Rashi’s grandsons, Samuel, Isaac and Jacob ben Meir were also prominent Talmudic authors. Samuel ben Meir (Rashbam) wrote several Talmudic treatises, supplements to his grandfather’s commentaries, and a commentary on the Pentateuch somewhat more free from the blind, unrestricted submission to Rabbinic authority which characterizes his grandfather’s work. The greatest Talmudist among the brothers was Jacob ben Meir (Rabbenu Tam, died 1171), whose chief work is “Sefer Hayashar,” in which he proclaims the principle that the contradictions in the Talmud must be harmonized. These men are the founders of a school of authors known as Tosafists, from “Tosafot” (Additions), glosses to Rashi’s Talmud commentary. These glosses are printed in most of our editions of the Talmud. Through the activities of these men the French province of Champagne and Western Germany became the chief seats of Rabbinic studies. CHAPTER VI PERIOD OF OPPRESSION (1215-1492) During the thirteenth century the persecutions of the Jews continued, although they are of a more sporadic character than those of the time of the crusades. In 1235 a number of Jews were killed in Fulda on the charge of ritual murder. This is the first distinct case of its kind, but was frequently repeated in France and various places in Germany, although Emperor Frederick II (1236) and Pope Innocent IV (1247) defended the Jews against this accusation. An important change in the political condition of the Jews resulted from the law of Frederick the Belligerent of Austria (1244). In this law the territorial ruler for the first time proclaimed his right to legislate for the Jews, heretofore considered the exclusive privilege of the Emperor of Germany, as overlord of all the Jews. This law deals largely with the regulation of money-lending. It permits a very high rate of interest, and allows the Jews to be tried in accordance with their own laws. It prohibits all violence toward the persons and properties of the Jews, their synagogues and cemeteries, and forbids the forcible baptism of Jewish children. It became the prototype for all similar mediæval legislation, and was repeated almost verbatim in subsequent laws issued by the kings of Bohemia, Hungary, the Dukes of Saxony and Silesia, and others during the thirteenth century.