"We have received from Germany the sad news that in
your towns and dioceses there is a wish to despoil the
Jews, in an illegal manner, of their property, and that,
for this purpose, malicious counsels and different false
accusations are brought against them. Without
considering that they were, in a certain way, entrusted
with the care of the Christian faith; that the command
of Holy Scripture, 'Thou shalt not commit murder,' was
given to them; and that, by their law, they are
forbidden to touch corpses on the Passover, they are
accused of eating in company the heart of a murdered
child, and if the dead body of any human being is found,
they are believed to be the murderers, although such
practices are in direct contradiction to their laws. By
such false accusations they are oppressed, and deprived
of all their goods, although they have never been
brought before any judge and found guilty, in spite of
the privileges graciously granted them by the Apostolic
Chair. This is against all human and divine law, and
brings these said Jews into a worse condition than that
of their forefathers under the Pharaohs of Egypt, and
forces them, in their misery, to leave the places where
their fathers had been settled from time immemorial. In
their fear of being exterminated entirely, they have
sought the protection of the Apostolic Chair, and we
hereby forbid every unjust oppression of the said Jews,
whose conversion we trust to the mercy of God, according
to the promise of the Prophet, that those of them who
remain shall be saved; and we commend them to you, our
brethren, through this Apostolic letter, that you may
show favour to them, and help them to their right, when
they have been unjustly imprisoned; and that you in no
case permit them to be oppressed for the said or similar
causes. Those who are guilty of molesting them in this
way are to be punished by doing penance in the Church,
without regard to their station.

"Given at Lyons, on the 3rd of July, in the fifth year
of our Pontificate."

In 1275 the Emperor Rudolf of Hapsburgh confirmed this Bull, in a
decree, sealed with his great seal, which is still to be seen in the
Archives of the Town of Cologne. The title of this decree is, "I,
Rudolphus, Rex Rom., do hereby confirm the privileges granted to the
Jews by Popes Gregory and Innocent, and declare to be untrue, that
which some Christians say