Maharam of Rothenburg מהר״ם מרוטנבורג
forbade the community to ransom him — and died in prison seven years later
Meir ben Baruch was the highest authority for the communities of Germany: questions came to him, and his answers became the foundation of Ashkenazi practice. He was also the teacher of the Rosh and of Mordechai ben Hillel.
In 1286, attempting to leave the empire, he was seized and imprisoned in the fortress of Ensisheim by order of Rudolf I. The emperor set a ransom — an enormous one. The community raised the money.
The Maharam forbade them to pay. His argument was legal and cold: the Mishnah forbids ransoming captives above their value, "for the good order of the world" — otherwise abduction becomes a trade, and tomorrow the next man is taken. He understood what this meant for him personally, and insisted.
He spent seven years in prison and died there in 1293. His body was withheld for another fourteen years; it was ransomed about 1307 by Alexander ben Solomon Wimpfen of Frankfurt — on one condition: that he himself be buried beside him. Both headstones stand at Worms.
It is one of those decisions where the law and one man's life parted ways, and he chose the law.
On the timeline
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Mishnah Gittin 4:6 — captives are not ransomed above their value — for the good order of the world
Rishonim
- Responsa of the Maharam of Rothenburg — the responsa that became the basis of Ashkenazi practice
Basis: documents and evidence.