they fell into the hands of the country people, who, without
humanity, and regardless of all laws, persecuted them with fire
and sword. At Spires, the Jews, driven to despair, assembled in
their own habitations, which they set on fire, and thus consumed
themselves with their families. The few that remained were forced
to submit to baptism; while the dead bodies of the murdered, which
lay about the streets, were put into empty wine-casks and rolled
into the Rhine, lest they should infect the air. The mob was
forbidden to enter the ruins of the habitations that were burnt in
the Jewish quarter; for the senate itself caused search to be made
for the treasure, which is said to have been very considerable.
At Strasburg two thousand Jews were burnt alive in their own
burial-ground, where a large scaffold had been erected: a few who
promised to embrace Christianity were spared, and their children
taken from the pile. The youth and beauty of several females also
excited some commiseration, and they were snatched from death
against their will; many, however, who forcibly made their escape
from the flames were murdered in the streets.

The senate ordered all pledges and bonds to be returned to the
debtors, and divided the money among the work-people. Many,
however, refused to accept the base price of blood, and, indignant
at the scenes of bloodthirsty avarice, which made the infuriated
multitude forget that the plague was raging around them, presented
it to monasteries, in conformity with the advice of their
confessors. In all the countries on the Rhine, these cruelties
continued to be perpetrated during the succeeding months; and
after quiet was in some degree restored, the people thought to
render an acceptable service to God, by taking the bricks of the
destroyed dwellings, and the tombstones of the Jews, to repair