August 19, 1509 A.D. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I signed the Padua Mandate, which dictated the destruction of all Jewish books—except the Hebrew Bible. Johannes Pfefferkorn, a Jewish convert to Christianity, had persuaded the emperor that Jewish works were heretical and blasphemous. Efforts to implement the mandate were concentrated in Frankfurt—and short-lived. The authority of the Padua Mandate was revoked in May of the following year, but by then more than 1,500 books had been confiscated. While it was stipulated that these books be returned, the decree was soon replaced with the Füssen Mandate, which again authorized the confiscation of Jewish books—but only after a legal and theological assessment.
In the portrait of Maximilian I by Albrecht Durer (1519), he holds a pomegranate, his personal emblem.
August 19, 1509 A.D. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I signed the Padua Mandate, which dictated the destruction of all Jewish books—except the Hebrew Bible. Johannes Pfefferkorn, a Jewish convert to Christianity, had persuaded the emperor that Jewish works were heretical and blasphemous. Efforts to implement the mandate were concentrated in Frankfurt—and short-lived. The authority of the Padua Mandate was revoked in May of the following year, but by then more than 1,500 books had been confiscated. While it was stipulated that these books be returned, the decree was soon replaced with the Füssen Mandate, which again authorized the confiscation […]
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