In the eleventh century occurred the first persecutions of the Jews in Germany. It is possible that the conversion of a churchman to Judaism, which the chroniclers mentioned in their annals as an unlucky event, roused the anger of the clergy against the Jews. The convert, whose name was Wecelinus, was chaplain to Duke Conrad, a relative of the emperor. After his conversion to Judaism (1005), Wecelinus wrote a lampoon on his former religion, bearing witness to his own great hatred of Christianity, and to the coarseness of the taste of the time. The emperor Henry, however, was so angry at the conversion of the chaplain, that he commissioned one of his clergy to write a reply. This he did, and it was couched in equally coarse and undignified language. Some years later (1012), the emperor decreed that the Jews should be expelled from Mayence, as a punishment for their refusal to be baptized. The decree was probably not confined to Mayence, but applied to other communities. The poet, Simon ben Isaac, composed dirges, lamenting the expulsion, as though it were a terrible persecution, intended to uproot Judaism from the hearts of its followers. Gershom, too, though by no means a poet, gave utterance to his grief at the severe persecution of Henry II in penitential hymns. "Thou hast made those who despise Thy Law," he says, "to have dominion over Thy people; they bow down to senseless images, and would compel us, too, to worship them. They urge Thine inheritance to change Thee for a God of their own making. They are determined no longer to call Thee God, and to overthrow Thy word. If I say, 'Far be it from me to forsake the God of my fathers,' they gnash their teeth, put forth their hand for plunder, and open their mouth in scoffing. Thy people are driven from their homes, they raise their eyes in longing to Thee." During this persecution many Jews became Christians, either to save their lives or their possessions. Among them was Gershom's son. When the latter died a Christian, his hapless father observed the mourning ceremonials for him as for one who had died a Jew. Simon ben Isaac, by his zeal, and probably by bribing the officials with large sums of money, succeeded in staying the persecution, and even in obtaining permission for the Jews to settle again in Mayence. Those Jews who had been compelled to submit to baptism now gladly returned to their religion, and Gershom protected them from the scorn of their brethren on account of their temporary apostasy, by threatening to excommunicate any one who reproached them. The grateful community was anxious to perpetuate the memory of Simon. It was done by mentioning his name in the synagogue every Sabbath, and adding, "that he had exerted himself on behalf of his brethren, and that through him persecutions had ceased." The name of Gershom was likewise perpetuated, because "he had enlightened those in exile through his decrees."