Riot against the Jewry

The Jewish community of Colmar was attacked during an urban riot. The city, a free imperial city, was home to a community made prosperous — and therefore vulnerable — by its position on the Rhine route.

The Alsatian riots of that period most often arose from a dispute over debts or a sermon, and the city was at once protector and predator: it drew revenue from the Jews which it defended against the lord, and abandoned them when the people gathered. Colmar would be struck again by the Armleder and then by the Black Death.