Cologne

views updated Jun 27 2018

COLOGNE

City in west central Germany, North Rhineland-Westphalia, on both sides of the Rhine. It is the seat of

the most important German archbishopric (Coloniensis ), whose history, as that of the city, dates from Roman times.

The City. The son-in-law of Emperor Augustus, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, settled the Ubii, from the right bank of the Rhine, between the Rhine and the Maas. The oppidum Ubiorum with its military camp and colony of veterans (c. 12 b.c.) was to become, with its shrines (ara Ubiorum ), the capital of Germania ; but, after the Roman defeat in the Teutoburg Forest (a.d. 9), the frontier oppidum remained. Thanks to Agrippina the Younger, who was born there and became the wife of Emperor Claudius, it obtained the city privileges (a.d. 50); and, thereafter called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis, it was the capital of Germania inferior, with many buildings, a glass and pottery industry, and (from the 4th century) Christian churches. Constantine built the first permanent bridge across the Rhine there.

Under the Franks (from c. 400) Cologne became a royal residence, soon famous for its many churches.

Under Charlemagne it was the point from which Saxony was conquered and evangelized. In the division of the Carolingian Empire (843) it went to the Middle Kingdom (Lotharingia); when Lotharingia was divided (870), Cologne went to the East Frankish kingdom, later the German Empire.

The Ottonians and the archbishop rulers of the city favored its development as a trade center, and it had expanded several times by 1200. From c. 1100 the burghers struggled for independence of the archbishop and in 1288 won complete freedom. Thereafter the archbishops resided in Bonn, and Cologne became a free imperial city. In 1396 the burghers drew up a democratic constitution. From the 11th to the 16th century, Cologne, the largest and richest city of the empire, had a thriving trade with Scandinavia, Poland, and Russia, as well as with Flanders and England. It was a leading city in the Hanseatic League.

Riches encouraged achievements in art, especially ecclesiastical. Through its possession of relics of the Three Magi (from 1164), Cologne became a major pilgrimage center. The city seal of 1150, the oldest in Germany, bears the inscription Sancta Colonia Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Fidelis Filia. Even after the departure of the archbishop, Cologne remained the seat of diocesan administration and the most important ecclesiastical center of Germany. In the city were the cathedral domain and those of ten collegiate churches and three Benedictine abbeys, besides 19 parishes and cloisters of most religious orders. The studia generalia of Dominicans and Franciscans prepared the way for the university of 1388. The city vigorously prevented inroads of the Reformation, banning Lutheranism until 1794. At the end of the 16th century began a gradual decline, following the opening of new routes for world trade and religious and political changes in Germany. Cologne remained a medieval city until c. 1800; in the face of new ideas the traditionalist burghers remained passive. The archbishop elector resided elsewhere, and there was no baroque prince to fashion changes.

After conquest by France (17941814), Cologne was incorporated in Protestant Prussia, little to the city's liking. A steady growth began c. 1850, attributable primarily to local forces, and Cologne became the economic and cultural center of west Germany, the crossroads of European transport routes, and the center of political and social Catholicism. Large-scale expansion and building took place under Mayor Konrad Adenauer (191733). In 1933 Cologne was the third largest German city, 75 per cent of whose 750,000 residents were Catholic. In the last Reichstag election (March 1933) Hitler received less than 30 per cent of the votes.

In World War II, Cologne was especially hard hit. From May of 1942 to March of 1945 methodical Allied bombing completely destroyed the inner city, doing irreparable ruin to one of Europe's most beautiful cities and claiming 25,000 lives. Most of the people fled, but in May of 1945 some 40,000 still lived in the ruins. One church out of 104 was undamaged.

The Archbishopric. Christian origins date from c. 200. The first historically known bishop, Maternus, attended the Councils of Rome (313) and Arles (314). The see survived the Frankish conquest, but to c. 600 the episcopal list has many gaps. cunibert (623c. 660) raised Cologne's status. Pope Zacharias gave St. boniface Cologne as a metropolitanate (745); but the Frankish episcopacy and nobility thwarted the plan, fearing for their independence, and Mainz was chosen instead.

Under Charlemagne the metropolitan system of Germany developed. Cologne became a metropolitanate (785) with the suffragans liÈge, Utrecht, and the new Saxon sees of Münster, Osnabrück, Minden, and for a while Bremen. The borders of the vast archbishopric (23 deaneries and in Westphalia on the Rhine, Ruhr, and Wupper Rivers) and of the ecclesiastical province were almost unchanged through the Middle Ages. Utrecht became an archdiocese, and several deaneries went to the new See of Roermond in 1559. Protestant Minden was suppressed as a see in 1648. From the 12th century the archbishop yielded authority to the ten archdeacons (provosts and deans freely elected by their respective chapters). Four of them especially, the cathedral provost of Cologne and the provosts of Bonn, Xanten, and Soest, won jurisdictional rights that survived the centralizing tendencies of the Council of Trent.

The list of great medieval prelates begins with bruno of cologne (Bruno I, 953965), brother and collaborator of Otto I the Great, who as duke of Lotharingia was the first united episcopal and secular authority. His successors developed a principality whose borders partly coincided with those of the archdiocese. From the 11th century the archbishops were archchancellors of the Italian part of the empire. They also won the right to crown German kings and belonged to the influential electors of the king; the Golden Bull of Charles IV (1356) made them definitely part of the privileged group of seven electors.

heribert (9991021) was the friend and chancellor of Otto III. Pilgrim (102136), Herman II (103656), and anno of cologne (Anno II, 105675, for a while vice regent of the empire) sponsored church and cloister reform. Instead of royal nomination, election by the cathedral chapter (most of whom belonged to the Rhenish nobility) determined episcopal appointment after the Concordat of Worms (1122); from the 13th century, 8 of 24 canonries were reserved for clergy of bourgeois origin. Imperial influence continued to be strong, however. Frederick I Barbarossa had two of his chancellors archbishops, the talented rainald of dassel (115667), who conceived and directed the antipapal imperial policy of the Emperor, and Philip of Heinsberg (116791), who acquired the duchy of Westphalia. In following years the emperor's power waned. Even Cologne's archbishops (except engelbert, 121625, vice regent of the empire) followed a predominantly territorial policy; the fall of the Hohenstaufen encouraged the archbishops, especially Conrad of Hochstaden (123861), to consolidate a large state in northwest Germany. But a coalition of neighboring princes, allied with the city of Cologne, brought their plan to naught (1288). The constitution of the Electorate (1463) conceded some rule to the cathedral chapter, counts, knights, and cities. Hermann V von Wied (151547), a good sovereign, favored the Reformation and so met opposition from his chapter, the university, and the city of Cologne; he resigned under pressure from the Emperor. Gebhard truchsess von waldburg (157783) became Lutheran and sought to make the arch-bishopric a secular electorate. In the "War of Cologne" the Emperor and his allies assured the continuation of Catholicism in northwest Germany and a Catholic majority in the college of electors.

When Duke Ernst of Bavaria became archbishop (15831612), he began a series of Wittelsbach electors, who while protecting the Church used their position on the Rhine to further Wittelsbach policies. Ernst and his successors, Ferdinand (161250), Maximilian Heinrich (165088), Joseph Clemens (16881723), and Clemens August (172361), also held several neighboring bishoprics. They devoted themselves mostly to politics and art (baroque churches and castles). Only Ferdinand, who took a personal interest in reform and the revival of Church life, was a distinguished ecclesiastic. Spiritual administration was in the hands of good auxiliary bishops and general vicars.

Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels (176184) supported the enlightenment and in the Nuntiature Controversy defended his episcopal rights against the centralization of Rome. Maximilian Franz of Austria, youngest son of Maria Theresa and last Elector of Cologne (17811801), who favored the same course, took part in the anticurial ems congress (1786). He was also an outstanding prelate and regent, surpassing most of his predecessors in conscientiousness and zeal. When the French invaded (1794), he fled to the right bank of the Rhine.

The part of the see on the left bank of the Rhine became French and was placed under the Diocese of aachen founded by Napoleon (1801); church goods were secularized. On the right bank, where the episcopal administration of Cologne continued, the secularization of 1803, which initiated the end of the holy roman empire, took place.

After French domination, the archbishopric of Cologne was restored (1821), with Prussian consent. But it had been reduced in area and had as suffragans Münster, Paderborn, and trier. The Prussian regime's mistrust of Catholics led to strained relations, but it lessened after 1840, under Frederick William IV. The prudent Ferdinand August von spiegel (182436) reorganized the archdiocese, dividing it into 44 deaneries. His many accomplishments were clouded by his indulgence in the question of mixed marriages (see cologne, mixed marriage dispute in), which laid the basis for the arrest of his successor, Clemens August von droste zu vischering (183545). Johannes von geissel (184664), cardinal in 1850, made gains for Church freedom and Catholic organizations. In 1848 he presided at the first conference of all German bishops in Würzburg, and in 1860 held a provincial council. Paulus melchers (186685), opponent of papal infallibility at vatican council i, headed Prussian bishops in the kulturkampf, was arrested (1874) and in exile in the Netherlands from 1876. In 1885 he resigned, in the interest of a settlement, and became a cardinal in the Roman Curia (d. 1895). Philipp Krementz (188599), cardinal in 1893, repaired the damage of the Kulturkampf.

Most of the industrial area of the Ruhr, Rhine, and Wupper lay in the Archdiocese of Cologne. Population migration and concentration in the large cities posed serious problems of pastoral care. Associations developed with success; the most important Catholic organizations in all Germany (trade unions, Borromeo societies, the association for Catholic Germany [Volksverein], and the mission center) had headquarters in the archdiocese, as did interdenominational Christian trade unions, which Abp. Antonius Fischer (190212) defended against integrationist attempts. Centers of pastoral care were established for immigrant Polish workers in the Ruhr. Karl Joseph Schulte (192041), cardinal in 1921, who fostered scholarship and modern techniques in pastoral care, was a confirmed opponent of National Socialism; he died during a bombing raid. The Prussian Concordat (1929) introduced changes in ecclesiastical organization. The extensive archdiocese of 3,500,000 Catholics ceded 29 deaneries with 1,000,000 Catholics to the new See of Aachen in 1930. Paderborn became an archbishopric. As suffragans Cologne has had since then Aachen, Limburg, Münster, Osnabrück, Trier, and (since 1957) Essen.

Art. From Roman and early Christian times there survive many burial monuments, high quality glass, a mosaic of Dionysius (c. 200), and remains of the city wall. St. Ursula and St. Gereon date from cemetery edifices over tombs of the martyrs; St. Gereon was an oval monument. St. Kunibert and St. Maria im Kapitol (7th century) were built in Frankish times. Recent excavations reveal a 6th-century church under the cathedral, with some of the richest tombs of Frankish princes.

From late Carolingian days come large church edifices, which were later copied. Excavations beneath the Gothic cathedral show that the earlier cathedral (to 870) was the first large German church with two transepts. St. Pantaleon (c. 980) had a wider nave with monumental work on the west side. St. Maria im Kapitol (mid-11th century, as is St. Georg) had a round three-apse choir damaged in World War II. The Gero cross in the cathedral (c. 970) is the first German monumental sculpture. From the same period and later come pieces of smaller sculpture, ivory carvings, and MS illumination, showing Byzantine influence.

The artistic peak was reached with late Romanesque in which most of the churches of Cologne were built (c. 1150c. 1250). Classical proportions and colors, three-apse choirs, the marked division of inner and outer walls, and rich detail mark the style of this period. Exuberant later forms reflect the characteristic joy of the style: the choir (c. 1190) and decagon (121927) of St. Gereon; the choir (to 1172) of Great St. Martin; the west part (1188) of St. Georg; St. Cecilia (116070); the restoration and new choir of Holy Apostles (120020); St. Andreas (after 1200); St. Kunibert (120047); the new choir of St. Severin (to 1237); and the Overstolzenhaus and gates of the city fortress (early 13th century). Of the same high quality are the sculpture (figures in St. Maria im Kapitol) and painting (frescoes in St. Maria Lyskirchen c. 1250 and glass paintings in St. Kunibert c. 1230). Especially precious is the gold work, influenced by that of the Maas, in the costly shrines for relics; the most famous is that of the Three Magi (11801220), the largest sarcophagus in Europe, with gold work, whose classical figures anticipate the sculpture of Gothic cathedrals. Other masterpieces are the shrines of SS. Heribert, Maurinus, Albinus, Aetherius, and Anno and many smaller reliquaries and liturgical vessels.

The most important Gothic structure is the cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter and the Blessed Virgin, which brought the school of north French cathedrals to completion. It is a five-nave basilica with a three-nave transept, a three-story design with high walls broken by pillars and large windows, which was begun in 1248; the choir was consecrated in 1322. Construction, discontinued in the 16th century, was completed in the 19th century after Romanticists rediscovered Gothic and Cologne's cathedral was seen as a national German monument. Other Gothic churches are the Franciscan Church (13th century), St. Ursula (choir 1287), the Church of the Brothers of St. Anthony (1384), the Carthusian Church (1393), and St. Andreas (choir 1420); and among secular edifices, the Hansa hall (1360) and the tower (c. 1410) of the town hall, and Gürzenich banqueting palace (143744). Many statues and paintings, especially anguished Crucifixions and loving Madonnas, show the influence of mysticism. After 1350, Cologne's art became more statuesque and corporeal.

Glass paintings and frescoes of the cathedral were the first work of the Cologne school of painting, the longest-lived of any German school (c. 1300c. 1530), of a constantly high quality. It was distinguished by lyrical lines, light and bright colors, and pious thoughtful themes. Although open to outside influences, the school stuck to its own tradition. Of the masters of the 15th century, only Stephen Lochner (d. 1451) is known (thanks to Dürer); Lochner was the artist of the altar of Cologne's patron saints in the cathedral. Others are known by their most important works: the master of the Veronica, the master of the Life of Mary, the master of the Holy Family, etc. Barthel Bruyn (d. 1555), the last of the Cologne school, committed himself freely to Renaissance ways.

Other works of the Renaissance, influenced from the Netherlands, are the vestibule of the town hall (156771) and the choir screens in St. Pantaleon and St. Maria im Kapitol (150223).

Cologne had few outstanding baroque buildings: the Jesuit Church of the Assumption (1618-27) with strong traces of Gothic; St. Maria on Schnurgasse (16431716); and several secular buildings, few of which have survived. The sculpture of J. F. Helmont was destroyed in World War II. Baroque gold work was of high quality: the Engelbert shrine in the cathedral (1633), monstrances, chalices, reliquaries, and rich vestments.

The destruction of Cologne's art began after secularization (1803), when many churches were wrecked. The worst came in Word War II. Although almost all churches were damaged, many have been restored; movable objects survived the war best. Many works, dispersed following secularization, came into museums: Darmstadt, Munich, Nürnberg, and London. Of the works left in Cologne, many are in churches and others are in city museums: Roman-Germanic Museum, Schnütgen Museum (medieval sculpture and objects), Wallraf-Richartz Museum (Cologne school of painting; also important Dutch works, German and French masters of the 19th century, and a large modern collection), and the museum of applied arts. The archiepiscopal museum contains church art from the Middle Ages to the baroque age.

Bibliography: General. Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz, ed. p. clemen, 67 (Düsseldorf 190638). Handbuch des Erzbistums Köln (25th ed. Cologne 1958). Regesten der Erzbischöfe von Köln, ed. r. knipping et al (Bonn 190261). Periodicals. Annalen des Historischen Vereins für den Niederrhein (1855). Jahrbuch des Kölnischen Geschichtsvereins (1913). Kölner Domblatt (1948). Studies. m. braubach, Kurköln (Münster 1949); Kurfürst Maximilian Franz (Vienna 1961). h. schmitz, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne 1956); Rheinische Kirchen im Wiederaufbau, ed. w. neuss (München-Gladbach 1951). Studien zur Kölner Kirchengeschichte, ed. the Archiepiscopal historical archives (1952). a. stelzmann, Illustrierte Geschichte der Stadt Köln (Cologne 1958). Geschichte des Erzbistums Köln v.1 ed. w. neuss and f. w. oediger (Cologne 1964). h. reiners, Die Kölner Malerschule (München-Gladbach 1925). h. vogts, Köln im Spiegel seiner Kunst (Cologne 1950). a. verbeek, Kölner Kirchen (Cologne 1959). h. schnitzler, Rheinische Schatzkammer, 2 v. (Düseldorf 195759). h. rode, Kunstführer Köln (2d ed. Cologne 1963). r. haass et al., Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, 6:383396. a. franzen, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 13:275311. Annuario Pontificio (1965) 218219. w. lipgens, Ferdinand August Graf Spiegel und das Verhältnis von Kirche und Staat 17891835, 2 v. (Münster 1965).

[r. lill]

Cologne

views updated May 08 2018

COLOGNE

COLOGNE (Ger. Köln ), city in Germany. Founded in 50 c.e. as the Roman Colonia Agrippinensis, seat of the provincial and military administration, it is likely to have attracted a Jewish population at an early date. A Jewish cemetery, assumed to have existed from Roman times, is attested there from the 11th century. It was in use to the end of the 17th century and came to light in the 1930s. Two edicts of Constantine (Cod. Theod. 16:8, 3–4) of 321 and 331 respectively imposed the onerous Curia duties on the Jews of Cologne and exempted the officials of their community from the obligations incumbent on the lower class of citizens. No further information on Jews in Cologne is available until the 11th century.

In 1012 (or 1040) a synagogue was erected which, though destroyed, was three times rebuilt on the same site, until, after the expulsion of 1424, it was turned into a chapel, though it served various purposes in the course of time. Allied bombing during World War ii laid bare the foundations of the ancient building where unique examples of a genizah cellar under the bimah and a cistern (in the forecourt?) have been discovered. During the 12th century rabbinical opinion was divided over the religious propriety of its stained glass windows depicting lions and serpents. A chronicler of the first half of the 12th century describes the Cologne community at the end of the 11th century as "a distinguished city… from where life, livelihood, and settled law issued for all our brethren scattered far and wide" (Solomon b. Samson in Sefer Gezerot Ashkenaz ve-Ẓarefat, ed. by A.M. Habermann (1945), 43). The central importance of the Cologne fair and the community there for Jewry throughout the Rhine valley is further attested by the description of the *synods held in the city: "all the communities came to Cologne to the fairs three times a year and deliberated

at its synagogue" (ibid., 47). The First Crusade of 1096 brought death and destruction to Cologne Jewry. Though the archbishop tried to protect the Jews of the diocese, many were massacred; the Jewish quarter and synagogue were sacked and burned down. The number of those killed indicates a community of approximately 1,000. The martyrs included Moses Kohen Ẓedek, rabbi and cantor, originating from France and respected for his scholarship and piety, as well as other scholars. One of the martyrs had come from Italy, another was a proselyte. A few saved their lives by accepting baptism, but were subsequently permitted by imperial decree to return to Judaism. However, a group of converts remained, who, themselves or their descendants, attained positions of importance in the Church and civil administration.

The community was afterward reconstructed. When a new city wall was built in 1106, the Jews were assigned their own gate (Porta Judaeorum) for the defense of the city. In the Cologne land register (Schreinsbuch), from 1135, the extent to which Jews owned property there is revealed: from 30 houses at the beginning of the period, to 48 in 1170, 50 in 1235, 60 in 1300, 70 in 1325, and 73 in 1349. Many also lived in leased or rented houses. The land register also yields information on the provenance of the Jews of Cologne, mentioning over 20 places in the Rhineland and beyond (such as Frankfurt, Wuerzburg, Arnhem in Holland, and even England). The Second Crusade of 1146–7 left Cologne Jewry more or less unharmed, due mainly to Archbishop Arnold, who put the fortress of Wolkenburg at their disposal as a refuge. The imperial Jewish tax as well as the jurisdiction over Jews for serious criminal offenses were in the hands of the archbishops. From 1252 onward they issued periodical letters of protection or privileges to the Jewish community, by which the Jews were assured of protection of life and limb, freedom of commerce and worship, freedom from forcible conversion, and the right to untaxed burial for any Jew in the Jewish cemetery. The rabbinical courts had exclusive jurisdiction over cases involving Jews. For these "privileges" they had to pay heavily in the form of taxes or lump sums. The 1266 privilege, granted by Archbishop Engelbert ii, was engraved on stone and can still be seen in the wall of the cathedral. During the 14th century power in the city passed from the archbishop to the patrician city fathers who had defeated him in the battle of Worringen (1288); subsequently the latter were asked to endorse the archepiscopal privileges granted to the Jews, and in 1321 the city itself issued them a letter of protection valid for ten years. It is an indication of the growing insecurity of Jewish life in Cologne that this sort of charter had to be frequently reissued. The cost of the letter of protection to the Jewish community was the considerable sum of 1,600 marks in 1321, rising to 1,800 in 1331. From 1341 acquisition of property by Jews required the consent of the city council, which also intervened in internal disputes.

Disaster overtook Cologne Jewry during the Black *Death. The plague had reached the city in the summer of 1349; the mob stormed the Jewish quarter on St. Bartholomew's Night (Aug. 23–24), letters of protection notwithstanding. Part of the community had assembled in the synagogue; they themselves set fire to it and perished in its flames. The rest were murdered. Among the martyrs were the last three "Jews' bishops" of Cologne (see below) and a number of distinguished rabbis. The archbishop, the municipality, and the count of Juelich now laid claim to the derelict Jewish property. When the "protectors" had at last settled their quarrel, the property was sold and the proceeds used for church and city buildings.

In 1372 Jews were readmitted to Cologne, once more under a privilege from the archbishop renewed in 1384 and every ten years until 1414. The city council also granted a privilege similar to earlier ones, stipulating that no claims could be raised arising out of property owned prior to 1349. Interest rates were limited to 36 1/2% per annum. A new spirit of discrimination was shown in the special dress regulations introduced for Jews and the prohibition on employing Christian nurses, contained in documents of 1384. The golden penny (goldene Pfennig) poll tax, imposed on German Jewry in 1342, is recorded as being collected in Cologne in 1391. The post-1372 community was small, never comprising more than 31 taxpaying households and 200 persons. All the more burdensome was the enormous tax which this small group had to pay, though it must have included some fairly rich people. However, the days of the community were numbered. The city refused, after prolonged pleadings before the archbishop, emperor, and pope, to renew the residential privilege which expired in October 1424. This brought the history of medieval Jewry in Cologne to a close.

Communal Structure

Cologne Jewry, like other ethnic and economic groups, formed a corporation with its own council (of 12?) and leader, referred to as the Judenbischoff (*Episcopus Judaeorum; seven holders of this office are known by name between 1135 and 1417), apart from its religious and judicial organization with rabbis, dayyanim, readers, shohḥatim, beadles, etc. The office of "bishop" and rabbi were not identical, though occasionally united. The Jewish quarter, its synagogue (with a separate building for women), and the cemetery have been mentioned above. Other communal property included a mikveh (in addition to a public bath), a dance and wedding hall (Spielhaus), a bakehouse, a "hospital" for wayfarers, and accommodation for officials. The synagogue court (curia Judaeorum) served for public assemblies, wedding ceremonies, and perhaps for the rabbinical court. A wall separated the Jewish quarter to the south from the adjoining area, while a gate led into it from the east. The mikveh was discovered and partly restored during the 1956–57 excavations. The Jews of Cologne were mainly merchants, and later moneylenders. The Cologne fairs, to which traders from near and far brought both raw materials and finished goods, were one of Europe's most important mercantile events. Jewish visitors came from as far as the Ukraine. Transactions at this fair form the subject of an opinion by *Gershom b. Judah (10th–11th century; Ma'aseh ha-Ge'onim, ed. by A. Epstein (1909), 70; Rashi's Pardes, ed. by H.L. Ehrenreich (1924), 73). Powerful financiers who established themselves in the banking business in the 13th and 14th centuries were largely a law unto themselves, as shown by their repeated conflicts with the community, but their wealth and ostentation often proved their undoing. Many pursued more modest trades and occupations. Some physicians are mentioned toward the end of the 14th century. Among a long line of notable Cologne rabbis (rabbanei Kolonya) were *Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi of Bonn ("Ravyah"), and *Asher b. Jehiel ("ha-Rosh") who was active in Cologne before his emigration to Spain in 1303. *Alexander Suslin ha-Kohen of Frankfurt (martyred in Erfurt, 1349) lived for some time in Cologne. To the kabbalistic school belonged *Abraham b. Alexander of Cologne. The Cologne community early established its own liturgical rite, partly based on Palestinian custom. Maimonides' Mishneh Torah was copied in four volumes of vellum in 1295–6 by Nathan b. Simeon of Cologne. This manuscript, now at Budapest, is one of the finest examples of Ashkenazi calligraphy and miniature painting of the period.

From 1424 to the end of the 18th century Jews were rigorously excluded from residence in Cologne. Even those few admitted for business were not permitted to stay overnight, not excepting Jewish physicians who were frequently called in by the local population from nearby towns such as *Bonn and *Deutz. In the 16th century Cologne became the center of the *Pfefferkorn-*Reuchlin controversy. The University of Cologne (founded 1388) had a chair of Hebrew from 1484.

Printing

The Pfefferkorn-Reuchlin controversy led to the publication of many books and pamphlets, some containing Hebrew letters printed from woodcuts, such as Pfefferkorn's Judenveindt and Osternbuch (1509). In 1518 a polyglot psalter (in four languages) was edited by Johann Potkin, and printed by Jacob Soter and again in 1539 by Johann *Boeschenstein. In 1553 Soter printed the books of Obadiah and Jonah with a rhymed Latin translation by the apostate Johann Isaac ha-Levi and in 1555 Jacob *Anatoli's Ru'aḥ Ḥen with a Latin translation also by ha-Levi. In 1563, in partnership with P. Horst, he printed the book of Malachi, with translations. The Cologne imprint of a Bible of 1603 by J. Lucius (of Helmstedt) is doubtful, and it may have to be assigned to Hamburg. A Passover Haggadah with German translation and music by the Cologne cantor Judah, father of the composer Jacques *Offenbach, was published in 1838 by Clouth and Company.

Modern Period

The annexation of the Rhineland by revolutionary France in 1794 brought Jewish residents again to Cologne from 1798. A new congregation, formed by 17 households, was established in 1801. Solomon *Oppenheim represented it on the *Assembly of Jewish Notables convoked by Napoleon in 1806, and its rabbi, S.B. Rapaport, on the French *Sanhedrin of 1807. Under the decree of 1808, the Cologne congregation was administered first by the *Krefeld and (from 1817) by the Bonn *Consistory.

Residential permits were required even after the Rhine-land had been incorporated into Prussia in 1815; 33 were granted in 1817, and 134 in 1845, when the community numbered approximately 1,000. Among the lay leaders of this period was David Hess, father of Moses *Hess. It was not until 1861, however, the year of the opening of a new synagogue magnificently endowed by the banker Abraham von Oppenheim, that the Cologne congregation achieved the status of a public corporation under the Prussian community law of 1847. Civic equality was finally obtained in 1856. Cologne Jewry numbered 4,523 in 1880, 9,745 in 1900, and approximately 20,000 (2 1/2% of the total population) in 1933. It had four synagogues and several battei midrash, two elementary schools and a secondary school, apart from religious schools, a hospital, an orphanage, a children's home, a home for apprentices, and many ancillary societies and institutions. Among rabbis who officiated in Cologne before World War ii were the scholars Isidor *Scheftelowitz and Adolf *Kober. From 1867 an independent Orthodox congregation (*Adass Jeshurun) was active; a Jewish teacher's training college was closely associated with it. When David *Wolffsohn, a resident of Cologne, succeeded Theodor Herzl as president of the Zionist Organization in 1904, its offices were transferred to Cologne where they remained until 1911. Max *Bodenheimer was another leading Zionist in Cologne.

[Alexander Carlebach]

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Jews (and other political opponents) were tortured and even murdered. The turning-point in the life of Cologne Jewry was April 1, 1933, the "Boycott Sabbath." The boycott affected not only shops and businesses but doctors, lawyers, and other professionals as well. Lawyers were driven through the street on garbage trucks. The subsequent dismissal of Jews from the civil service on April 7 affected physicians, teachers, and professors as well. It was a two-way boycott, many Christian shops refusing to serve Jews and it continued in some quarters as the city ceased purchasing from Jewish merchants. On May 10, 1933, "Jewish" books were burned on the University plaza. The Jewish community reacted to all this by carefully worded protests and declarations of loyalty to Germany, but also by assisting emigration, by increased welfare efforts, and by organizing professional retraining courses and trade schools. Discrimination, including the closure of playgrounds and athletic facilities, intensified. By 1935 Jews were barred from public baths. Jews responded by emigrating, leaving Cologne if possible, but there was also movement in the other direction as Jews from the small towns and villages of the Rhineland sought refuge in Cologne. The community organized its own cultural life through the local "Kulturbund," the second largest in Germany after Berlin's. As elsewhere, religious life revived, and Jewish schools could hardly accommodate the number of pupils seeking admission. By the end of 1936 2,535 people required communal assistance. In March 1938 the two Cologne congregations were deprived of their status of public law corporations. The November 9–11, 1938, pogroms known as *Kristallnacht led to the destruction by fire or vandalism of all synagogues. Jewish shops and offices were plundered and great numbers of Jews thrown into prison or concentration camps. More than 400 Jews were arrested and sent to Dachau. Emigration intensified. Over 100 children were sent to Great Britain on the Kindertransport. In total, more than 40% of the Jewish population emigrated before September 1939. In May 1939 the Jewish population was 8,406 with another 2,360 Mischlinge, persons of mixed Jewish ancestry. When war came in September 1939, the remainder of Cologne Jewry became subject to an all-night curfew, their special food rations were far below that of the general population, they were officially forbidden to use public transport and, when allied bombing began, to use public air raid shelters. Jews had to move out of houses owned by non-Jews; later they were restricted to certain parts of the town, and finally to Jewish-owned houses or institutions, and living conditions grew steadily more desperate. Toward the end of 1941 Jews were interned at a camp in the suburb of Muengersdorf with exemptions for those working in the armament industry and hospitalized patients. Jewish hospital patients were moved into the camp on May 31, 1942, with seriously ill patients temporarily housed in the Adass Jeshurun school building.

The first deportation was that of Polish Jews in October 1938. On October 21, 1941, some Cologne Jews were deported to Lodz. Later deportations were to Theresienstadt, Lodz, Riga, Lublin, and Auschwitz. Many died or were murdered before the end of the journey. Of special note was the deportation to Minsk on July 20, 1942, of Jewish children and some of their teachers. The last to be deported in 1943 were Jewish communal workers. After that deportation the only Jews remaining were those in mixed marriages and their children, many of whom were deported in the fall of 1944. Approximately 40–50 Jews survived in hiding.

[Alexander Carlebach /

Michael Berenbaum (2nd ed.)]

A new community came into being after 1945, consisting of the few survivors, displaced persons, and a trickle of returnees (600 in 1946), and in 1967 numbered 1,321. The Roonstrasse synagogue was rebuilt in 1959. Rabbis active in Cologne in the postwar period were Zvi Asaria and E. Schereschewski. The Monumenta Judaica exhibition, reflecting 2,000 years of Jewish history and culture in the Rhineland, was shown in 1963–64. Besides a youth center the community maintained a Jewish home for the aged. The Jewish community numbered 1,358 in 1989 and 4,650 in 2003.

[Alexander Carlebach]

bibliography:

Z. Asaria (ed.), Die Juden in Köln (1959); A. Kober, Cologne (1940); S. Braun (ed.), Jahrbuch der Synagogengemeinde Köln (1934); A. Pinthus, in: zgjd, 2 (1930), 109–10, 127; K. Schilling (ed.), Monumenta Judaica-Handbuch (1963), index, s.v.Köln; A. Carlebach, Adass Yeshurun of Cologne (1964); K. Bauer, Judenrecht in Köln bis zum Jahre 1424 (1964); Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 69–85; 2 (1968), 420–42; pk; B. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Augsburg… (1935), 33; A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History and Booklore (1944), 321–3; Roth, Dark Ages, index. add. bibliography: A. Kober, Grundbuch des Kölner Judenviertels (1926); Köln und das rheinische Judentum (1985); S. Doepp, Juedische Jugendbewegung in Koeln (1997); K. Serup-Bilfeldt (ed.), Zwischen Dorn und Davidstern (2001); M. Schmandt, Judei, cives et incole (2002); B. Bopf, "Arisie-rung" in Koeln (2004).

Cologne

views updated Jun 27 2018

COLOGNE

COLOGNE. The city of Cologne (German Köln), recognized by Emperor Frederick III as an imperial free city in 1475, was an important center of trade, manufacturing, intellectual life, and religious life. Cologne, the largest of the imperial cities in early modern Germany, probably had a population between 35,000 and 40,000 people in the sixteenth century. The population declined in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and recovered at the end of the eighteenth century.

The city's location on the left bank of the Rhine made it a center of trade, and it benefited by requiring Rhine shippers to offer goods for sale before they could pass through the city. Taxes on trade goods were a major source of income. Textile manufacturing was Cologne's most important industry, and the city was home to three women's textile guilds (yarn makers, silk makers, and gold spinners) as well as the more common men's craft organizations. Cologne also became an important printing center in the sixteenth century.

Cologne's political structure was established in 1396, when twenty-two political corporations (Gaffeln) agreed on a new constitution (Verbundbrief). The corporations elected representatives to the council, and two mayors were elected for staggered terms. This constitutional system, as formally amended in 1513, remained in effect until the French occupation of Cologne in 1794.

The relationship between the civic government and the power of the archbishop of Cologne was strained. The archbishop's residence was outside the city, but archbishops always sought to assert authority over the city. While the city council maintained political authority, some elements of legal jurisdiction were shared between civic courts and archiepiscopal courts.

There were uprisings in Cologne in 1513 and 1525. The city adopted reforms, and reaffirmed its governmental structure. In 1513, dissatisfaction with the government's attempt to control the Gaffeln erupted into rebellion when city officials tried to arrest a member of the stonemasons' Gaffel, who had taken refuge in the convent church of St. Maria im Kapitol. Representatives of the Gaffeln united to reaffirm their rights. They elected a new city council, condemned corrupt city councillors, and arrested and executed the two mayors. The new council reaffirmed the constitution of 1396 (Verbundbrief) by attaching a new sworn document (the Transfixbrief ), which reaffirmed the principles of the 1396 constitution. The new council of 1513 also reaffirmed the importance of the Gaffeln and condemned civic corruption.

While scholars disagree about whether the uprising of 1525 was influenced by the teachings of Luther, city officials in 1525 believed that the uprising that broke out in Cologne was directly related to the unrest in southern Germany. The uprising had a distinctly local cast, as rebels claimed their rights under the 1396 constitution and the 1513 Transfixbrief. The articles of the Cologne rebels included demands for both economic and religious reforms. The city government defused the uprising by agreeing in principle with almost everything the rebels demanded, and by referring some of the religious demands to the archbishop. The city's 1525 decision to extend protection to the clergy in return for payment of taxes perhaps prevented anticlerical unrest during the sixteenth century.

During the Reformation, Cologne remained steadfastly Catholic, in spite of the efforts of two archbishops who had become Lutherans, Hermann von Wied (deposed 1546) and Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg (deposed 1583), to impose Protestantism on the city. The city's nineteen parish churches, along with other churches, chapels. and religious foundations provided a wealth of religious resources. The cathedral housed the relics of the three Magi, and there were many confraternities and voluntary religious associations. The University of Cologne had a relatively conservative faculty, which publicly burned Luther's works in 1520. Recent scholarship suggests that there was also a significant humanist presence at the University of Cologne. The influence of the university extended to the city's parishes because university positions often carried associated prebends in parish churches.

Cologne was a stronghold of the Catholic reform movement. The Jesuits, under Peter Canisius, established a house in Cologne in 1543, and the Carthusian cloister also served as a center of Catholic reform.

In spite of the government's efforts to maintain religious purity, refugees from the Netherlands moved to Cologne, and the late sixteenth century saw the establishment of an illegal but permanent Protestant community. Protestants did not gain full civil rights until 1797. In 1632, Swedish troops occupied the city of Deutz, across the Rhine, but aside from bombarding Deutz, Cologne did not participate actively in the Thirty Years' War or suffer significant damage. During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it suffered more seriously from repeated outbreaks of plague and a general decline in economic condition. The city was occupied by French Revolutionary armies in 1794.

See also Frederick III (Holy Roman Empire) ; Free and Imperial Cities ; Peasants' War, German .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ennen, Leonard. Geschichte der Stadt Köln, meist aus den Quellen des Kölner Stadt-Archivs. 5 vols. Cologne, 18631879. Although it is old, this is still the most comprehensive history of Cologne.

Fuchs, Peter, ed. Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln. Band 2, Von 1400 bis zur Gegenwart. Cologne, 1991. This volume contains a detailed chronology of Cologne's history, as well as valuable essays by many of the best German historians working on Cologne.

Scribner, Robert W. "Why Was There No Reformation in Cologne?" Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 49 (1976): 217241.

Janis M. Gibbs

Cologne

views updated May 17 2018

Cologne (Köln) City on the River Rhine, Nordrhein Westfalen, w Germany. The Romans established a fortress at Cologne in ad 50. It was made an archbishopric by Charlemagne in 785 and enjoyed great influence during the Middle Ages. It was heavily bombed during World War II. Notable buildings include a cathedral (started 1248, completed 1880) and the Gürzenich (a Renaissance patrician's house). Its university was founded in 1388. Cologne is a commercial, industrial, and transport centre. Industries: oil refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, engineering, textiles. Pop. (1999) 963,200.

Cologne

views updated May 29 2018

Cologne a German city on the Rhine, famous in the Middle Ages for its shrine of the Wise Men of the East, commonly called the Three Kings of Cologne (see the Three Kings).

eau de cologne

views updated May 14 2018

eau de co·logne / ˌō də kəˈlōn/ • n. a toilet water with a strong, characteristic scent, originally made in Cologne, Germany.

cologne

views updated May 23 2018

co·logne / kəˈlōn/ • n. eau de cologne or scented toilet water.