Books referenced on this page: Martyrs Mirror, by Thieleman J. van Braght
1096
Participants in the First Crusade attempted to enter the city in order to kill Jews, but the Bishop ordered the gates closed, thereby preventing a massacre. Later in the year some Jews chose to be killed rather than baptized.
1163
August 1163
Arnold of Bonn, a Cathar, was burned at the stake on "Jews' Hill" next to the Jewish cemetery.
1326
Meister Eckhart was charged with heresy by the archbishop.
1349
December 1349
The city's first case of the Plague was recorded. Before long nearly half of the inhabitants of Cologne were dead.
1393
Martin of Mainz was tried as a heretic and burned at the stake. Martin was a former monk from the Benedictine cloister of Reichenau on Lake Constance. He later became a disciple of Nicholas of Basel, who claimed to be a new Christ. At his trial, Martin confessed to 15 errors inspired by his devotion to Nicholas.