"Pilgrimage to the Beautiful Virgin of Regensburg"--Michael Ostendorfer, woodcut, 1520
This woodcut by Michael Ostendorfer illustrates an all-too-common event in Europe during the 1500s (possibly earlier and later as well). Jewish people were forced out of towns and regions, or else killed, and on the claimed land churches and religious hospitals were built (after all Jewish buildings on the site were demolished, of course). We see this in Regensburg, a city in modern southeast Germany of about the same size as Springfield today. In the late 15th century, the Jews of Regensburg were murdered or banished from the city and the ghetto was demolished. On the grounds of the demolished synagogue a pilgrimage church devoted to the Virgin Mary was built. It is said that some of the stones used in the construction of the church were gravestones from the nearby Jewish cemetery. The Juliusspital in Wurzburg bears a similar history.
I find it interesting that despite anti-Semitic ideas that Jews were magic-users, killed Christian children for rituals, and were responsible for the death of Christ, their holy grounds were considered prime real estate for new churches. I imagine dramatic speeches about "conquering the savages" and "claiming what is ours as the true people of God" used to legitimize this use of effectively stolen land.
Do you have any other ideas as to the Church of Regensburg's rationale for using the site of a demolished synagogue for a new church?
Roper, Lyndal. Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany. New Haven, Conn.: Yale UP, 2004. 40-43. Print.
Really good post on such a heartbreaking event. I would imagine that the reason they used the site for the church because they figured, "Hey, it's good enough for them, so it's good enough for us!" Also, I agree with your statement that they wanted to "conquer the savages." They wanted to take over the land to distinguish the power they thought they held over the Jews.
ReplyDeleteBeckett, you present an intriguing summary of the events at Regensburg. Your post demonstrates the anti-Semitism that had taken hold in the late Middle Ages. I also appreciated how you connected the size of the town of Regensburg to the size of Springfield, giving us an interesting comparative thought. In response to your question about the rationale for use of the same site, I think there is actually a tradition of building sites of power/religion on previous sites of a different group of people. For one, people remain orientated to the space and its purpose in the same manner and two, I agree with Sarah in that it establishes power. Look at the Spanish conquistadors who consistently built Catholic churches on Native American religious sites, like the Templo Mayor in Mexico City (Tenochtitlan then).
ReplyDelete