Rhineland massacres begin

May 3, 1096

Followers of the People's Crusade under Count Emicho attacked Jewish communities in Mainz, Worms, and Cologne, slaughtering thousands. Bishops tried to shelter Jews but were often overwhelmed by mobs. The pogroms inaugurated a pattern in which Crusade mobilization was preceded by violence against Europe's Jewish communities. The Hebrew chronicles recording these events remain among the most harrowing testimonies of religious persecution in medieval literature.