As plague spread through Europe, Jews were falsely accused of poisoning wells and causing the epidemic. Massacres and expulsions struck communities in Strasbourg, Basel, Mainz, Cologne and numerous other cities. Survivors fled eastwards, contributing to the growth of Jewish settlement in Poland and Lithuania.

Hebrew chronicles, lamentations and memorial prayers recorded communities destroyed by both disease and mob violence. The persecutions strengthened literary themes of scapegoating and exile, while plague writing across Europe often exposed the era's religious prejudices.