The Jew-hatred of the council of Basle and the popes spread like a contagion over a wide area. The fierce and bigoted Bavarian Duke of Landshut, Louis the Rich--"a hunter of game and Jews"--had all the Jews of his country arrested on one day (Monday, October 5th, 1450), shortly after his accession to power. The men were thrown into prison, the women shut up in the synagogues, and their property and jewelry confiscated. Christian debtors were directed not to pay their Jewish creditors more than the capital they had originally borrowed, and to deduct from that the interest already paid. After four weeks of incarceration the unhappy Jews were obliged to purchase their lives from the turbulent duke for 30,000 gulden, and then, penniless and almost naked, they were turned out of the country. Gladly would Louis have meted out the same treatment to the large and rich community of Ratisbon, which was within his jurisdiction. As, however, his authority was recognized only to a limited extent, and as the Jews of the city were under the protection of the council and its privileges, he was obliged to content himself with levying contributions. Many Jews are said to have been driven by anxiety and want into embracing Christianity. As the rest of the European Jews regarded their Spanish brethren as an exalted and favored class, so the papacy directed special attention to them in order to put an end to their favorable position in the state. Either on the proposition of the king to modify the severe canonical restrictions against Jews, or on the petition of their enemies to confirm them, Pope Nicholas V issued a new bull (March 1st, 1451). He confirmed the old exclusions from Christian society and all honorable walks of life, and entirely abolished the privileges of the Spanish and the Italian Jews.