Bamberg’s memorial register preserves Jewish scholars, elders, children, women named in their own right, and visitors killed during the Rintfleisch persecutions. Salfeld reports that a charter links the Bamberg killings to St. Pantaleon’s day, which he identifies as 28 July 1298. In the fixed Hebrew calendar, that Julian date corresponds to י״ח באב ה׳נ״ח 18th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 5058. The memorial list itself has no date.12

The wider chronology follows the Christian persecution of Jewish communities beyond this register. These names preserve Jewish households and communal memory; they do not identify every perpetrator or establish Rintfleisch’s personal presence.

What does the complete
memorial register preserve?

The complete surviving applicable register follows from Siegmund Salfeld’s 1898 edition of the Nürnberger Memorbuch. Each עברית IVRIT passage is followed immediately by a TJD English translation checked against the printed facsimile and Salfeld’s German rendering. This normalized reading transcription omits printed wrapping, pointing and note numbers and normalizes abbreviation punctuation. It retains names, order, unnamed relatives, gaps and material additions. Square brackets within Hebrew reproduce editorial restorations; English explanatory brackets are TJD’s. R. preserves an honorific without assuming rabbinic ordination; Mistress renders the respectful title for women. Vernacular names sometimes admit more than one reading.

First part

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

הרוגי בבנברק:

הישיש ר׳ שמואל בר יעקב ובנו המיוסר ר׳ יוסף ובנו החבר ר׳ משה וזוגתו מרת דינא וב׳ ילדיו. ובנו ר׳ אשר הבחור ואשתו מרת ורודא הבחורה. מרת צרליף וב׳ ילדיה. ר׳ אלכסנדרי בר יעקב ואשתו מרת מינא וב׳ ילדים. הזקן ר׳ מנחם בר משה וכלתו מרת אסתר ובתה הבתולה. מרת יוטא החסידה בת ר׳ אברהם ובתה מרת מייטין. החבר ר׳ ישראל בן מורנו הרב ר׳ ידידיה (וזוגתו מרת גוטליף) ובנו זלמן ובתו [ה]בתולה. ר׳ מרדכי בר שמואל הכהן ואשתו מרת צורלין ובתו. מרת רחל בת ר׳ יוסף הלוי וילד. הבחור ר׳ מנחם בר יהושע הלוי ואשתו מרת גוטליף. הזקינה מרת אוטיליא. הישיש החבר ר׳ אלכסנדרי בר משה הכהן. ר׳ ... בר מרדכי ואשתו מרת גוטלין ובתו מרת בונפיליא הבחורה וילדה. מרת צרליף בת ר׳ יוסף הכהן ובתה הבחורה מרת פשא וב׳ ילדים ובתולה אדליף בתה. מרת חנה בת ר׳ יוסף הכהן וילד. מרת גוטלין בת ר׳ יעקב ובנה הבחור ר׳ שמואל הכהן ואשתו מרת רוזא. מרת אסתר הזקינה בת ר׳ משה הכהן ובתה מרת גוטא בת ר׳ יוסף ובנה ר׳ מנחם ואשתו מרת מינא ובתו מרת הצויף וילד. מרת ושא בת ר׳ משה הכהן ובתה הבחורה מרת עלא וב׳ ילדים.

ר׳ שלמה בר אשר ואשתו מרת קוצא הנשרפה וחתנו ר׳ מרדכי בר משה ואשתו מרת יוטלין ובתו הבתולה גוטלין השרופה. הזקן ר׳ ברוך בר יוסף. מרת חנה בת ר׳ אלכסנדרי הכהן ובתה מרת פשא ובנה [ה]נער משה הכהן. ובחור ר׳ לעבלנגא. מרת בנקיא וב׳ ילדים. בחור חשוב ר׳ מאיר ואשתו מרת שרלין וב׳ ילדים. ר׳ יצחק בר אלעזר הלוי ואשתו מרת אדליף וילדיו. הזקינה מרת צריט. מרת חנה בת הרב ר׳ ישראל.3

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

Those killed at Bamberg:

The elder R. Samuel son of Jacob, his tortured son R. Joseph, his son the scholar R. Moses, his wife Mistress Dina, and his two children. And his son the young R. Asher and his young wife Mistress Froda. Mistress Zarlieb and her two children. R. Alexander son of Jacob, his wife Mistress Minna, and two children. The elder R. Menahem son of Moses, his daughter-in-law Mistress Esther, and her unmarried daughter. The pious Mistress Jutta daughter of R. Abraham, and her daughter Mistress Meitin. The scholar R. Israel son of our teacher the rabbi R. Jedidiah (and his wife Mistress Godlif), his son Salman, and his unmarried daughter. R. Mordecai son of Samuel the priest, his wife Mistress Zorlin, and his daughter. Mistress Rachel daughter of R. Joseph the Levite, and a child. The young R. Menahem son of Joshua the Levite, and his wife Mistress Godlif. The elder Mistress Ottilia. The elder scholar R. Alexander son of Moses the priest. R. … son of Mordecai, his wife Mistress Gutlin, his young daughter Mistress Bonfilia, and a little girl. Mistress Zarlieb daughter of R. Joseph the priest, her young daughter Mistress Pessa and two children, and her unmarried daughter Adlif. Mistress Hannah daughter of R. Joseph the priest, and a child. Mistress Gutlin daughter of R. Jacob, her son the young R. Samuel the priest, and his wife Mistress Rosa. The elder Mistress Esther daughter of R. Moses the priest, her daughter Mistress Guta daughter of R. Joseph, and her son R. Menahem, his wife Mistress Minna, his daughter Mistress Hizwip, and a child. Mistress Susa daughter of R. Moses the priest, her young daughter Mistress Ella, and two children.

R. Solomon son of Asher, his wife Mistress Kuza who was burned, his son-in-law R. Mordecai son of Moses, his wife Mistress Juttlin, and his unmarried daughter Gutlin who was burned. The elder R. Baruch son of Joseph. Mistress Hannah daughter of R. Alexander the priest, her daughter Mistress Pessa, and her son the boy Moses the priest. And the young R. Leblang. Mistress Bankia and two children. The distinguished young R. Meir, his wife Mistress Sarlin, and two children. R. Isaac son of Eleazar the Levite, his wife Mistress Adlif, and his children. The elder Mistress Zaret. Mistress Hannah daughter of the rabbi R. Israel.4

Continuation

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

ר׳ משה בר אשר ואשתו מרת אדלהייט ובתו מרת קייזרין ובנו [ה]נער זלמן. הזקן ר׳ יצחק בר גרשם ובתו מרת חנה שנשרפה ובתה מרת צרליף ובנה הבחור ר׳ מרדכי בר שלמה ואשתו מרת אסתר ובנה. מרת רוזלין בת ר׳ יחיאל וב׳ ילדים. מרת גוטא בת הרב ר׳ מנחם הלוי אשר נשרפה וילד בן ד׳ ימים. מרת גננלין ונער שלמה בר אשר וג׳ ילדים אשר שחטה בידה. הזקן ר׳ יוסף בר גרשם ואשתו מרת שרה ובתו הבחורה מרת ורומוט. ר׳ יצחק בר יהודה הכהן. ר׳ יחיאל בר יעקב. ר׳ יצחק בן הקדוש ר׳ יוסף. מרת חנה הזקינה בת ר׳ גרשם ונינה. הבחור החסיד ר׳ נתן בר שלמה. הזקן ר׳ אלכסנדרי בר אברהם. ר׳ אשר בר מרדכי ואשתו מרת ריצא. בחורה מרת ליבהייט נשרפה. הבחור ר׳ יצחק בר חזקיה. ובחור ר׳ יוסף בן הקדוש ר׳ יהודה. ור׳ מורלין אשר נשרף. ושאר אורחים ואשה וג׳ ילדיה. וצרפתים ג׳. ר׳ יצחק קלוטרר. ר׳ יוסף בר שלמה ואשת[ו] ובתו. הנער יוסף בר אורי הלוי. ר׳ ויבל[מן] ...:5

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

R. Moses son of Asher, his wife Mistress Adelheit, his daughter Mistress Kaiserin, and his son the boy Salman. The elder R. Isaac son of Gershom, his daughter Mistress Hannah who was burned, her daughter Mistress Zarlieb, her son the young R. Mordecai son of Solomon, his wife Mistress Esther, and her son. Mistress Roslin daughter of R. Jehiel, and two children. Mistress Guta daughter of the rabbi R. Menahem the Levite, who was burned, and a four-day-old child. Mistress Gnennlin, the boy Solomon son of Asher, and three children whom she slaughtered with her own hand [the edition’s reading; see the manuscript variant below]. The elder R. Joseph son of Gershom, his wife Mistress Sarah, and his young daughter Mistress Vromut. R. Isaac son of Judah the priest. R. Jehiel son of Jacob. R. Isaac son of the martyr R. Joseph. The elder Mistress Hannah daughter of R. Gershom, and her grandson. The pious young R. Nathan son of Solomon. The elder R. Alexander son of Abraham. R. Asher son of Mordecai and his wife Mistress Riza. A young woman, Mistress Libheit, was burned. The young R. Isaac son of Hezekiah. And the young R. Joseph son of the martyr R. Judah. And R. Murlin, who was burned. And the other guests, and a woman and her three children. And three French people. R. Isaac Kloterer. R. Joseph son of Solomon, his wife, and his daughter. The boy Joseph son of Uri the Levite. R. Vivel[man] …6

What does the list establish?

The register remembers torture and burning alongside household names. It preserves a four-day-old child, guests and three French people. Guests does not by itself prove that all were refugees. The record’s different descriptions of death must not be flattened into a claim that every person was killed in the same way or at the same moment.

The parentheses around Israel’s wife Godlif preserve an addition above the manuscript text. After Esther, Guta and her son, the printed Hebrew runs directly into R. Menahem; Salfeld’s German separates the unnamed son from Menahem as a new entry. The translation follows the Hebrew’s continuous construction here, but the household boundary remains uncertain. A marginal reference after Susa’s household survives only as isolated letters and הכהן, the priest; Salfeld reports that binding destroyed the names. These lost names cannot be reconstructed from the list.7

The printed sentence about Gnennlin says she slaughtered; Salfeld records the manuscript form שחטם, normally he slaughtered them, while the next word remains feminine, with her hand. The translation follows the edition’s correction and labels it. The damaged grammar prevents treating the woman’s agency as an uncontested manuscript reading. The notice belongs to the terror of persecution, but it supplies no account of the immediate threat, coercion or motive. The final Vivel[man] entry is also physically incomplete.8

Salfeld reports a charter date supplied through correspondence and quotes the charter’s wording:

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

Nach brieflicher Mitteilung Dr. Ecksteins in Bamberg giebt eine auf dem dortigen Kreisarchiv vorhandene Verkaufsurkunde den 28. Juli 1298 als das Datum der Verfolgung an (an sente Panthaleonstage, do di Juden zu Babenberch wurden derslagen. Kgl. Kreisarchiv Bamberg, Histor. Katalog No. 379 Convol. 7, nach Notizen Dr. Sterns in Kiel).9

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

According to a letter from Dr. Eckstein in Bamberg, a deed of sale held in the district archive there gives 28 July 1298 as the date of the persecution (on Saint Pantaleon’s day, when the Jews at Bamberg were slain. Royal District Archive, Bamberg, Historical Catalogue no. 379, bundle 7, according to notes by Dr. Stern in Kiel).10

Salfeld reports the deed through correspondence and notes by Dr. Stern; the archival reference he gives is Historical Catalogue no. 379, bundle 7. Rabbi Adolf Eckstein’s 1928 communal history also gives 28 July, but it belongs to the same source tradition rather than offering a separate witness.11

Erich von Guttenberg likewise identifies the feast as 28 July and cites the charter as M 3880. He also notes that Looshorn misplaced the event under 1302. The Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte gives 28 July as well. These accounts support the date, but they do not amount to independent eyewitness reports.1213

How is this dated?

Siegmund Salfeld’s 1898 edition reports that a sale charter in Bamberg’s district archive linked the killings to St. Pantaleon’s day and identifies that feast as 28 July 1298. Guttenberg gives the same date and cites the record as M 3880. Friedrich Lotter corrects the 27 July date in Germania Judaica II, page 49, to 28 July. The Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte also gives 28 July. These later accounts transmit the same charter tradition, not separate eyewitness testimony. The charter itself is not reproduced in full, so its feast-day wording cannot be checked against the complete document.14151617

Treating 28 July 1298 as a Julian date, the fixed Hebrew calendar places it on י״ח באב ה׳נ״ח 18th 𝑜𝑓 Av, AM 5058, corresponding to 4 August in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.18 This conversion establishes calendar equivalence, not that the killings occurred. The Hebrew memorial list gives no date of its own, so 18 Av is the date assigned to the Bamberg attack in the reported charter, not proof that every death in the list occurred at the same moment.

Lotter addresses the competing July 27 date, citing A. Eckstein’s local history:

ᴏʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟ:

Der dort erwähnte St. Pantaleonstag ist der 28. Juli, nicht der 27., so GJ II, 49.19

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ:

The St. Pantaleon’s Day mentioned there is July 28, not July 27 as given in Germania Judaica II, page 49.20

This explicit correction traces the July 27 variant to Germania Judaica II. Lotter’s table places July 28 in parentheses, which signals that the day remains mediated through the charter tradition.21

Guided reflections

  • How do the visitors and four-day-old child change what the Bamberg register remembers?
  • Why must the grammatical variant remain visible when describing Gnennlin’s role?
  • What would inspection of the original charter add beyond checking the calendar conversion?

Footnotes

  1. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, German p. 203 ↩
  2. Lotter, Die Judenverfolgung, p. 392, n. 28 ↩
  3. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 49; German pp. 201–202 ↩
  4. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 49; German pp. 201–202; TJD translation ↩
  5. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 50; German pp. 202–203 ↩
  6. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 50; German pp. 202–203; TJD translation ↩
  7. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 49, notes 4 and 8; German pp. 201–202 ↩
  8. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, Hebrew p. 50, notes 2–3; German pp. 202–203 ↩
  9. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, German p. 203 ↩
  10. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, German p. 203; TJD translation ↩
  11. Eckstein, Ein kurzer Gang durch die Vergangenheit der israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Bamberg, section 2 ↩
  12. Guttenberg, Das Bistum Bamberg, pp. 23–24, 72; abbreviations, p. VIII ↩
  13. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, Bamberg, opening historical account ↩
  14. Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, German p. 203 ↩
  15. Guttenberg, Das Bistum Bamberg, p. 72 ↩
  16. Lotter, Die Judenverfolgung, p. 392, n. 28; p. 422 ↩
  17. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte, Bamberg, opening historical account ↩
  18. Hebcal, 18 Av 5058, conversion only ↩
  19. Lotter, Die Judenverfolgung, p. 392, n. 28 ↩
  20. Lotter, Die Judenverfolgung, p. 392, n. 28; TJD translation ↩
  21. Lotter, Die Judenverfolgung, pp. 392, 422 ↩

Works cited

  1. Salfeld, Siegmund. Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches. Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, vol. 3, Berlin, 1898. Rockenhausen entry, pp. 144–145; Pforzheim entry and date analysis, pp. 128–130; Munich entry, p. 21; Nuremberg entry and victim list, pp. 170–180; Rothenburg entry and victim list, pp. 185–190; Weissensee entry and victim list, pp. 215–217; place lists, pp. 231–235; related elegy, pp. 332–334. https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/freimann/content/titleinfo/535. Accessed 2026 Aug. 27.
  2. Lotter, Friedrich. Die Judenverfolgung des „König Rintfleisch“ in Franken um 1298: Die endgültige Wende in den christlich-jüdischen Beziehungen im Deutschen Reich des Mittelalters. Zeitschrift für historische Forschung 15, no. 4 (1988): 385–422. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43567821. User-supplied scan inspected 2026 Sept. 7.
  3. Eckstein, Adolf. Ein kurzer Gang durch die Vergangenheit der israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Bamberg. Bayerische Israelitische Gemeindezeitung, 15 June 1928. Reproduced by Alemannia Judaica; section 2. Online transcription inspected, not the original newspaper. https://www.alemannia-judaica.de/bamberg_texte.htm. Accessed 2026 Sep. 7.
  4. Guttenberg, Erich Freiherr von. Das Bistum Bamberg. Teil 1. Germania Sacra, II. Abteilung, 1. Band. Berlin and Leipzig, 1937. Charter date and archival reference, p. 72; archive survey, pp. 23–24; abbreviations, p. VIII. https://personendatenbank.germania-sacra.de/files/books/AF%202%20von%20Guttenberg%20Bamberg.pdf. Accessed 2026 Sept. 7.
  5. Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte. Bamberg (Gemeinde). Jüdisches Leben in Bayern. https://hdbg.eu/juedisches_leben/gemeinde/bamberg/95. Accessed 2026 Sept. 7.
  6. 18th of Av, 5058. Converts 18 Av 5058 to 4 August 1298 on the proleptic Gregorian calendar. This is conversion evidence only, not evidence of the historical event. Hebcal. https://www.hebcal.com/converter?h2g=1&hd=18&hm=Av&hy=5058. Accessed 2026 Sept. 26.