Other annoyances were frequent. On the basis of the view that the Jews were chattels of the king, various rulers occasionally declared void the bonds held by the Jews. The most typical instance is that of Wenzel, King of Bohemia and German Emperor, who in 1385 annulled all the bonds held by Jews and accepted from the debtors a fraction of their debts in settlement. During the fifteenth century frequent expulsions took place. The cities, originally small settlements where the Jews were the merchants and bankers, had grown in size and importance, and the citizens were jealous of their successful Jewish competitors. Such expulsions were often ordered under the excitement aroused by some false accusation. Thus, in 1421, the Jews of Vienna were accused of having desecrated the host, and a number of them were publicly burned at the stake, all the others being expelled from the city and the entire province. Such expulsions took place in 1426 at Cologne, the oldest Jewish settlement in Germany, in 1440, at Wittenberg, and in 1475 at Bamberg. The religious troubles of this period contributed to turn the people against the Jews. The Hussites were then a great menace to the Church, and John Capistrano, an Italian monk, preached against them in various places in the kingdom of Bohemia. Everywhere he set the mob against the Jews, and occasionally as at Breslau in 1453, he tried them on the charge of ritual murder. A number of Jews were burned at the stake, and many others expelled. From other cities of that kingdom, as Bruenn and Olmuetz, the Jews were expelled. Another Catholic revivalist, Bernardin of Feltre, appeared in Trent, where he arranged a ritual murder trial. The body of a boy named Simon was found, and the Jews were accused of having murdered him (1475). Again a number of Jews were cruelly put to death and the remainder expelled in spite of the fact that the Doge of Venice exonerated them from the charge, and that the Pope declared the accusation to be baseless. Simon was considered a martyr and later on made a saint. A similar charge was brought against the Jews of Ratisbon, but they succeeded in proving their innocence. The expulsions continued. In 1499 the Jews were expelled from Nuremberg and Ulm, in 1493 from Magdeburg, in 1496 from the province of Styria, and somewhat later from Ratisbon and Saxony. The exiles sought refuge in villages and little towns under the rule of the nobles, or emigrated to Poland, where, toward the end of the fifteenth century, there was already a considerable Jewish settlement. This soon became in numbers the most important in Europe. FRANCE