[ Receipt for safe conduct payment, ... , Memmelsdorf Synagogue Geniza ]

Watzendorf 1764

Since the time of the Carolingians, Jews were under the sole protection of the sovereign, who guaranteed their personal safety, that of their property and of their religion. In time, the right of patronage was also conferred on knights of the empire and on towns. They granted what was known as “letters of protection” to individual Jews or Jewish communities, providing them with temporary right of establishment, in some cases including a trading licence. The letter of protection was valid for the holder, his family and servants. In return, annual “protection money” payments and further levies on specific occasions were demanded. On the death of the holder, the protection passed to the widow; children of the age of majority required a new letter of protection. If the patron died, the letters would generally be deemed invalid and were not always renewed by the new territorial ruler. “Protected Jews” became an important source of income, particularly after the devastation of many regions during the Thirty Years’ War. By establishing Jewish settlements, lesser territorial rulers could demonstrate their independence from larger towns or dioceses, for example, on whose territory Jews were still unwelcome.

Jews who lacked the money for a letter of protection were forced to roam from community to community, where they found a place to stay for a night or during the Sabbath. With the growing number of homeless Jews, this system of help could no longer be maintained, primarily due to the financial burden. As the 18th century drew to a close, these "begging Jews" made up ten percent of the Jewish population in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire.

Starting with the conferment of citizenship on individual Jews from the end of the 18th century and the geographical and political changes at the beginning of the 19th century, the system of protected Jews was abandoned.