Relations between Christians and Jews in medieval Europe were always influenced by their inequality of social and economic status and by the religious competition that existed between them. While the Jews had a purpose in the Christian religion, this purpose meant that the more populous Christians who had come to dominate Europe tolerated only the Jews. There was no premise of equality, and Jews came to depend on relationships with lower-level rulers to ensure their relative safety. Rumors continued that Jews had poisoned the wells, and Jews were often the targets of violence that Christians seemed extremely willing to carry out. Overall, life was better for the Christians and worse for the Jews, although this would not have worried the plague. When the Black Death arrived in the mid-14th century, it paid little attention to the religious affiliation of its victims as it spread across Europe, causing widespread illness and death. Each faith would have faced the plague in its own way, with predictable and unpredictable actions. Word of a Jewish plot to kill Christians would spread to parts of Europe, causing Jewish communities to be rounded up and killed in retaliation for the disease they were accused of bringing into the world. Religious overtures would be awarded upon the arrival of this disease, while others would seek holy protection and prepare for the end of the world. The flagellant movement would emerge among Christians, with large groups roaming the land, whipping and beating each other in an attempt to deflect the divine wrath that had descended upon them. Overall, each culture would continue to occupy its place in the pre-existing dynamic that existed between the Jewish… middle of paper… and Western European eschatological mentalities. American Historical Review, 86(3), 533. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Marshall, L. (1994). Manipulation of the sacred: image and plague in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance Quarterly, 47(3), 485-532. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Raspe, L. (2004). The Black Death in Jewish sources. Jewish Quarterly Review, 94(3), 471-489. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Slack, P. (1988). Responses to plague in modern Europe: the public health implications. Social Research, 55(3), 433-453. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.Tuchman, B.W. (1978). A distant mirror, the disastrous fourteenth century. Ballantini books. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books/feeds/volumes?q=0345349571Wray, S. K. (2004). Boccaccio and the doctors: Medicine and compassion in the face of the plague. Journal of Medieval History 30(3), 301-322. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.