With the kind permission of State Archive Hamburg.
II.
High German
Jews
Art. 1
They shall lead a quiet, pious life
and,
accordingly, on the Christian
Sunday and holy days also remain quiet and
with-
drawn; on these days, let not their com-
merce or handicrafts or other
doings
give Christians cause for anger.
Art. 2
Let no one dare to entice a
Christian to the Jewish
religion,
Whosoever found
to contravene
that person, according to the Imperial Constitution
and after
establishment of the facts, be criminal- ly penalized.
Art. 3
So, too, shall they be severely punished,
should
they attempt to hinder those Jews, who are
over fourteen to fifteen years of
age, from converting to the Christian
faith. Still less shall they
per-
secute them, or inflict upon them annoyance and
inconvenience, or
withhold from them their inheritanceor other goods.
Art. 4Should
they transgress against ordained law by
denigrating the Christian
religion in writing
or speaking or in their divine worship, or,
succumbing
to wickedness, should they
blaspheme against the Lord
according to the seriousness of
the case,
receive an exemplary punishment, in their honor, property, body,or life.
Art. 5As to the exercise of their
religion and
the holding of their meetings, they shall
have no
public building, consequently wor-
ship in private houses. However, with the
per-
formance of their prayers or the conducting of their
lessons
but solely the Psalms
of
or also the prayer formularies prescribed for them by the blessed
forefathers of
and they may otherwise also read, sing, pray,
do,
and perform that which sows
and promotes what is good. Further on this, they
shall refrain in the performance of all such
prayers from ringing bells,
calling out, and the blowing of horns
and trumpets. Also the lamps in their
private
dwellings should be hung so as not to be
too visible from the
outside and thereby
avoid giving offense to others.
Art. 6Since it is a necessary part of
their religion
that their dead must be taken out to be buried on the
day
of their death, such is hereby gran-
ted to them, but without pomp,
and
in case the death occurs on a Sunday or other holy days,
the body may
not be brought out before the afternoon sermon, and then only with one
or two
carriages, not counting the hearse. Jewish elders shall duly
or
mission to that end and also to make known the death to the financial
authorities.Art. 7
If they transgress against the ordained law,
whoring with Christians or committing adultery,
so shall they be suitably
punished according to the circumstances
and the Imperial Law. Neither shall
they have in their service
Christian
Should
such be the case, however, not only shall they allow them
to go to church
unaccompanied on Sundays or during the week, but also they should not hinder them
from their
Christian prayers and other observances in their houses.
Art. 8Were they knowingly to purchase stolen, purloined, or
other
suspicious goods, or to advance money
to this purpose, they
shall upon lawful
determination of the facts, not only surrender the
stol-
en goods without compensation and also lose the money they
have
advanced, but also be held up to others as an abomination and
an example and
punished according to the law.
Art. 9So shall they abstain from all
illegal and
excessive usury, on pain of the loss of capital
and interest.
Art. 15Herewith are they promised, by the power of this
autho-
rity, protection and sufficient support in their privileges
against any and all.
Art. 17All crimes and mischief, whether committed against them in
public places
or elsewhere, shall, after the facts have been
established, be
duly punished; also in cases
where
Art. 18 Similarly, under penalty of
ex-
treme punishment, it is hereby solemnly forbidden
for anyone
to attack Jews in public places, even less so in private homes,
whether it be
under the pretext of pursuing, visiting, or for any other
cause, without
per-
mission of the authorities; nor may your things be
taken away by force.
Art. 23Because experience
definitively confirms that
High German Jews, of different sorts and
quality and from different places,
gather and settle together as
so that
it is difficult to tax them as individuals, it is hereby decreed
that they
shall settle their tax obligation among them-
selves, determining how much each
man must
contribute to the sum annually owed the city.
If the Council of
Honorable Merchants finds a dis-
crepancy
force. If, however, one or another individual evades
even this tax
collection, the remain-
der from the
city.