clubs or by throwing stones at them. No one shall compel them to render any services except those which they have been accustomed to render. And to prevent the baseness and avarice of wicked men we forbid anyone to deface or damage their cemeteries or to extort money from them by threatening to exhume the bodies of their dead. The charge was circulated that they wished to dishonor the Host, which Roman Catholics believe is the body of Jesus Christ. Black Death When the Black Death raged through Europe (1346–53), the charge was given that the Jews had poisoned the wells.<ref>Jean de Venette, prior of a Carmelite convent in Paris in the 14th century, wrote: As a result of this theory of infected water and air as the source of the plague the Jews were suddenly and violently charged with infecting wells and water and corrupting the air. The whole world rose up against them cruelly on this account. In Germany and other parts of the world where Jews lived, they were massacred and slaughtered by Christians, and many thousands were burned everywhere, indiscriminately. </blockquote></ref> The only court of appeal that regarded itself as their appointed protector, according to historical conceptions, was the "Holy Roman Emperor." The emperor, as legal successor to Titus, who had acquired the Jews for his special property through the destruction of the Temple in the year 70, claimed the rights of possession and protection over all the Jews in the former Roman empire. Expulsions In 1275, Edward I of England issued a decree forbidding Jews from lending money with interests, while allowing Jews to engage in craft, commerce and farming. The Jews, who were driven out of England in 1290, out of France in 1394, out of numerous districts of Germany, Italy, and the Balkan peninsula between 1200 and 1600, were scattered in all directions, and fled preferably to the new Slavic kingdoms, where for the time being other confessions were still tolerated. Most fled to Poland, as it had a reputation for religious tolerance unparalleled during this era. This religious tolerance may have also been a byproduct of the fact that Lithuania was the last country in Europe to become Christianized. Here they found a sure refuge under benevolent rulers and acquired a certain prosperity, in the enjoyment of which the study of the Talmud was followed with renewed vigor. Together with their faith,