Austria In the middle of the 15th century, following the establishment of the anti-Catholic movement of Jan Hus in Bohemia, the condition of Jews worsened as a result of unfounded accusations that the movement was associated with the Jewish community. In 1420, the status of the Jewish community hit a low point when a Jewish man from Upper Austria was falsely accused and charged with the crime of desecration of the sacramental bread. This led Albert V to order the imprisonment of all of the Jews in Austria. 210 Jewish men, women, and children were forcibly taken from their homes and burnt alive in the public town square, while the remaining families were rounded up and deported from Austria, forced to leave all their belongings behind. In 1469, the deportation order was cancelled by Frederick III, who became known for his fairness and strong relationship by allowing Jews to live relatively free from scapegoating and hate crimes — he was even referred to at times as the "King of the Jews". He allowed Jews to return and settle in all the cities of Styria and Carinthia. Under his regime, Jews gained a short period of peace (between 1440 and 1493). In 1496, Maximilian I ordered a decree which expelled all Jews from Styria. In 1509, he passed the "Imperial Confiscation Mandate" which foresaw the destruction of all Jewish books, apart from one exception, the Bible. The rise of religious fanaticism of the Society of Jesus The relative period of peace did not last long, and with the start of the regime of Ferdinand the First in 1556, though he also opposed the persecution of the Jews, he levied excessive taxes and ordered them to wear a mark of disgrace. Between 1564 and 1619, in the period of the reigns of Maximilian the second, Rudolf the Second and Matthias, the fanaticism of the Society of Jesus prevailed and the condition of the Jews worsened even more. Later on, during the reign of Ferdinand the Second in Austria, which in spite of that like his grandfather he opposed the persecution of the Jews and even permitted the construction of a synagogue, he demanded a huge amount of tax from the Jewish population. The nadir of the Jewish community in Austria arrived during the period of the reign of Leopold the First, a period in which Jews were persecuted frequently and were deported