Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between the Archbishops of Salzburg and the Jewish inhabitants of their territory. Unlike other prince-(arch)bishops of the Holy Roman Empire who actively promoted their Jewish communities, the Archbishops of Salzburg showed significantly less interest in their Jewish subjects and only seldomly made use of their financial capacities. Nevertheless, they claimed lordship over the Jews of their territory and defined the legal parameters under which Jewish life flourished in the archbishopric’s major towns; individual Jews and their families were given special privileges. After two major persecutions in 1349 and 1404, the latter of which took place at least with the archbishop’s consent, Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach expelled all Jewish inhabitants in 1498, ending the medieval Jewish settlement in the archbishopric.