Austria was rid of the Jews under Maximilian I

It is a fact that Austria was rid of the Jews under Maximilian I. Under Maximilian, Jewish policy was quite erratic, frequently affected by economic factors and the emperor's wavering attitude toward alternative viewpoints. Maximilian ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Styria and Wiener Neustadt in 1496. He permitted thirteen Jewish expulsions between 1494 and 1510 in exchange for significant financial compensations from the local government (the evicted Jews were permitted to relocate to Lower Austria). This contradiction, according to Buttaroni, revealed that even Maximilian himself did not think his expulsion decision was fair. But after 1510, it only happened once, and when a campaign to drive Jews out of Regensburg was launched, he displayed an exceptionally firm stance.

According to David Price, for the first seventeen years of his rule, he posed a serious threat to Jews; but, from 1510, even if his attitude remained exploitative, his policies began to alter. Maximilian's success in extending imperial taxation over German Jewry was likely a contributing factor in the change; at this point, he probably thought about the possibility of raising tax revenue from enduring Jewish communities rather than short-term financial compensation from local governments attempting to drive Jews out. Maximilian granted the anti-Jewish agitator Johannes Pfefferkorn permission to seize all offensive Jewish literature (including prayer books), with the exception of the Bible, in 1509 by relying on the influence of Kunigunde, his devout sister, and the Cologne Dominicans. In Frankfurt, Bingen, Mainz, and other German cities, the confiscations took place.