History of the Jews in Sopron

rdf:langString History of the Jews in Sopron

rdf:langString OEDENBURG

rdf:langString Sopron (German: Ödenburg, Latin: Scarbantia) was historically the capital of a district with the same name. It was home to a Jewish community, according to a document of 1526, which dated back from the 10th century and is one of the oldest in Hungary. The town was destroyed by fire in 1317. Charles Robert invited Jewish colonists into the town in 1324; they lived there in peace until 1354, when they were expelled by Louis the Great. Most of them went to Austria and settled in Wiener-Neustadt. A few years afterward they were allowed to return, and in 1379 the Jewish population in Oedenburg amounted to 80, reaching 400 toward the end of the 15th century. Recognizing that the Jews constituted a valuable fiscal asset, Frederick III, to whom Elizabeth had mortgaged Oedenburg, took energetic measures to protect the Jews there against the aggression of their Christian fellow citizens and prevent their expulsion (1441). In 1490 the citizens of Oedenburg seized upon the Jews and cast them into prison with the declared intention of keeping them there until they consented to cancel the obligations of their Christian debtors; John Corvinus and Beatrix, however, took them under their protection.