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A Slight Acquaintance With Jewish People's Settlement Of Poland
First off, I never thought I would be discussing Poland on Casebook. I'm really not an expert on Jewish folk settling Poland but I know a few things I have learned from studying various subjects were Jewish history in Poland has come up and giving me a passing acquaintance of Jewish history in Poland. Everything ranging from a bio on Catherine, Empress Of Russia and Catherine de Medici, Queen Of France to The Black Death plus a little of The Vampire, his Kith and Kin by R Montague Summers has given me an very slight gleaming of Polish History and the Jewish People's place in Poland's History.
Most people who study the Great Plague of 1348-50 are aware of the Jewish People first coming to Poland in 1348-50 fleeing the violent persecution they received from the various people of Europe after they were accused by Christians in mostly France and Germany of poisoning wells and either helping spread or causing the Great Mortality which is better known as the Black Death (Yersinia Pestis) Plague.
History or legend says that King Casmir of Poland known as the Great had a beautiful Jewish Mistress appropriately known by the name of Esterka, which is the Polish version of the Hebrew name Esther. Like her biblical namesake, Esterka supposedly spoke up to King Casmir on behalf of her persecuted People moving King Casmir to pity the plight of the Jews where they were allowed to settle in Poland. Poland has long had a history of religious tolerance. Which I speak of at length when I move on to Henry Of Anjou becoming King of Poland.
The first legit laws regarding Jews in Poland were passed under King Boleslaw, The Chaste in 1264 regarding the protection of their Cemeteries against desecration and that their children were not to be kidnapped for forced Baptism by Christians.
Needless to say that all in all life was pretty good for the Jews of Poland considering their treatment in other countries during the mid to high Middle Ages.
I next became acquainted with Poland's History after reading Catherine de Medici by Leone Frieda.
The House Of Valois Involvement In Poland
Queen Catherine of France deserves more credit then she gets for trying to keep France law in force during the Religious wars of the 1560s between the Huguenots and the ultra Catholics. Unfortunately for Queen Catherine in 1572 all her efforts for peace pretty much blew up in her face then she tried to discreetly assassinate her enemy Gaspard d Coligny, the leading figure of the Huguenots after the wedding of her Daughter Marguerite de Valois to the Huguenot King Henri Of Navarre. Instead of a discreet assassination Madame Medici got a religious genocide when Catholics began massacring Protestants in what was to become know as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve. To be fair there had been 10 years of various and often times bloody and vicious warfare on both sides.
Considering the recently happenings in France it is a miracle at all that Catherine was considering placing her favorite son and fellow conspirator Henri de Valois , Duke Of Anjou on the throne of such an enlightened country of religious tolerance as Poland. However Catherine had the tongue of a Merchant especially given that she was a Medici and used to dealing with people after the bloody religious wars she had steered France though, she probably viewed placing her son the Duke Of Anjou on the throne of Poland as very easy. Supposedly Catherine first learned that the throne of Poland was to soon be vacant from one of her court Polish Dwarfs, namely either Le Grande or Le Petite Polacre.
Needless to say that King Charles Of France wanted his heir and younger brother the Duke Of Anjou out of France so the political machinery of the French crown swung into action to secure the Crown of the Poles for Henry de Valois, Duke of Anjou even though he did not deserve it.
Henry ended up being elected by the diet of Polish nobles as King Of Poland until his brother King Charles died a few months later prompting Henry Duke Of Anjou to escape back to France. All I can say is the Poland got off very lucky considering Henry actions once he was king of France and the mess he helped make of the French Treasury. Also Henry Of Valois was an ultra Catholic who if he had ended up ruling Poland would of had disastrous effects on the rights and religious tolerance of the Jewish People in Poland enjoyed.
Parts Of Poland ends up a satellite of Russia.
First off not all of Poland ended up being taken over by Russia but only part of it. There were a series of Partitions of Poland during the 18th Century that I became aware of through my reading Robert Massie's, Catherine The Great Portrait of A Woman. Basically from what I remember and was able to look up online at the end of the day
The 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish Independence by 1795.
You see by 1790, Poland had deteriorated into a helpless condition that it was successfully forced into an unnatural and ultimately deadly alliance with its enemy, Prussia to defend it's constitution against Catherine Of Russia puppet Stanisław August Poniatowski. The Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed, giving false hope that Poland might have at last found an ally that would shield it while it reformed itself.
Empress Catherine was angered by Poland Rebels alliance with her enemy Prussia, arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, this was during the time of the French Revolution, Russian forces on the orders of Empress Catherine invaded Poland in 1792.
Russia invaded Poland to crush Polish reforms. Frederick William II of Prussia saw those events as an opportunity to strengthen his country. Frederick demanded from Catherine that for his country's abandoning Poland as a close ally, and for Prussian participation in the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. Prussia should be compensated – preferably with parts of the Polish territory. Russia soon decided to accept the Prussian offer.
Flight From Poland To Whitechapel
Interestingly these events tie into the immigration of Polish Jews to Whitechapel London more then a hundred years later in the early 1880s when Polish Jews were fleeing the pogroms of an angered Imperial Russia after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Which gave us two prime JTR Suspects which leads us back to Casebook and JTR and Whitechapel.
I thought it was fitting that I should share what I know of Poland and the history that I know of the Jews in Poland which isn't much but enough to hopefully Start/Inspire/Help Ripperologists in their own research.
I hope somebody gets something out of this, I mainly wrote this to brush up on my writing a report skills which I have not used since High School. I really gave those grey cells a work out. Enjoy!
SE
Always The Same
First off, I never thought I would be discussing Poland on Casebook. I'm really not an expert on Jewish folk settling Poland but I know a few things I have learned from studying various subjects were Jewish history in Poland has come up and giving me a passing acquaintance of Jewish history in Poland. Everything ranging from a bio on Catherine, Empress Of Russia and Catherine de Medici, Queen Of France to The Black Death plus a little of The Vampire, his Kith and Kin by R Montague Summers has given me an very slight gleaming of Polish History and the Jewish People's place in Poland's History.
Most people who study the Great Plague of 1348-50 are aware of the Jewish People first coming to Poland in 1348-50 fleeing the violent persecution they received from the various people of Europe after they were accused by Christians in mostly France and Germany of poisoning wells and either helping spread or causing the Great Mortality which is better known as the Black Death (Yersinia Pestis) Plague.
History or legend says that King Casmir of Poland known as the Great had a beautiful Jewish Mistress appropriately known by the name of Esterka, which is the Polish version of the Hebrew name Esther. Like her biblical namesake, Esterka supposedly spoke up to King Casmir on behalf of her persecuted People moving King Casmir to pity the plight of the Jews where they were allowed to settle in Poland. Poland has long had a history of religious tolerance. Which I speak of at length when I move on to Henry Of Anjou becoming King of Poland.
The first legit laws regarding Jews in Poland were passed under King Boleslaw, The Chaste in 1264 regarding the protection of their Cemeteries against desecration and that their children were not to be kidnapped for forced Baptism by Christians.
Needless to say that all in all life was pretty good for the Jews of Poland considering their treatment in other countries during the mid to high Middle Ages.
I next became acquainted with Poland's History after reading Catherine de Medici by Leone Frieda.
The House Of Valois Involvement In Poland
Queen Catherine of France deserves more credit then she gets for trying to keep France law in force during the Religious wars of the 1560s between the Huguenots and the ultra Catholics. Unfortunately for Queen Catherine in 1572 all her efforts for peace pretty much blew up in her face then she tried to discreetly assassinate her enemy Gaspard d Coligny, the leading figure of the Huguenots after the wedding of her Daughter Marguerite de Valois to the Huguenot King Henri Of Navarre. Instead of a discreet assassination Madame Medici got a religious genocide when Catholics began massacring Protestants in what was to become know as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve. To be fair there had been 10 years of various and often times bloody and vicious warfare on both sides.
Considering the recently happenings in France it is a miracle at all that Catherine was considering placing her favorite son and fellow conspirator Henri de Valois , Duke Of Anjou on the throne of such an enlightened country of religious tolerance as Poland. However Catherine had the tongue of a Merchant especially given that she was a Medici and used to dealing with people after the bloody religious wars she had steered France though, she probably viewed placing her son the Duke Of Anjou on the throne of Poland as very easy. Supposedly Catherine first learned that the throne of Poland was to soon be vacant from one of her court Polish Dwarfs, namely either Le Grande or Le Petite Polacre.
Needless to say that King Charles Of France wanted his heir and younger brother the Duke Of Anjou out of France so the political machinery of the French crown swung into action to secure the Crown of the Poles for Henry de Valois, Duke of Anjou even though he did not deserve it.
Henry ended up being elected by the diet of Polish nobles as King Of Poland until his brother King Charles died a few months later prompting Henry Duke Of Anjou to escape back to France. All I can say is the Poland got off very lucky considering Henry actions once he was king of France and the mess he helped make of the French Treasury. Also Henry Of Valois was an ultra Catholic who if he had ended up ruling Poland would of had disastrous effects on the rights and religious tolerance of the Jewish People in Poland enjoyed.
Parts Of Poland ends up a satellite of Russia.
First off not all of Poland ended up being taken over by Russia but only part of it. There were a series of Partitions of Poland during the 18th Century that I became aware of through my reading Robert Massie's, Catherine The Great Portrait of A Woman. Basically from what I remember and was able to look up online at the end of the day
The 1793 Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the second of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish Independence by 1795.
You see by 1790, Poland had deteriorated into a helpless condition that it was successfully forced into an unnatural and ultimately deadly alliance with its enemy, Prussia to defend it's constitution against Catherine Of Russia puppet Stanisław August Poniatowski. The Polish-Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed, giving false hope that Poland might have at last found an ally that would shield it while it reformed itself.
Empress Catherine was angered by Poland Rebels alliance with her enemy Prussia, arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, this was during the time of the French Revolution, Russian forces on the orders of Empress Catherine invaded Poland in 1792.
Russia invaded Poland to crush Polish reforms. Frederick William II of Prussia saw those events as an opportunity to strengthen his country. Frederick demanded from Catherine that for his country's abandoning Poland as a close ally, and for Prussian participation in the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France. Prussia should be compensated – preferably with parts of the Polish territory. Russia soon decided to accept the Prussian offer.
Flight From Poland To Whitechapel
Interestingly these events tie into the immigration of Polish Jews to Whitechapel London more then a hundred years later in the early 1880s when Polish Jews were fleeing the pogroms of an angered Imperial Russia after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Which gave us two prime JTR Suspects which leads us back to Casebook and JTR and Whitechapel.
I thought it was fitting that I should share what I know of Poland and the history that I know of the Jews in Poland which isn't much but enough to hopefully Start/Inspire/Help Ripperologists in their own research.
I hope somebody gets something out of this, I mainly wrote this to brush up on my writing a report skills which I have not used since High School. I really gave those grey cells a work out. Enjoy!
SE
Always The Same