kept such a required system of time-notation. It is to them that the current divisions of time generally, as well as the beginnings of mathematics and astronomy, are due. They had already in their earliest recorded history the sense of number and computation. The Hebrew writers were still working withround numbers and employing primitive and uncertain eras thousands of years after the Babylonians had begun to keep their sacred and public records by separate and successive years and to preserve the results for later reference or tabulation.

Helpful Cuneiform Records.

Naturally, most is gained for Biblical chronology from the synchronisms with contemporary Assyrian or Babylonian history. Of special importance are those available for the period of the kings of Israel and Judah, when the relations with Assyria were close and continuous, and at the same time the Biblical data are most abundant. There are three main sources of information in the inscriptions. One is the royal annals, in which events are often described as occurring in a given year of the king's reign, or in the year of office of a given eponym. The second is the lists of such eponyms as were chosen successively from among Assyrian rulers of different grades to mark their respective years, which were accordingly called by their names. These lists are preserved in more than one form; and by combining them it is possible to make up a complete series for the period 893-666 B.C., as well as for shorter intervals both before and after. Their accuracy has been confirmed by every possible check. Not only historical events, but business documents also, were dated by the years of the proper eponyms. The third aid of this kind consists of lists of kings in the order of their succession, with the lengths of their several reigns, as well as brief summaries of important events, usually referred to by modern scholars as "chronicles."

Application of Assyrian Data.

An instance of the application of Assyrian data to Old Testament chronological problems may be given here. Shalmaneser II., who reigned 860-825 B.C., describes frequent expeditions to Syria and Palestine, and mentions by name Ahab and Jehu of Israel. He relates that in the year of his reign which is found to correspond to 842 B.C., he received tribute from Jehu. Presumably this was at the accession of Jehu, who would be anxious to secure support for his new pretensions; but this is only a conjecture. He mentions, also, that in 854 he fought a great battle against a league of western rulers, among whom were Ahab of Israel and Ben-hadad of Damascus. The history of Ahab, as given in the Bible, indicates that there was only one occasion on which Ahab and Ben-hadad could have made such a league with each other; namely, in the brief period between the peace of Aphek (1 Kings 20:34) and the death of Ahab in the third year thereafter (ib. 22:2 et seq.). The middle year of this interval suggests itself as the date of the league, 854 B.C. Ahab, therefore, must have died in 853 B.C. According to the narrative in Kings, Jehu came to the throne in the twelfth year thereafter; that is to say, in 842. Using with necessary caution the Biblical numbers, one may now reckon backward and forward from these dates and obtain a fairly correct chronology of the whole period from the schism to the close of the Exile.

3. Results:

The following are some of the most important dates which have been ascertained from combinations and inferences made upon the principles set forth above. Others had already been learned by the aid of Greek writers, especially Ptolemy.

—Post-Biblical:

The chronological system of the Jews was derived, like most of their science, from the Greeks. They used the "minyan sheṭarot" (era of contracts, really the Seleucidan era, dating from 312 B.C.) till the Middle Ages, when the method of reckoning from the creation of the world was introduced—probably by the later geonim, as it was employed by R. Sherira (987 C.E.). This era begins with the year corresponding to 3760 B.C. Maimonides on occasions used no less than three eras, as in the Mishneh Torah (Shemiṭṭah, 10:4): "In the year 1107 of the destruction of the Temple, 1487 of the Seleucidan era, 4936 of the Creation." For a short time the era of the Hasmoneans, dating from the autumn of 143 B.C. (see I Macc. 13:41-42), was in use. See ERA.

The dates recorded according to these various eras are based in Jewish chronology on certain estimated intervals between important events in post-Biblical Jewish history. These intervals are given in 'Ab. Zarah 9a, 10a (probably derived from Seder 'Olam Rabbah, ), which counts 34 years from the Second Temple to Alexander; 180 for the Greek empire; 103 from the beginning of the Hasmonean dynasty under John Hyrcanus (135 B.C.) to Herod; 103 from Herod to the destruction of the Temple; making in all 420 years. According to this reckoning, the era of contracts is placed six years after that of Alexander, the interval between whose appearance in Palestine and the destruction of the Second Temple is much less than in reality. The date of the accession of Herod is placed two years too late; and that of the destruction of the Temple is fixed at 68, which is, of course, two years too early. Loeb ("Revue Etudes Juives," 19:202-205) has ingeniously explained these discrepancies as due to a desire on the part of R. Jose, the author of the Seder 'Olam Rabbah, to make them agree with the prediction of Daniel 9:24 et seq., that seventy weeks (of years), or 490 years, would elapse between the Return fromthe Exile and the destruction of the Second Temple. As the Exile was assumed to last seventy years, in accordance with Jeremiah, this left 420 years from the Return (537 B.C.) to the destruction of the Temple (70 C.E.), a discrepancy of 187 years. This is got rid of in part by making the Persian domination last 34 instead of 204 years (537-333 B.C.). This was done in order to make the interval between the Exodus and the era of contracts exactly 1,000 years.

Dates of Jewish Annalists.

Owing to these discrepancies, great confusion exists in the annals of the Jewish chroniclers, who have generally tried to combine the dates recorded by their predecessors with those of more recent events, using the era of creation almost exclusively (see I. Loeb, "Josef Haccohen et les Chroniqueurs Juifs," Paris, 1888, reprinted from "Revue Etudes Juives," , ); and it is dangerous to trust to their lists unless checked by contemporary annals. In the subjoined chronological table the dates of the most prominent events of Jewish history have been derived from Henrietta Szold's "Tables of Jewish History" in the index volume (pp. 104 et seq.) of the American edition of Graetz's "History of the Jews." For events of lesser importance the sources are in almost every case the local annalists as utilized by the historians of the Jews in the respective countries. Particular attention has been given to the successive stages of legislation, while only selections have been made from the many cases of autos da fé, blood accusations, expulsions, host-tragedies, and acts of emancipation, for all of which complete lists are given in separate articles under the respective headings.

In contradistinction to the usual custom, but few literary events have been included in the table, only those works which have affected the public opinion of the non-Jewish world having been regarded as of more direct historic importance. The ruling principle has been to confine the list to strictly historic events; e., to incidents affecting either directly or indirectly the relations of the Jews to the states in whose territories they have dwelt. Incidents affecting merely the internal concerns of the Jewish communities have not, as a rule, been included.A Jewish Chronology from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Year 1902.

1. C.E.
70. Jerusalem besieged and conquered by Titus; the Temple destroyed.
72. Judea completely conquered; the "Fiscus Judaicus" instituted by Vespasian.
115. The Jews of Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus, Cyrene, and Libya rise against Trajan.
118. The Jews of Palestine rise against Trajan and Hadrian; "War of Lucius Quietus."
133. Rebellion of Bar Kokba against Hadrian; restoration of the Jewish state.
135. Fall of Bethar; end of Bar Kokba's rebellion.
161. Revolution in Palestine against Antoninus Pius.
280. Judah III., son of Judah II., patriarch, collects a tax from foreign communities.
306. Council of Elvira forbids Christians to eat with Jews or to intermarry with them.
325. First Nicene Council separates the celebration of Easter from that of the Jewish Passover.
339. Constantius forbids, under penalty of death, marriage of a Jew with a Christian woman, and circumcision of slaves.
361. Restoration of the Temple at Jerusalem undertaken under Julian the Apostate.
362. Julian the Apostate abolishes the Jew tax.
400. Moses, the false Messiah of Crete.
415. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, drives the Jews from Alexandria.
418. (March 10) Jews excluded from all public offices and dignities in the Roman empire.
425. Extinction of the patriarchate.
455. Persecution of the Babylonian Jews under Yezdegerd III.
465. The Council of Vannes (Gaul) prohibits the clergy from taking part in Jewish banquets.
471. Persecution of the Babylonian Jews under Firuz (Perozes); the exilarch Huna Mari and others suffer martyrdom.
500. (circa). Abu-Kariba, Himyarite king, adopts Judaism, and converts his army and his people.
511. Mar-Zutra II., prince of the Captivity (exilarch), establishes an independent Jewish state in Babylonia under the Persian king Kobad.
516. (May 14, 15) Uprising against Jews of Clermont; synagogue destroyed.
517. The Council of Epaon forbids Christians to take part in Jewish banquets.
518. Persecution of the Jews by Kobad, King of Persia.
532. Justinian I. decrees that the testimony of Jews shall be valid only in Jewish cases.
537. Justinian declares Jews incapable of holding any official dignity.
538. The Council of Orleans forbids Jews to appear on the street at Eastertide.
589. Reccared, Visigothic King of Spain, completely isolates Jews from Christians.
612. Sisebut, Visigothic king, forces the Jews to accept baptism or to emigrate.
624. The Banu Ḳainuḳa'a, a Jewish-Arabic tribe, driven from Arabia by Mohammed,
627. Emperor Heraclius forbids Jews to enter Jerusalem, and in other ways harasses the Palestinian Jews.
629. Dagobert orders the Jews of the Frankish empire to accept baptism or to emigrate.
633. The Council of Toledo under Sisenand, Visigothic king, and Isidore of Seville, forces converts to Judaism back to Christianity.
638. Chintila enacts that only professing Catholics shall remain in Visigothic Spain; Jews emigrate.
640. Omar, the second calif. banishes all Jews from Arabia; the "Pact of Omar" imposes restrictions upon Jews in the whole Mohammedan world.
641. Bulan, khan of the Chazars, becomes a Jew.
658. Beginning of the Gaonate; Mar-Isaac, head of the Sura Academy, takes the title "Gaon."
694. (Nov.) All Jews in Spain and Gallic Provence declared slaves; children under seven forcibly baptized.
720. Omar II., Ommiad Calif of Damascus, reenacts the "Pact of Omar."
721. Appearance of the false Messiah Serenus in Syria causes many Spanish Jews to emigrate to Palestine.
761. The Karaite schism led by Anan ben David.
797. Isaac sent by Charlemagne on an embassy to Harun al-Rashid.
814. "Capitula de Judeis" of Charlemagne and Ludwig decide that Jews should not have Church utensils in pledge.
827. (circa). Eberard, "Magister Judæorum" under Louis I. the Pious, king of the Franks, protects the Jews against Agobard, Bishop of Lyons.
845. The Council of Meaux, under Amolo, Bishop of Lyons, enacts anti-Jewish decrees, renewing those of Constantine and Theodosius II.
850. Al-Mutawakkil orders the "Peoples of the Book" to wear yellow kerchiefs.
878. Ibrahim ibn Aḥmad orders Jews of Sicily to wear a badge.
982. (July 13) Kalonymus saves life of Otto II. after battle of Cotrone.
1007. Persecution at Rouen by Robert the Devil.
1012. (Nov.) Jews driven from Mayence by Emperor Henry II.
1013. (Apr. 19) Massacre at Cordova by soldiers of Sulaiman ibn al-Ḥakim.
1021. Al-Ḥkim renews the "Pact of Omar" in Egypt.
1036. Banishment of the Jews from Granada.
1078. Pope Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) promulgates canonical law against Jews holding office in Christendom.
1079. Jews repulsed from Ireland.
1085. Pope Gregory VII. protests against Jews being placed by the King of Castile in authority over Christians.
1090. "Fuero" (decree) of Alfonso VI. appoints duel as meansof settling litigation between Christian and Jew. (Feb. 19) Henry IV. grants to Judah ben Kalonymus and other Jews of Speyer protection to life and property.
1096. First Crusade; Jews massacred along the Rhine and elsewhere.
1099. The Jews of Jerusalem burned in a synagogue by the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon.
1103. (Jan. 6) The "Constitutio Pacis" of the imperial court at Mayence assures the Jews of the "emperor's peace."
1108. Massacre at Toledo.
1117. Persecution at Rome; appearance of a false Messiah at Cordova.
1120. Calixtus II. issues bull "Sicut Judæeis," the charter of the Roman Jews.
1124. Ladislaus I. of Bohemia decrees that no Christian shall serve Jews.
1144. Alleged martyrdom of St. William of Norwich (first case of blood accusation).
1146. Second Crusade: Jews massacred throughout France and Germany. Beginning of the Almohad persecution in northern Africa and southern Spain; Jews flee, or pretend to accept Islam.
1150. Statutes of Arles appoint a special Jewish oath.
1156. Jews of Persia persecuted on account of pseudo-Messiah, David Alroy.
1168. Latins and Greeks, Jews and Saracens, granted right of being judged by their own laws in Sicily.
1171. Thirty-one Jews and Jewesses of Blois burned on the charge of having used human blood in the Passover.
1172. Persecution of the Jews of Yemen. Messianic excitement.
1174. Sultan Nureddin Maḥmud removes all Jews of Syria and Egypt from public offices.
1178. Riot at Toledo, at which Fermosa, the Jewish mistress of Alfonso VIII., is killed.
1179. The third Lateran Council passes decrees protecting the religious liberty of the Jews. (Aug.) Jews of Boppard and neighborhood slain because body of Christian woman is found on banks of Rhine. Jews expelled from Bohemia.
1182. (April) Philip Augustus of France banishes the Jews from his hereditary provinces and takes one-third of their debts.
1189. Attack on the Jews of London at coronation of Richard I.
1190. (May 17) Self-immolation of 150 Jews at York to avoid baptism.
1194. "Ordinances of the Jewry" passed in England for registering Jewish debts, thus preparing the way for the exchequer of Jews.
1198. Jews permitted to return to France by Philip Augustus on payment of 15,000 livres in silver.
1200. Bishop Conrad of Mayence issues a formula for an oath in German for Jews of Erfurt.
1205. (July 15) Innocent III. writes to Archbishop of Sens and Bishop of Paris laying down the principle that Jews are bound to perpetual subjection because of the Crucifixion.
1209. Council of Avignon issues restrictive measures against the Jews. (July 22) French Jews attacked and plundered; 200 murdered.
1210. (Nov. 1) The Jews of England imprisoned by King John.
1211. Many French and English rabbis emigrate to Palestine.
1212. The Jews of Toledo killed by Crusaders under the Cistercian monk Arnold; first persecution of Jews in Castile.
1215. Magna Charta of England limits rights of the crown in Jewish debts to the principal. Fourth Lateran Council under Pope Innocent III., among many anti-Jewish measures, decrees the Jew badge.
1221. Jews killed at Erfurt.
1222. Golden Bull of Hungary refuses Jews the right to hold public office. Council of Oxford imposes restrictions on the English Jews.
1223. (Nov. 8) Rabbinical Synod of Mayence regulates the payment of the Jewish taxes.
1227. Council of Narbonne reenacts the anti-Jewish decrees of the fourth Lateran Council.
1230. (Dec.) "Statutum de Judeis" in France by Louis IX. prohibits Jews from making contracts or leaving their lords' lands.
1234. (Dec. 10) Jews of Fulda find a murdered Christian, 261 Jews killed in consequence.
1236. Frederick II. takes Jews of Sicily under his protection as being his "servi camerae" (first use of this term).
1240. (June 25) Disputation before Louis IX. of France between Nicholas Donin and the Jews represented by Jehiel of Paris, Moses of Coucy, Talmudist and itinerant preacher, and two others.
1241. (May 24) Riot at Frankfort on account of a Jewish convert. Jewish Parliament summoned to Worcester, England.
1244. Archduke Frederick II. the Valiant, of Austria, grants privileges to the Jews ("Privilegium Fredericianum"). Twenty-four wagon-loads of Talmuds and other manuscripts (1200) burned at Paris.
1246. James I. of Aragon, in the Ordenamiento of Huesca, declares Jews to be "in commanda regis." Council of Béziers forbids Jews to practise medicine.
1254. (Dec.) Louis IX. expels Jews from France.
1255. (July 31) St. Hugh of Lincoln disappears, and the Jews are accused of murdering him for ritual purposes.
1259. Jahudan de Cavalleria becomes "bayle-general" and treasurer of Aragon. Provincial council of Fritzlar for province of Mayence repeats several of the canonical restrictions, including the badge (first time in Germany).
1261. Expulsion from Brabant, under will of Henry III., of all Jews except those living by trade.
1263. Disputation at Barcelona between Pablo Christiani and Naḥmanides.
1264. Massacres at London, Canterbury, Winchester, and Cambridge by the barons in revolt against Henry III.
1265. (May 2) Persecution at Sunzig; 72 persons burned in synagogue.
1267. (May 12) Synod of Vienna, under Cardinal Guida, orders Jews to wear pointed hats.
1270. (June 23) Persecution at Weissenburg.
1273. (Nov. 4) Jews of Lerida obtain permission to substitute oath by the Ten Commandments for the oath "more Judaico."
1274. (July 7) Gregory X. issues bull against blood accusation.
1275. Jews expelled from Marlborough, Gloucester, Worcester, and Cambridge, at request of the queen-mother.
1280. Alfonso X. orders all Jews of Leon and Castile to be imprisoned till they pay 12,000 maravedis, and 12,000 for every day of delay in payment. English Jews forced to attend sermons of Dominicans.
1285. Blood accusation at Munich.
1286. (June 28) Meïir ben Baruch of Rothenburg (1220-93), chief rabbi of Germany, imprisoned when about to emigrate. Sancho of Castile in Cortes of Palencia orders Jews to submit their cases to the ordinary alcaldes (abolition of legislative autonomy). (Nov. 30) Bull of Honorius IV. to archbishops of York and Canterbury against Talmud.
1287. (May 2) All Jews in England thrown into prison.
1290. (Nov. 1) Jews banished from England.
1292. Ritual murder accusation and riot at Colmar.
1294. (Aug. 7) Bolko I. of Silesia grants Jews "Privilegium Fredericianum."
1295. (June 23) Boniface VIII. enters Rome and spurns the Torah presented to him by Jewish deputation.
1297. "Judenordnung" for Brandenburg.
1298. Persecution of the Jews in Germany instigated by Rindfleisch; Mordecai ben Hillel a martyr.
1301. Jews plundered and slain at Magdeburg.
1303. Ordinance of Philip the Fair enacts that all trials between Christians and Jews be decided by regular courts.
1306. First expulsion of the Jews from France under Philip the Fair.
1315. (July 28) Jews recalled to France by Louis X. for twelve years.
1320. The Pastoureaux persecutions in France ("gezerat ha-Ro'im").
1321. The Leper persecution in France ("gezerat meẓora'im"). (June 24) Second expulsion of the Jews from France. Five thousand slain In Dauphiné on charge of well-poisoning.
1322. (Pentecost) Talmuds burned in Rome.
1330. Alleged desecration of host at Güstrow.
1334. (Oct. 9) Casimir III. the Great, of Poland, grants Jews "Privilegium Fredericianum."
1334. Host-tragedy at Constance.
1337. (May) Armleder massacres at Ensisheim, Mühlhausen, Rufach, etc.
1346. Blood accusation at Munich.
1348. (Feb. 28) The Ordenamiento of Aleaza orders all usury to cease. (July 16) Karl IV. forbids Jews being summoned before the Vehmgericht.
1349. 1348-49. Persecution of the Jews in central Europe on account of the Black Death. Pope Clement VI. issues two bulls protecting them.
1350. idOptional="P040073">1350. Alfonso IV. of Portugal enforces the badge (first in the Peninsula).
1351. Cortes of Valladolid demands the abolition of the judicial autonomy of Spanish-Jewish communities. Jews burned at Königsberg in Neumark.
1353. Jews invited back to Worms on account of their usefulness.
1360. (Nov.) Samuel Abulafla dies under torture on the charge of peculation. Manessier de Vesoul obtains from King John a decree permitting Jews to dwell in France.
1365. Jews expelled by Louis the Great from Hungary; many go to Wallachia.
1370. All Jews imprisoned and robbed in Austria.
1380. (Nov. 16) Riot at Paris; many Jews plundered, several killed, most fled.
1381. A synod at Mayence regulates the rabbinical marriage laws.
1387. Jews expelled from Basel.
1389. (Apr. 18) The charge of insult to a priest carrying the sacrament leads to the massacre of the Jews in Prague.
1391. (June 6) Spanish horrors begin; Ferdinand Martinez incites the mob against the Jews of Seville; anti-Jewish riots spread throughout Castile and Aragon.
1394. (Nov. 3) Third and last expulsion of the Jews from France, under Charles VI.
1400. Persecution of the Jews of Prague at the instigation of the convert Pessach; Lipmann of Mühlhausen among the sufferers.
1403. (Oct. 25) Juan H. of Castile withdraws civil jurisdiction from Jews.
1405. Jews expelled from Speyer.
1407. (Oct. 26) Jews attacked at Cracow.
1410. (Sept.) Meïr Alguades slain on charge of host-desecration.
1411. Vincent Ferrer raises the populace against the Jews. Second general massacre of Jews in all the Spanish provinces.
1413. (Jan. 7) Religious disputation at Tortosa arranged by Pope Benedict XIII. between Geronimo de Santa Fé and Vidal ben Benveniste ibn Labi and Joseph Albo.
1415. (May 11) Bull of Benedict XIII. against the Talmud and any Jewish book attacking Christianity.
1420. Charges of host-desecration lead to the putting to death of a number of Jews and to the expulsion of the remainder from Lower and Upper Austria.
1423. Jews expelled from Cologne.
1424. Jews expelled from Zurich.
1432. Rabbinical synod at Valladolid. Host-tragedy at Segovia. A synod at Avila, under Abraham Benveniste Senior, provides for an educational system for Jewish Spain.
1434. The Council of Basel renews old and devises new canonical restrictions against Jews. Annihilation of the Jews of Majorca.
1435. Jews expelled from Speyer.
1438. Jews expelled from Mayence.
1440. Jews expelled from Augsburg.
1447. Casimir IV. of Poland grants special privileges to Jews.
1450. Ludwig X. of Bavaria throws all the Jews in forty towns into prison and confiscates their property.
1451. Nicholas de Cusa enforces the wearing of the Jew badge in Germany.
1454. (May 2) Forty-one Jews burned at Breslau, and Jews expelled from Brünn and Olmütz, through Capistrano.
1458. Jews expelled from Erfurt.
1460. (March 5) The states of Austria demand that no Jew be permitted to dwell there. Jews expelled from Savoy.
1464. (Apr. 12) Jews plundered and murdered by soldiers in Cracow.
1467. Eighteen Jews burned at Nuremberg.
1468. Jews expelled from Neisse by the gilds. Blood accusation brought against Jews of Sepulveda.
1469. Jews plundered and slain at Posen.
1470. Jews expelled from bishopric of Mayence.
1475. Bernardinus of Feltre preaches against the Jews in Italy. The Jews charged with the murder of Simon of Trent for ritual purposes. Riots in Padua and elsewhere in Italy and Sicily.
1476. Blood accusation in Regensburg through the convert Wolfram.
1477. Jews plundered at Colmar and burned at Passau; the rest expelled through bishop.
1478. Jews expelled from diocese of Bamberg on account of Simon of Trent affair.
1481. The Inquisition against the Maranos established in Seville and at other places in Castile.
1482. Inquisition established in Aragon; Thomas de Torquemada, chief inquisitor.
1484. Jews expelled from Arles.
1486. (Feb. 12) Auto da fé at Toledo at which 740 were absolved. (Dec. 10) Another auto at same place; 900 Jews "reconciled."
1488. (Jan. 25) First auto at Barcelona. (May 24 and July 30) Autos da fé at Toledo; at former, 21 Jews burned, 400 punished, at latter, 76 burned.
1490. (Dec.) Jews expelled from Geneva.
1492. (Aug. 2) Expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
1494. Jews plundered in Naples. Blood accusation at Tyrnau.
1495. Jews expelled from Florence, but readmitted after a few months on account of their utility; Jews expelled from Lithuania.
1496. Expulsion of Jews from Styria. Manoel of Portugal orders the Jews to accept baptism or leave the country.
1498. The exiles settled in Navarre banished. Jews expelled from Nuremberg and Ulm.
1501. (July) Fifty-four Jews burned at Seville.
1502. Appearance of the pseudo-Messiah Asher Lämmlein.
1503. Pfefferkorn denounces Reuchlin. (March 22) Jews permitted to return to Lithuania. (Dec. 27) Judaizing followers of Zechariah of Kiev burned at Moscow.
1505. Jews expelled from Orange. All slain at Budwels on a child-murder accusation.
1506. Jews settle in Pinsk and secure synagogues and cemetery. Massacre of 4,000 Maranos In Lisbon.
1508. (July 15) Royal decree issued expelling Jews from Portugal.
1510. Burning of Jewish books at Frankfort. Thirty-eight Jews burned in Berlin for host-desecration and child-murder (Grätz, 9:94).
1516. (March) Venice sets apart a special quarter for a ghetto (first use of the term).
1524. The Jews of Cairo threatened with destruction by Aḥmad Shaltan, viceroy of Egypt. Jews return to Genoa.
1529. (May 21) Thirty Jews burned at Pösing on blood accusation. Solomon Molko (Diogo Pires, 1501-32) begins his Messianic agitation.
1530. (Aug. 12) Josel of Roshelm obtains extension of Alsatian privileges from Charles V.
1531. Clement VII. issues a bull establishing the Portuguese Inquisition for Maranos.
1541. Jews expelled from Naples.
1542. Jews expelled from Bohemia because of fires in Prague and other towns.
1543. Luther publishes his attack on the Jews.
1548. (July 10) Eighteen hundred Maranos released from the prisons of the Inquisition in Portugal.
1550. (April 2) Jews banished from Genoa.
1551. Jews expelled from Bavaria and Württemberg.
1554. (June 21) Rabbinical synod at Ferrara.
1555. Paul IV. issues the bull "Cum Nimis Absurdum." Jews expelled from the Palatinate.
1556. Twenty-four Jews of Ancona hanged and burned by order of Paul IV.
1567. Don Joseph Nassi appointed ruler of Naxos and eleven other Islands of the Grecian archipelago. (June 15) Jews expelled from Genoese territory.
1568. Isaac Luria Levi (1534-72), cabalist, pretends to be the Messiah, son of Joseph.
1569. (Feb. 26) Bull of Pius V., "Hebræorum Gens," expels Jews from Papal States except Rome, Bologna, and Ancona.
1570. Solomon Ashkenazi sent as an envoy to Venice by Sultan Selim II.
1573. (Jan. 28) The Jew Lippold executed at Berlin; all Jews expelled from Brandenburg.
1576. Stephen Bathorl allows the Jews of Poland to carry on trade without restrictions.
1582. Expulsion from Silesia.
1586. (circa). The Jews of Poland establish the Council of Four Lands; Mordecai Jafe probably its first president.
1592. (Aug. 17) Papal edict forbids Jews to admit Christians into synagogues, etc.
1593. Clement VIII. expels the Jews from all the Papal States except Rome and Ancona. The first Marano settlement in Holland made at Amsterdam under Jacob Tirado.
1596. Persecution of the Persian Jews by Shah Abbas the Great.
1598. Bet Jacob synagogue consecrated at Amsterdam.
1612. Portuguese Jews granted right of residence in Hamburg.
1614. (Sept. 2) Vincent Fettmilch's attack upon the Jews of Frankfort.
1615. Jews of Worms banished.
1616. idOptional="P040074">1616. Jews return to Frankfort and Worms.
1617. (Jan. 3) "Neue Stättigkeit" for Frankfort makes right of domicil for Jews perpetual.
1629. (June 26) Lippman Heller forced to leave his post as rabbi in Prague.
1632. (April 20) Proselyte Nicolas Antoine burned at Geneva. (July 4) Auto da fé at Madrid.
1639. Dutch West India Company grants Jews of Guiana full religious liberty.
1642. Six hundred Jews of Amsterdam with Isaac Aboab as ḥakam settle at Pernambuco.
1646. The Jews in Brazil side with the Dutch in their war with the Portuguese.
1648. The beginning of the Cossack persecutions of the Jews in Poland under Chmielnicki.
1652. Two leagues along the coast of Curaçao granted to David Nassi for a Jewish colony.
1654. (July 8) Twenty-four Jews land at New Amsterdam from Brazil.
1655. (Oct.) Menasseh ben Israel goes to London to obtain from Cromwell the readmission of Jews into England.
1657. (Feb. 4) Resettlement Day; Oliver Cromwell grants Carvajal right of residence for Jews in England.
1659. (Feb. 26) Jews expelled from all the Papal States except Rome and Ancona.
1660. Jews expelled from Kiev by Alexis.
1665. Shabbethai Ẓebi (1626-1676) publicly accepted as the Messiah at Smyrna.
1667. (Feb. 14) Jews run races at the Roman carnival for the last time.
1670. Jews banished from Vienna and Lower Austria by Emperor Leopold I. Synod of Lithuanian rabbis and deputies settle spheres of jurisdiction in relation to central ḳahals.
1671. Frederick William, the Great Elector, grants a privilege for twenty years to fifty families driven from Austria.
1678. Appearance of the pseudo-Messiah Mordecai Moshiaḥ of Eisenstadt.
1680. (June 30) Auto da fé at Madrid.
1682. (May 10) Auto da fé at Lisbon.
1686. Jews the victims of the Imperialist soldiery at the recapture of Buda from Turks.
1690. Ninety Jews from Curaçao settle at Newport, R. I.
1695. Jews forbidden to enter Sweden by Charles IX.
1700. The house of Oppenheimer in Vienna attacked by a mob. Eisenmenger attempts to publish his "Entdecktes Judenthum."
1703. Jonas, Aaron settles in Philadelphia.
1710. The "Judenordnung" of Hamburg determines the social condition of the Jews of that city.
1716. (July 24-25) Serious uprising against the Jews at storming of Posen.
1727. (April 26) Jews expelled from Russia and the Ukraine by Catharine. (Nov. 15) Act passed by General Assembly of New York permitting Jews to omit "on the faith of a Christian" from oath of abjuration.
1732. (Sept. 2) "Editto sopra gli Ebrei" of Clement III. renews all restrictions against Jews of Rome.
1733. (July) Forty Jews from Lisbon arrive at Savannah, Ga.
1738. (Feb. 4) Joseph Süss Oppenheimer executed at Vienna.
1740. (Feb. 3) Charles the Bourbon, King of Naples and of the two Sicilles, invites the Jews back for fifty years. (July 11) Jews expelled from Little Russia by Czarina Anne. Act passed by English Parliament naturalizing Jews settled in the American colonies.
1742. (Dec. 2) Jews expelled from Great Russia by Czarina Elizabeth.
1744. (Dec. 18) Expulsion of Jews from Bohemia and Moravia.
1747. Bull of Benedict XIV. decides that a Jewish child baptized, even against canonical law, must be brought up under Christian influences.
1748. Jews permitted to remain in Bohemia on payment of a "Judensteuer" of 216,000 florins.
1750. (April 17) Frederick the Great issues a "Generalprivilegium" for the Prussian Jews.
1753. Act passed by English Parliament permitting Jews to be naturalized. "No Jews, no wooden shoes" riots in England.
1754. Act granting naturalization to English Jews repealed.
1756. Blood accusation in Jampol, Poland.
1757. Jacob Frank becomes leader of the Shabbethaians. Bishop of Kamenitz-Podolsk orders Talmuds to be burned.
1761. Persecution of Jews in Yemen.
1767. (June 20) Cossacks slay thousands of Jews at Homel.
1772. Jews settle in Stockholm, Karlskrona, and Gothenburg, by favor of Gustavus III.
1776. (Oct. 17) Senatorial decree of Russia grants freedom of settlement and other rights to baptized Jews.
1781. Joseph II. of Austria abolishes the Jewish poll-tax, and grants civil liberties to the Jews.
1782. Joseph II. issues his Toleration Edict.
1787. Frederick William II. removes the "Leibzoll" in Prussia.
1790. The French National Assembly grants citizenship to the Sephardic Jews of Bordeaux. New constitution for Jews of Silesia; a few receive general privileges, etc.
1791. The French National Assembly grants full civil rights to the Jews.
1796. Jews of Holland declared by the National Assembly to be full citizens of the Batavian Republic.
1797. (Aug. 1) Two Jews, Bromet and De Lemon, elected members of the second National Assembly of Holland.
1801. "Leibzoll" removed in Nassau.
1803. Israel Jacobson and Wolff Breidenbach agitate the abolition of the poll-tax for Jews in Germany.
1804. (Dec. 9) "Enactment concerning the Jews" passed by Alexander I. of Russia.
1807. The Great Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon; Joseph David Sinzheim president.
1808. (Jan. 27) Jerome Napoleon issues decree giving full civic rights to Jews of Westphalia. (Dec. 11) Napoleon at Madrid issues decree dividing the French empire into Jewish consistories.
1809. Law of Baden forms Jews into special religious community with all privileges.
1811. The Jews of Hamburg emancipated.
1812. The Jews of Prussia emancipated.
1813. (Feb. 18) The Jews of Mecklenburg emancipated.
1815. (June 8) "Bundesakte" passed at the Congress of Vienna decrees maintenance of status quo in the political condition of the Jews.
1818. First Reform Temple in Hamburg opened.
1819. (Aug.) The beginning of the "Hep, hep!" persecutions. Formation of the Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews, by Zunz, Gans, and Moser.
1820. Jews admitted again at Lisbon.
1825. Jews expelled from St. Petersburg through influence of gilds.
1826. Jews obtain full civic rights in the state of Maryland, U. S. A. Decree issued in Russia enrolling Jews for military service.
1831. Louis Philippe orders salaries of rabbis to be paid by the state.
1833. (Oct. 29) Jews of Kur-Hessen granted full emancipation.
1835. (April 13) General Jewish regulations issued in Russia. Edict of Nicholas I. founding agricultural colonies in Russia.
1836. Law refusing Jews the right to bear Christian names renewed in Prussia.
1839. Sultan 'Abd al-Majid grants citizenship to Turkish Jews.
1840. (Feb. 5) Damascus blood accusation. (Nov. 6) Firman issued by sultan against blood accusation.
1844. (May 25) Louis Philippe issues regulations for the internal organization of French Jews. (June) Rabbinical conference at Brunswick.
1845. (April) Ukase issued ordering Russian and Polish Jews to adopt ordinary costume.
1848. Emancipation Year: most of the countries of central Europe grant full civic and political rights to Jews—in the majority of cases, repealed the next year. (May 19-20) Riots in Presburg.
1849. (July 3) Baron Lionel de Rothschild, previously returned as M.P. for city of London, not allowed to take seat.
1852. (Sept. 3) Violent anti-Jewish riots at Stockholm.
1856. (Feb. 18) "Ḥaṭṭi-Humayun" issued, granting full civic rights to Turkish Jews.
1858. (June 24) Edgar Mortara in Ancona forcibly taken from his family by Bishop of Bologna on plea that he had been baptized when an infant by a Roman Catholic servant. The oath "on the true faith of a Christian" abolished in England; Jewish disabilities removed.
1860. Alliance Israélite Universelle founded.
1863. (July) Emancipation of Swiss Jews.
1866. Rumanian constitution makes Rumanian Jews "aliens."
1867. (Dec.) Emancipation of Hungarian Jews.
1868. Jews permitted to return to Spain. The law of the North German Federation of July 3 decrees that no state shall retain restrictions on the ground of religious belief.
1870. (March) Thirteen hundred and sixty Jews expelled from districts of Falciu and Vaslui, Rumania.
1871. Anglo-Jewish Association founded.
1873. Union of American Hebrew Congregations established.
1874. idOptional="P040075">1876. (July 28) E. Lasker procures the passing of the "Austrittgesetz," permitting Jews to change their congregation.
1877. Rabbinical Seminary, Budapest, inaugurated.
1878. (July 13) The Berlin Congress inserts clause 44, that distinction of religion shall not be a bar to civil and political rights in Rumania.
1880. (Nov. 20-22) Debate in "Prussian Diet on Kantorowicz incident.
1881. Atrocities against Jews in South Russia. (April 25) Anti-Semitic league in Germany presents petition with 255,000 signatures to Bismarck. (April 27) Riot at Argenau.
1882. (April 7) Disappearance of Esther Solymosi causes a trial on blood accusation at Tisza-Eszlar. (May 3) "May Laws" issued by General Ignatief confining the Jews in the Pale of Settlement to the towns.
1884. (March 7) Rumanian law prohibiting hawking puts 5,000 Jewish families out of employment. (July 9) Lord Rothschild takes his seat as first Jewish peer in the British House of Lords.
1885. Pittsburg Conference of American Rabbis establishes a platform for Reform Judaism.
1886. Drumont publishes "La France Juive."
1887. (Feb. 28) Rumanian law excluding Jews from public service and from tobacco trade and from employment in retail trade.
1889. (May 12) Rumanian law limiting number of Jewish factory hands to one-third.
1890. (Dec. 10) Guildhall meeting against persecution of Russian Jews by May Laws.
1891. (June 29) Blood accusation at Xanten.
1892. Jewish Colonization Association founded by Baron de Hirsch.
1893. (Jan. 14) Rumanian law prohibiting Jews from being employed in public medical department.
1895. Capt. Alfred Dreyfus condemned and degraded as a spy and deported to Devil's Isle, Cayenne.
1897. (Aug. 29-31) First Zionist Congress at Basel.
1898. (Oct.) Eleven thousand two hundred Jewish children refused admission to public schools in Rumania.
1899. (March 31) Rumanian law excluding Jews from agricultural and professional schools. (Sept. 2) Dreyfus condemned a second time, but "pardoned" on Sept. 19.
1900. (Aug. 13-16) Fourth Zionist Congress at London. (Sept. 8) Israelsky, accused of ritual murder at Konitz, acquitted.
1901. (Dec.) Rumanian law prohibiting Jews from holding saloons or stores in rural districts.
1902. (March) Rumanian law prohibiting employment of Jewish working men.