Chronicle from Prague

5323 [1562]: King Maximilian, may he be exalted, came here, to Prague, on Monday the 6th of Tishri [5 September], and he was crowned on Hoshanah Rabba [the last day of Sukkot—20 September]. In that year there was pestilence everywhere.

5331 [1571]: On Sunday, the 9th of Adar I [4 February], Emperor Maximilian and his wife, the empress, Madam Maria, paraded down the Judenstrasse accompanied by all the royal dignitaries, [riding] on wagons called Schlitten in German, going from gate to gate in the twenty-second hour.

5336 [1576]: Emperor Maximilian and his son King Rudolf came to Prague, along with [the emperor’s] other sons. And they crowned Rudolf, may he be exalted, on the 1st of Nisan [1 March]. Afterwards, the emperor travelled to Regensburg [on the appointed day], while King Rudolf remained in Prague. The king subsequently followed his father to Regensburg, becoming [Holy Roman] Emperor there during his father’s lifetime.

5337 [1576]: In Marḥeshvan [September/October], Emperor Maximilian died in the city of Regensburg. His [body] was brought to Prague in [the month] of Adar I [January/February 1577], and left in the St. Jakob Cloister in the Old Town for six weeks until the interment.

5337 [1577]: On Friday, the 4th of Nisan [22 March], Emperor Maximilian, may he have peace, was buried with great pomp. There were lords, dukes, envoys, monks, priests, and archbishops from all the lands. Preceding the coffin twenty-one flags bearing the seals of the lands under his dominion were carried, followed by twenty-one horses with fancy trappings that had been ridden by [the emperor]. And they bore three crowns—of Bohemia, Hungary, and the Holy Roman Empire—and other royal accoutrements and appurtenances. Such glory and might had not been seen or heard of since the days of Emperor Charles, of blessed memory, not even in his lifetime. There was great disorder in Prague when they bore the emperor, of blessed memory, to the castle, and no man had any spirit left [Josh. 2:11]. Great fear fell upon the Jews, and God, Blessed be He, delivered them from evil at their hands.

5337 [1577]: Grain was very cheap in Bohemia, and here in Prague, on Friday, the 6th of Av [20 July], a measure of grain called a strich sold for seven new [coins] and a measure of wheat for twelve.

5337 [1577]: On the second night of Passover [3 April], in the second hour, there was a [lunar] eclipse for nearly two hours, and [the moon] was covered, and there was darkness, and within [the darkness] a bit of light.

5337 [1577]: On Monday night, the 2nd of Kislev [11 November], in the second hour, a star stood out among the other stars in the east, much larger than the other stars, with a long tail, appearing thus, and shining as brightly as the moon. It remained thus for the entire month of Kislev [November/December] until the 8th of Tevet [18 December], diminishing from the middle of Kislev until its tail was very small, disappearing entirely on the 8th of Tevet. May God regard it for good and a blessing, Amen. Its like had not been seen for over forty-five years.

5341 [1581]: On the 4th of Av [4 July], the Empress Madam Maria, and her son Duke Herzog [sic] Ernst, may he be exalted, and her daughter the queen of France left Prague, travelling in a large cortege [numbering] more than four hundred people. And her son Rudolf, may he be exalted, commanded that she be escorted to Vienna by two hundred mounted men, called Hartscheurer, from his castle. Her son Herzog Ernst, and her daughter, queen of France, remained in Vienna, while the people of Vienna accompanied [Maria] with two hundred men till Innsbruck, and Duke Ferdinand of Innsbruck requisitioned an escort for her to Venice, from whence she journeyed to Genova, and from there to Spain.

5358 [1598]: On Thursday, the 4th of Adar II [12 March], the waters prevailed here in Prague, rising from gate to gate, and they could not pray in the Altneuschul, or in the Pinkasschul, and the waters remained for an entire day and night.

In the same year, on Monday the 15th of Av [17 August], the waters prevailed a second time here in Prague, flooding the entire length and breadth of the Judenstrasse, and people went about in a boat. They could not pray in any of the synagogues, with the exception of the Hochschul and the Klaus. The waters were more than one and a half cubits higher than the previous flood, causing great damage in Prague and the cities of Bohemia, remaining for two and a half days.

The year 5362 [1602] was a time of trial and tribulation for the Jews here in Prague, for [they] were threatened with expulsion. The townspeople, who were the main [instigators], proposed to present the emperor, may he be exalted, with a yearly sum of several thousands [collected] from the merchants and the rest of the local populace. Several times [the Emperor] ordered that the writs of privilege be deposited in his chamber, and we were very fearful that perhaps, Heaven forbid, they would be rescinded. The emperor, may he be exalted, nearly acceded to [our enemies]; we repented greatly, for God, Blessed be He, had mercy on us, and turned from His wrath, and we were left unharmed.

During that year [1602], due to our iniquities, slanderous talebearers from among our people, one Shimmel, a servant, and Moses Trantik, of accursed memory, informed the authorities that the heads of the community were responsible for the death of Eli[jah] Pollak, and [as a result] R. Israel. Henlig [Henlisch], the head of the kehillah, and Primaz, and Abraham Schikler were arrested and bound, and brought to Bürglitz castle, each one separately. Subsequently, on the Sabbath, the 9th of Av [27 July], they arrested the renowned luminary, the learned rabbinical authority, our teacher Rabbi Loew, may God protect and preserve him, and Manisch Schick, head of the kehillah, and R. ḥayyim Wahl, head of the kehillah, putting them under arrest in the Rathaus. On Monday, the 11th of Av [29 July], all the synagogues here in Prague were closed and sealed, and [the Jews] were unable to pray in any synagogue for more than four weeks. And others were arrested in order to testify regarding the aforementioned matter. [Days] of repentance and fasting were decreed in all the communities of Israel, and two days of Yom Kippur were observed here, until God, Blessed be He, had mercy on us. At great expense, and after much intercession, the [prisoners] were released on bail for a large sum. Then these two informers of accursed memory told the authorities that R. Israel Henlisch had requested that they poison a non-Jew named Nikolas Preiss, and they arrested R. I[srael] on Shemini Aẓeret [7 October].

5363 [1602]: Three days later, he was severely castigated and tortured twice regarding this matter [of poisoning], and the other aforementioned matters, until he died. But God, Blessed be He, was with him, and he withstood the torture, making no confession. And it came to pass that the two informers were arrested, and both Jews and Christians testified that they deserved [to be sentenced] to death. And they were taken to the castle under arrest. They were imprisoned there for more than half a year; then they were taken to the Rathaus [in the Old Town]. During the period of their first imprisonment [in the castle], they were castigated and tortured, but they remained intractable nonetheless, sending evil missives about the [Jewish] community and God’s people to the emperor’s chamber, may he be exalted, and to other lords, making evil accusations against the Jews, [the likes of which] had not been heard from the day the land was founded [Exod. 9:18], and which cannot be recorded explicitly. And we were terror-stricken, [living in] fear of expulsion, Heaven forbid, and other evils, if it had not been for God’s help, and our master the emperor, may he be exalted, who had mercy on us. During this time, Shimon Leib, of accursed memory, died in prison and was buried where dead dogs and other carcasses are thrown by the hangman. And Moses Trantik secured his release from jail by bribery and intercession, but he had to swear that he would never enter Prague, but stay seven parasangs from there, as recorded in the minutes book of the Prague [Jewish] community.