The Erfurt Treasure is a hoard of coins, goldsmiths' work and jewellery that is assumed to have belonged to a Jew of Erfurt, Germany who hid them in 1349 before perishing in the Erfurt massacre, one of the persecutions and massacres of Jews during the Black Death. The treasure was found in 1998 in the wall of a house in a medieval Jewish neighbourhood in Erfurt.[1]
The treasure was discovered in 1998 by archaeologists in the Michaelisstrasse under the wall of a cellar entry. It consists of silver coins and ingots as well as over 700 extraordinary works of goldsmith work dating to the 13th and 14th centuries. The majority of the treasure is made up of 24 kilograms (53lb) of silver coins and ingots. The 3141 coins are all Tornesel, from the late 13th and early 14th century, thus making up the largest single find of this type of coin. In addition, there are 14 ingots of various sizes, with all of them except one stamp marked.[2]
There are also 11 pieces of silver tableware including a Doppelkopf (a common form of cup in the 14th and 15th century), a shallow drinking bowl, a jug and 8 goblets that fit into each other. The latter are adorned with gothic arcades that have been gilded, these date to the first half of the 14th century.[2]
The jewellery includes 8 brooches of various sizes set with ornamental stones, the largest brooch measuring 7 centimetres (2.8in) across. Among the 8 finger rings, one is a Jewish wedding ring.[2] This outstanding piece is made of gold with a bezel composed of openwork Gothic tracery, capped by a facetted steeple. Made in the early 14th century, it is one of few existing medieval Ashkenazi wedding rings. The ring features a beautifully crafted, ornate, miniature version of a gothic tower and six engraved Hebrew letters that spell out mazal tov, meaning "good fate" or "good luck", on the tower's roof. In accordance with Jewish tradition, the magnificent wedding ring is made entirely of gold without the addition of stones.[3] Only two other Jewish wedding rings from the first half of the 14th century have so far been found in Central Europe (Colmar and Weissenfels).[2] The jewellery, in particular, has drawn the attention of scholars, since little 14th-century jewelry survives, as jewelry was often melted down when it was deemed out of style and its value as bullion outweighed other considerations.
Besides the coins, the majority of individual pieces are accounted for by garment appliques and belt adornments (totaling 600 pieces).[2] Dozens of garment appliques are an extremely unusual find.[clarification needed] These are small, silver sequins in various shapes, intended to be sewn onto garments. They were at the height of fashion in the 14th century, but, because they were made of solid silver, when the fashion changed all were melted down. The few surviving examples are almost all part of ecclesiastical textiles owned by churches. Erfurt provides rare evidence of the use of such ornaments in secular clothing.
Similar treasures were hidden in times of acute distress for the Jewish communities at Colmar, Weissenfels, Lingenfeld, Münster and Środa Śląska. The Erfurt Treasure, however, is far larger than any of the others.
The owner of the Erfurt Treasure before the Erfurt massacre in March 1349 is believed to have been a Jewish moneychanger named Kalman von Wiehe.[2]
Exhibitions of the Treasure
An exhibition, "Trésors de la Peste Noire", at the Musée National du Moyen Âge in the Hôtel de Cluny, Paris, between April and September 2007 brought objects from the Erfurt Treasure together with the Colmar Treasure.
An exhibition, "Erfurt: Jewish Treasures from Medieval Ashkenaz," was on display at the Yeshiva University Museum of the Center for Jewish History in New York City between September 2008 and January 2009.[4]
Stürzebecher, M. (2010), "Der Schatzfund aus der Michaelisstrasse in Erfurt" (German), in: Ostritz, S. (ed.), Der Schatzfund: Archäologie – Kunstgeschichte – Siedlungsgeschichte. Die mittelalterliche jüdische Kultur in Erfurt. Vol. 1, pp.60–323.
Erfurt (German pronunciation:[ˈɛʁfʊʁt] ) is the capital and largest city of the Central German state of Thuringia. It lies in the wide valley of the River Gera, in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest, and in the middle of a line of the six largest Thuringian cities, stretching from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena, to Gera in the east, close to the geographic centre of Germany. Erfurt is 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Leipzig, 250 km (155 mi) north-east of Frankfurt, 300 km (186 mi) south-west of Berlin and 400 km (249 mi) north of Munich.
Jewellery consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for example. For many centuries metal such as gold often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as glass, shells and other plant materials may be used.
A brooch is a decorative jewellery item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gemstones and may be solely for ornament or serve a practical function as a clothes fastener. The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age. As fashions in brooches changed rather quickly, they are important chronological indicators. In archaeology, ancient European brooches are usually referred to by the Latin term fibula.
The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, dated to the late-7th or early-8th century. It is of the pseudo-penannular type, and made from bronze, silver and gold. Its head consists of an intricately decorated circular rings, and overall its'front and reverse sides are equally decorated; each holds around 50 inserted cast panels packed with filigree. The brooch was constructed from numerous individually made piece; all of the borders and its terminals contain multiple panels holding multi-coloured studs, interlace patterns, filigree and Celtic spirals. The brooch is widely considered the most complex and ornate of its kind, and would have been commissioned as a fastener for the cloak of a high ranking cleric or as ceremonial insignia of high office for a High King of Ireland.
A Luckenbooth brooch is a Scottish heart-shaped brooch. These brooches often have a crown above one heart, or two intertwined hearts. They are typically made of silver and may be engraved or set with stones.
The Środa Treasure is a hoard of silver and gold coinage, gold jewellery, royal regalia and precious stones found in years 1985–1988 during renovation works in the Silesian town of Środa Śląska, Poland. The discovered artifacts date from the mid 14th century and comprise over 3,000 pieces. Today it is the property of National Museum in Wrocław and has been kept at the Regional Museum in Środa Śląska.
The Alte Synagoge in Erfurt, Germany, is one of the best preserved medieval synagogues in Europe, its oldest parts dating back to the late 11th century. Most parts of the building date from around 1250–1320. Due to the fact that its roof is still standing, it is thought to be the oldest synagogue building intact in Europe and the world.
The Colmar Treasure or Colmar hoard is a hoard of precious objects buried by Jews of the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the Black Death pogroms.
In 1966 the Fishpool Hoard of 1,237 15th century gold coins, four rings and four other pieces of jewellery, and two lengths of gold chain was discovered by workmen on a building site near present-day Cambourne Gardens, in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire, England, an area that was then known as "Fishpool". It is the largest hoard of medieval coins ever found in Britain. To judge from the dates of the coins, the hoard was probably buried in haste at some time between winter 1463 and summer 1464, perhaps by someone fleeing south after the Battle of Hexham in May 1464, in the first stages of England's civil war between aristocratic factions, the War of the Roses. The Fishpool Hoard, on display in Room 40 in the British Museum, London, was listed in 2003 among Our Top Ten Treasures, a special episode of BBC Television series Meet the Ancestors that profiled the ten most important treasures ever unearthed in Britain as voted by a panel of experts from the British Museum. The British Museum assesses the face value of the hoard when deposited, about £400, would be equivalent to around £300,000 today.
The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especially associated with the beginning of the Early Medieval period in Ireland and Britain, although they are found in other times and places—for example, forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa.
The Penrith Hoard is a dispersed hoard of 10th century silver penannular brooches found at Flusco Pike, Newbiggin Moor, near Penrith in Cumbria, and now in the British Museum in London. The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and another in 1830, with the bulk of items being recovered in two groups close to each other by archaeologists in 1989. Whether all the finds made close to each other were originally deposited at the same time remains uncertain, but it is thought likely that at least the brooches were. The brooches are thought to have been deposited in about 930.
The Erfurt massacre was a massacre of the Jewish community in Erfurt, Germany, on 21 March 1349. Accounts of the number of Jews killed in the massacre vary widely from between 100 and up to 3000. Any Jewish survivors were expelled from the city. Some Jews set fire to their homes and possessions and perished in the flames before they could be lynched.
Trewhiddle style is a distinctive style in Anglo-Saxon art that takes its name from the Trewhiddle Hoard, discovered in Trewhiddle, Cornwall in 1770. Trewhiddle ornamentation includes the use of silver, niello inlay, and zoomorphic, plant and geometric designs, often interlaced and intricately carved into small panels. It was primarily used to decorate metalwork. During the late Anglo-Saxon era, silver was the precious metal most commonly used to create Trewhiddle style jewellery and to decorate weapons. Famous examples include the Pentney Hoard, the Abingdon sword, the Fuller brooch, and the Strickland brooch.
The Cordoba Treasure, or Tesoro de Córdoba in Spanish, is the name of a major Iron Age silver hoard found on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba, Spain in 1915. The entire treasure was purchased by the British Museum in 1932, where it has been on public display ever since.
The Canterbury Treasure is an important late Roman silver hoard found in the city of Canterbury, Kent, south-east England, ancient Durovernum Cantiacorum, in 1962, and now in the Roman Museum, Canterbury, Kent. Copies of the main items are also kept in the British Museum.
Penrith and Eden Museum is a museum in Penrith, Cumbria, England. The museum aims to collect, preserve and display material reflecting the history and culture of Penrith and Eden. The museum is owned and managed by Eden District Council. The museum is based in a former school building, known as Robinson's School, which first opened in 1670.
Dr. Ido Noy is a curator and historian of Jewish art and history, folklore, popular art and ephemera.
The Beeston Tor Hoard is an Anglo-Saxon jewellery and coin hoard discovered in 1924 at Beeston Tor in Staffordshire. The hoard consists of forty-nine coins, two silver brooches with Trewhiddle style decoration, three finger rings, and miscellaneous fragments. The coins date the burial of the hoard to approximately 875 AD.
The West Yorkshire Hoard is a precious-metal hoard of six gold objects, including four gold finger-rings, and a lead spindle whorl, which was discovered near Leeds, West Yorkshire, in 2008–2009 by a metal detectorist. The find was of national and international significance, expanding the understanding of hoards and hoarding in the north of England in early medieval England, as well as expanding the corpus of known gold rings from the period.
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