Vienna

Capital of Austria-Hungary. Legend asserts that Jews settled in this city in the remotest antiquity, and it is alleged that some were among the first colonists that Rome sent to the Danube. In 905 decrees were issued fixing the toll to be paid by Jewish merchants in Austria; this, however, proves only that Jews traveled in that country. Although the document, dated 1156, which granted to Duke Leopold of Austria the privilege of admitting Jews into his dominions is a forgery originating two hundred years after its alleged date (O. Stobbe, "Die Juden in Deutschland," p. 12), Jews were undoubtedly living at that time in Austria, though not in great numbers. Under the protection of the liberal princes of the house of Babenberg they fared much better than the other German Jews of that period.

Shlom the Minter.

As early as 1194 Duke Leopold VI. of Austria placed a Jew of the name of Shlom (Solomon) at the head of the mint ("super officium monetæ"), and Jewish officers of that mint had such influence as to give rise to bitter complaints. Two years later, when the Crusaders reached Vienna and heard that Solomon had imprisoned for theft one of his servants who was to join them, they rushed to the Jew's house, murdered him and fifteen other Jews, and liberated the imprisoned man. The duke was sufficiently just to execute two of the ringleaders (Joseph ha-Kohen, "'Emeḳ ha-Baka," ed. Letteris, p. 46). The influence of the Jewish officials had become so great that after the expulsion of Duke Frederick the Belligerent, in 1237, the citizens of Vienna petitioned Emperor Frederick II. not to appoint any more Jews to official positions. Nevertheless Jews apparently continued to be employed as agents of the treasury. In 1235 they dictated the entire commercial policy of Duke Frederick II. and induced him to forbid the export of grain into the "upper districts" (Pertz, "Monumenta Scriptores," 9:786); and in 1257 the Jews Lublin and Nekelo, two brothers, were treasury agents ("Kammergrafen") "to the most illustrious Duke of Austria" (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." 10:44 et seq.). In Aug., 1238, Emperor Frederick II. took the Jews of Vienna under his protection ("servi cameræ nostræ"), granting them special privileges (see Jew. Encyc. 2:322, s. Austria). Of still greater importance is the charter that Duke Frederick II. granted to all Jews within his territory July 1, 1244; this afterward became the model by which the status of the Jews of Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, and Poland was regulated.

The Church Council of 1267.

The Jews of Vienna, who had the right to own real estate and to buy houses, were engaged principally in lending money on security to the burghers and also to the impecunious princes. Frederick II. permitted the Jews to charge a weekly interest of eight heller on the pound (e., 87 per cent); under his father they were permitted a still higher rate. Later the rate on loans by Jews was reduced to three heller on the pound. The rich Jew Techau in Vienna was in 1255 the bondsman of Duke Leopold VI. for a debt of 2,000 pounds of silver owed to King Andrew of Hungary (Steinschneider, c. 10:46). The "Muschlein Terhau" (Techau) mentioned in a document (Wiener, "Regesten," p. 117) was probably ason of this otherwise unknown person. The favorable position of the Jews changed when, in May, 1267, the Council of Vienna revived the ancient ecclesiastical decrees concerning the Jews. These decrees fostered hatred against the Jews, but they could not be carried out to the letter, since the princes in their monetary difficulties could not get along without Jewish help. Emperor Rudolph, the first of the house of Hapsburg, who was indebted to a Jew by the name of Amschel Oppenheimer, confirmed in 1277 the Jews' statute of Duke Frederick the Belligerent; but a year later he declared the Jews ineligible for public office, a privilege which his successor, Duke Albert, confirmed to the citizens of Vienna in 1296.

The fourteenth century in general brought much misery to the Jews of Vienna. In 1337 outrages were committed against them, but Duke Albert and the nobles interfered to protect them from further injustice. In recognition of the good-will shown by the citizens of Vienna in time of distress, and in anticipation of its continuance, the Jews declared, in a document written in Hebrew and dated Vienna, June 19, 1338, that they would lend to the citizens of Vienna, rich as well as poor, a pound of Vienna heller at a weekly interest of three heller. On the following day appeared the "Jews' decree" of the dukes Albert and Otto, and the endorsement of the Jewish document (G. Wolf, "Gesch. der Juden in Wien," p. 11; idem, "Studien zur Jubelfeier der Wiener Universität," pp. 170 et seq.; Wiener, c. p. 221).

The Jews of Vienna appear to have suffered during the persecutions consequent on the Black Death (1369), and in 1370 they were seized, deprived of their possessions, and expelled from the city. But in spite of these persecutions the Jews very soon returned to Vienna and other places. The dukes Albert and Leopold, who were continually in financial straits, needed the Jews, as did also their successors. At their pleasure they "killed the Jews' letters," that is, they canceled the debts of the burghers to the Jews, often those of an entire city. One of the richest Jews of Vienna, called in the documents indifferently David the Steuzz, Von Steuzz, Steuzzel, or Steuzzlein (the Jew Hennlein von Neuenburg's son), who from 1350 to 1386 had business relations with the nobles and the burghers, often lent large sums to Duke Albert; and after his (Steuzz's) death his son Jonah entered upon his rights; only the duke himself could bring an action against him (Wiener, c. pp. 224 et seq.; according to Document No. 169 [p. 240] he should be called "Jonah the Steussen" instead of "Jonah the Russian").

Early Rabbis.