 The antisemitism of the Catholic Church also played an important role in whipping up animosity against the Jews, In 1494 and 1495 the assemblies of Styria and Carinthia offered Austrian Emperor Maximilian a bounty for the expulsion of Jews from both provinces.Maximilian granted their request, citing as reasons for the expulsion the Jewish pollution of the Christian sacrament, the ritual killings of Christian children, and the defrauding of debtors.The expulsions started immediately, with the last Jews expelled by 1718.