WEBVTT - A Terrible Waste 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:11.559 and Mild from airin Manky listener discretion advised Heinrich the sixth, 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.640 the eighteen year old King of Germany and son of 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:18.639 Holy Roman Emperor Frederic the f Barbosa, sat by a 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:23.800 window next to Conrad of Wittelsbach, the Archbishop of Mainz. 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.560 It was the evening of July twenty fifth, eleven eighty four, 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:33.920 and the air between the two men was tense. By 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.239 this point, Heinrich and the archbishop had run out of 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.639 things to say to one another. Earlier, when they had 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.960 first sat down, the conversation had flowed freely. Heinrich had 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.599 come to air Fort to broker an agreement between the 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.200 archbishop and the Landgrave Ludwig the third of Thuringia. The 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.520 two of them had some heated disputes over land right 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.120 in air Fort, but by all accounts, each had come 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.800 to the negotiations willingly and with high hopes for a 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:11.560 quick resolution. Heinrich, the King of Germany, had assembled a Hoftag, 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:15.680 an unofficial meeting attended by his court as well as 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.480 the local nobility and clergy, to settle the matter once 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.040 and for all. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:22.160 But by this. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:27.440 Point, however, Heinrich and the Archbishop were not talking about land, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:33.959 titles or anything at all. The meeting had long since crumbled, 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:39.800 so too, quite literally had the building around them, save 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:45.440 for the window alcove where the two men had been sitting. Now, 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:51.600 Heinrich and the Archbishop awaited rescue in horrified silence, holding 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.680 on for dear life after being forced to watch as 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:00.040 their fellow nobles floundered and drowned below them in a 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:07.920 roiling pit of mud, debris, and human waste. I'm Dana Schwartz, 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:14.720 and this is noble blood. The air Fort Latrine disaster, 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.480 as it would come to be called, is remembered as 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:23.800 one of medieval history's most disgusting calamities. It was what 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:29.720 it sounds like, a building collapsed into its underground latrine 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:35.640 cesspot killing, injuring, or traumatizing the attendees of Heinrich the 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:41.079 si Hulftug. Its effects, both on the lines of noble 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:46.200 succession and on local folklore, would ripple out for generations. 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:52.840 In order to understand how this tragic and nauseating accident occurred, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.880 we must first understand one of the most significant architectural 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:03.639 challenges facing any media city that of dealing with human waste. 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.320 Many people believe that the Middle Ages were a sort 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.079 of free for all of waste disposal. While it was 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.040 certainly true that many medieval people had to dispose of 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.840 their waste by say, pouring it out of their windows 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.440 or into the streets, in many places that was actually 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.840 illegal and could carry heavy fines. 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:27.400 As a matter of fact. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.640 Medieval people, and in particular medieval municipal authorities, devoted a 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:37.400 great deal of attention to waste management. People in the 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.200 Middle Ages dealt with their waste in a number of 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:41.040 different ways. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:42.800 The way you might be. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.600 Most familiar with is the chamber pot or other kinds 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.560 of portable toilets, But those, of course would have left 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.800 you with the problem of then disposing of the waste 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:58.080 from the chamber pots. Luckily, at least in some places, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:03.000 there was another option, a latrine. In this period, a 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.800 latrine would have consisted, usually of a plank of wood 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.320 over a hole in the ground or in the floor 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:13.200 of a building, usually some sort of outhouse, which would 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:17.120 let out into something such as a cesspit, a stream, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.200 a ditch, a moat, or a drain. Cesspits were often 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:26.120 feats of engineering. While they were sometimes just big holes 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.839 in the ground, many of them were reinforced with wood 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:35.720 or less often stone to prevent groundwater pollution. One latrine 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.599 would often be shared by all of the inhabitants of 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.120 a given plot of land, although larger multihole latrines were 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:48.200 sometimes used in monasteries, and some cities, like London even 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:53.760 had public necessary houses with multiple latrine holes that opened 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:59.719 up into a single cesspit. As you might expect, wealthier 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:05.280 people tended to have more elaborately constructed latrines. This applied 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.640 to the above ground parts as well, most notably with 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.680 the construction of latrines inside the home. If you've ever 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.840 visited an old castle, for example, you might have seen 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.400 a little part jutting out from the wall on the 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.680 outside that's called a garterobe, and it was basically a 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:30.240 medieval toilet. Named after storage closets where valuables or linens 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.039 would be kept. These would be small chambers that offered 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.720 the user some privacy. Sometimes these would open up directly 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.760 to the outside, emptying into a moat or some other 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:47.000 drainage system, but often they were connected to a latrine 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:51.919 that led out into a cesspit. These systems could be impressive, 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:56.000 but of course they were not without their challenges. A 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:01.520 cesspit needed proper drainage. Drainage issue could result in things 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:08.200 like contaminated groundwater, but also, and perhaps more urgently, damage 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:13.159 to the structure of the latrine and any overlying buildings themselves. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:19.320 Rotting was a major concern for latrines reinforced with wood. Often, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:24.039 cesspits were emptied by hand on an annual or semi 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:29.559 annual basis, or otherwise, the waste continually boarded up until 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.840 a new latrine had to be opened, but some cesspits 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.320 had more advanced systems of drainage. One solution for the 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:43.680 drainage problem was the installation of channel drains, which utilized 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:48.320 gravity to let waste out from the cesspit into, say, 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:53.680 a flowing river. These could work marvelously well, but like 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:58.479 modern plumbing systems, they were also susceptible to clogs or 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:04.120 structural damage, and, as the attendees of that fateful hoftag 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.880 in air Fort would find out, when channel drain systems 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:12.640 failed to work properly, wooden boards began to rot and 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:14.880 nobody took steps to remedy the. 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.000 Issue, disaster would ensue. 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:25.200 Twelfth century Germany consisted of a constellation of duchies, counties, 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:30.080 and principalities, all loosely aligned under the authority of the 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:35.480 Holy Roman Empire, with each duke, count and prince largely 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:40.240 sovereign over his own territory. Political life was often tense, 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:46.320 as ruling nobles constantly sought to increase their power. Borders 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:52.440 frequently expanded and contracted as wars, shifting alliances, and political 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:58.480 machinations saw land pass back and forth between nobles. Of course, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:04.040 these were rarely clean or easy transfers of jurisdiction. It 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:09.200 wasn't uncommon for two or more parties to claim sovereignty 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.040 over the same piece of land at the same time. 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:17.040 This was the case for Ludwig the Third, the Landgrave, 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:22.160 a German rank of nobility roughly equivalent to account of Thuringia, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:27.720 and the Archbishop of Mainz Conrad of Wittelsbach. Keep in 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:32.160 mind that during this period, high ranking clergy like bishops, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:38.160 archbishops and cardinals often exercised political as well as religious 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:43.080 power in their respective domains. In this case, Conrad was 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:48.080 both the archbishop and the Elector of Mainz, a title 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.520 akin to prince, meaning he both oversaw his own territory 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.800 and got to play a role in electing the Holy 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:02.360 Roman Emperor. The territories of Ludwig's county and Conrad's archbishopric 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.960 abutted each other. In fact, they sort of overlapped, with 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:12.040 each man claiming his land to be perhaps slightly larger 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:16.679 than it was. Their territories had not always been quite 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.800 so disputed, but around eleven seventy nine, the Duke of 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.800 Saxony and Bavaria, Heinrich the Lion, was stripped of his 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:30.000 holdings by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick the I Barbosa. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.400 This created a power. 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:36.960 Vacuum that resulted in an even more tenuous, contested web 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:42.360 of territories than had existed before. By eleven eighty four, 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:47.000 five years later, Ludwig and the archbishop had developed a 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.000 land dispute over the city of air Fort that had 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.920 become so heated it drew the attention of the Holy 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.040 Roman Emperor. But we don't know much of the details 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:05.520 of how oh this contentious situation developed. Specifically, Some sources 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:10.720 point to the archbishop's construction of a fortified castle in 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:14.720 or near the city around eleven eighty, but it's unclear 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.679 whether that was in fact the inciting incident or simply 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.800 a move made as part of a pre existing conflict. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.840 In any case, the dispute boiled down to an argument 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.839 over whether the clergy or the lay nobility should have 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.800 control over air Fort. This was a pressing issue that 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.960 touched not only on the daily lives of the people 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.680 living in the city, but also on bigger debates over 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:47.439 the rights of religious versus secular powers that had overtaken 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.000 Europe in the wake of the Investiture controversy and the 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.600 wars of the Guelphs and Ghibelin that followed. After some 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.920 four years of conflict over this land, the Holy Roman 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.840 Emperor had had enough. He sent his son Heinrich the sixth, 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.920 the King of Germany, to mediate the matter. In the 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.440 summer of eleven eighty four, Heinrich traveled to Airport and 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.920 called a hoftag on July twenty fifth, where he would 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:22.319 mediate a piece between Ludwig and the archbishop. The meeting 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.000 drew an audience of nobles and high ranking clergy from 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.720 all around the area, each of whom sought both to 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.839 help mediate the meeting and possibly to act in their 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:39.240 best interests sources disagree over whether the Hoftag was held 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:44.280 at the cathedral, provosts building or the bishop's residence, but 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:48.240 we do know that it was nearby the air Fort's cathedral, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.080 and that the meeting took place on the second floor 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.600 of whatever building it was in. Over sixty people some 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.720 sources say over one hundred crowded the meeting room as 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.720 the proceedings began. We know little about how the meeting went. 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.800 It's possible the nobles shouted over each other, jocking to 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.640 get a word in. Maybe it was a friendly gathering, 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.440 with everyone acting in good faith, trying to maintain peace 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.920 and reach a resolution. Maybe it was only getting started 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.440 and clergy and nobles were still asking after each other's 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.880 families and children. We do know that at one point 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.320 King Heinrich and the archbishop walked over to a window 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:38.679 to speak privately. Then all of a sudden, a rumble 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.360 tore through the building. The walls began to shake, and 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:48.400 before the meeting's attendees even realized what was happening, the 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:56.280 floor collapsed beneath them. In his book of German Legends, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:02.320 the nineteenth century German folklorist Ludwig Bechstein recounted the story 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:07.520 of quote the Count's proverb. His story centered on a 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:12.920 noble Count Heinrich, the seventh of Schwarzburg. As Bechstein told it, 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.560 Count Heinrich had a nasty habit. Whenever there was something 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.319 he didn't want to do or didn't think he could do, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.520 he would say, in a huff, quote, if I did that, 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:24.839 I'd have to drown. 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:25.280 In the privy. 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.920 You can probably see where this story is going. Bechstein's 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.240 tale was a fictionalized account of the air Fort Latrine disaster, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:39.959 which did actually happen. He altered some of the historical details. 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.920 It was Count Heinrich the first who attended, for example, 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:48.280 not the seventh, but the basic contours of the story remained, 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.800 with an ironic twist in the form of his Heinrich's 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:58.480 tragically prescient catchphrase in both the story and real life. 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.400 The second floor of the building collapsed, the force of 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:07.000 which collapsed the first floor, and everyone save for King 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:12.960 Heinrich and Archbishop Conrad, fell into the cesspit below. A 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:17.640 few survived the fall, but most did not. In reality, 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.000 we have very few contemporary sources about the actual collapse, 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.880 and what we do have doesn't offer much. In the 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:29.920 way of details on how the collapse happened. Later writers 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.920 supposed that the beams supporting the second floor where the 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:38.120 hoftag were held, had been rotting for some time, and 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.320 the weight of so many people caused it to collapse. 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.960 Because we don't know which building this was exactly, it's 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.320 hard for us to know whether a latrine contributed to 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.360 that rotting. If that were the case, it would have 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.880 had to have been a wood reinforced latrine that reached 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.440 the second floor. It's also possible that the color collapse 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:05.440 was unrelated and the cesspit was simply an unfortunate landing 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:10.680 place for the collapsing building. Either way, the cesspit and 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:15.280 its draining system seems to have played an essential role 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:20.520 in the tragic way the disaster played out. Some sources 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:25.120 say that the building's cesspit had a channel drain system 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:29.080 which would have emptied out into the nearby Gera River. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.720 This would have meant that when everything collapsed, the sudden 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:38.920 inflow of materials and bodies would have forced the entire 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.640 system to flow wildly and uncontrollably out to the river. 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:50.400 The result was a whirling pit of death. Most estimates 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.520 say about sixty of the meeting's attendees died as a. 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:55.800 Result of the collapse. 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.960 Some died from the fall, others were crushed by debris, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.160 and others were I'm sorry, drowned in the sewage or 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:10.760 asphyxiated in its toxic fumes. The Chronicle of Saint Peter's 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.520 in Airport, which began to be compiled about twenty five 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.560 years after the fact in twelve eight, listed some of 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.360 the noblemen who died in the collapse. Count Friedrich the 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:27.000 first of Aubenberg, Count Heinrich, the first of Schwarzburg, Count 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:31.960 Gozmar the third of ziegenhein Gozmar's brother in law, Bougrave 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:37.040 Friedrich the first of Kirsberg, Count Berkhard of Vartberg, and 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:43.320 Barringer von Wellington, among other quote lesser nobles whom the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:49.240 chronicler felt were not necessary to record. Landgrave Ludwig, one 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.360 of the main two parties involved in the dispute that 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.480 was a reason for all of this, fell into the sewage, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:17:01.160 but luckily was rescued and survived seemingly with no major injuries. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.639 King Heinrich and the Archbishop had to cling to the 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:11.520 window as they awaited rescue, but they also eventually escaped unharmed. 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.920 Disgusted and shell shocked, King Heinrich departed from air Fort 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:23.120 with his retinue almost immediately, never to return. In addition 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:27.840 to its relatively quick entrance into the annals of local folklore, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:32.639 the air Fort latrine disaster impacted the lines of succession 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:37.840 of much of the local nobility, as estates passed to sons, brothers, 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.359 and even daughters of the deceased. As for the dispute 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:48.800 between Landgrave Ludwig and Archbishop Conrad that remains unsolved. 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:49.160 To this day. 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.600 That's the very gross story of the Airport latrine disaster. 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.440 But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:03.439 about another interesting thing that happened in a pit in 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:14.240 air Fort. If I had a gold ingot for every 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.760 time something noteworthy happened in a pit in air Fort, 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.800 well i'd have two gold ingots. Actually, in fact, in 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:30.359 nineteen ninety eight, archaeologists excavated fourteen gold ingots, among other treasures, 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.280 hidden in the wall of a medieval cellar entry under 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.840 the Michael Estrass, a small street in Airport where the 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.359 structure of a medieval synagogue had been discovered during excavations 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:48.040 a few years prior. It was an extraordinary discovery. In 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.960 addition to the gold ingots, there were over three thousand 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.679 Tornassel silver coins, a kind of coin commonly used in 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:01.680 the Middle Ages and early modern periods, instituting the largest 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.760 extant collection of these kind of coins in the world. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.720 There were also seven hundred works of goldsmithing dating to 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:15.440 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. There was silver tableware, gilded 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:20.880 goblets from the early fourteenth century, garment applicats and belt adornments, 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:26.440 eight brooches with inlaid stones, and eight rings. The most 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.639 magnificent of the rings, and the most telling about the 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:35.280 cash and its history, was an Ashkenazi Jewish wedding ring, 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.359 one of the very few to survive from the fourteenth 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.280 century and one of the very few to be found 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:47.000 in Germany. The ring was struck in gold without any stones, 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.600 as was tradition, and featured an intricate engraving of a 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:56.919 Gothic tower and above it the Hebrew phrase mazeltov, meaning 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:02.040 good fate or good fortune, a phrase of congratulations traditionally 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:06.960 offered at significant life events like weddings. It is this 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.120 ring which seems to have allowed scholars to figure out 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.800 where this mass of treasure came from and begin to 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.840 guess at who might have hidden it. In thirteen forty nine, 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.959 as the Black Death tore throughout Europe, many communities found 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:29.560 a convenient scapegoat in Jewish people, blaming them for causing 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:34.440 the pandemic or believing that they facilitated its spread. There 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:38.480 are many reasons why these theories developed, but the most 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:44.280 significant impact was the widespread murders and exiles of European 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:49.240 Jewish communities. In March thirteen forty nine, the city of 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.080 air Fort did just that in what came to be 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:57.399 known as the air Fort Massacre. Between March twenty first 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:01.760 and twenty second, mob's life lynched anywhere from one hundred 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:06.040 to three thousand Jewish people throughout the city. As the 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.600 violence erupted, many members of the Jewish community chose to 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:15.440 set fire to their homes and possessions, choosing death over 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.760 the violence of the mob. Others chose to hide their possessions, 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.760 potentially hoping that perhaps they could escape and come back 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.920 for them later. It is believed that one of them, 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:32.520 potentially a money changer or merchant named Kalmen via Hid 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.600 his treasure before he was killed, either hoping that he 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.320 would survive the mob and be able to retrieve it, 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.959 or knowing that his murderers would not be able to 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:48.320 profit from his death. Following the massacre, the remaining members 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.919 of the Jewish community were exiled from the city. They 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.959 would return a few years later and re establish a 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:58.840 new community in the city before being exiled again in 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:04.560 fourteen fifty eight eight. The hidden treasure, however, remained in airport, 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:10.800 untouched and intact for over six hundred years. Today, it 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:15.840 remains on permanent display at the restored old Synagogue, just 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:28.399 steps from where it was found. Noble Blood is a 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:32.639 production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.119 Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:41.879 writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:46.040 Hit and Julia Milaney. The show is edited and produced 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:51.960 by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima il KLi and executive 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:56.240 producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more 0:22:56.280 --> 0:23:01.720 podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:03.719 wherever you listen to your favorite shows,