Radulphe

Radulphe was a French monk who, without permission from his superiors, left his monastery in France and travelled to the Rhine Valley during the Second Crusade (1145–1149) where he preached "that the Jews should be slain as the enemies of the Christian religion." At Cologne, Simon "the Pious" was murdered and mutilated; at Speyer a woman was tortured on the rack to persuade her to convert to Christianity. Secular prelates tried to protect the Jews. Arnold, the Archbishop of Cologne gave them a fortified castle as refuge, and allowed them to arm themselves; the Crusaders refrained from attacking the castle, but killed any unconverted Jew that fell into their clutches. Henry I, Archbishop of Mainz admitted into his house some Jews pursued by a mob; the mob forced its way in, and killed them before his eyes.