DER JUDEN ZU FRANCKFURT STÄTTIGKEIT UND ORDNUNG (LEGAL STATUS OF THE JEWS OF FRANKFURT AND ORDINANCES), FRANKFURT AM MAIN: JOHANN SAURN, 1613

The first edition of the statutes imposed upon the Jews of Frankfurt am Main.

For as long as Jews had been present in Frankfurt am Main, their legal status was a potent political issue that revolved around the constant tension between ecclesiastical and imperial authorities and that, on a more local level, was a frequent bone of contention in the power struggle between the patrician elements of the Frankfurt city council and the powerful local merchant guilds. In 1462, the Jews of Frankfurt were transferred to a ghetto consisting of a specially constructed street (the so-called Judengasse) enclosed within walls and gates. At around the same time, relations between the city and its Jewish population were spelled out in regulations called Stättigkeiten. Among these was the requirement that Jews wear a yellow circle on their clothing whenever they left the ghetto. In addition, Jewish men were obligated to don special yellow hats with a distinctive conical shape.

The present lot is a rare copy of the first (unauthorized) edition of these statutes, which were published in 1613 by the guilds. It was not until the following year that a larger-format (authorized) edition was issued by the city fathers of Frankfurt, carrying the full weight of the city council. Significantly, the latter printing fueled the events of August 22, 1614, when a mob led by Vincenz Fettmilch attacked the ghetto and forced the Jews to flee. After the public insurrection was put down by the emperor, Fettmilch and six others were executed on 20 Adar 5376 (February 28, 1616), a date celebrated by Frankfurt Jewry as “Purim Vints” for the next three hundred years.

In Frankfurt, all homes and buildings were named after their distinguishing features. This volume includes a listing of all of the names of the houses in which Jews resided along the Judengasse (pp. 41-43). Featured here are several abodes with familiar designations, most notably, the House of the Red Shield (p. 42), where the eponymous Rothschild family would live until they moved up the block and across the Judengasse to the famous House of the Green Shield, from which they would launch an empire.

Provenance

Gustav Mori (bookplate on pastedown of upper board)

Literature

Friedrich Bothe, Frankfurts wirtschaftlich-soziale Entwicklung vor dem Dreissigjährigen Kriege und der Fettmilchaufstand (1612-1616)

(Frankfurt am Main: J. Baer, 1920), 247.