Introduction Introduction- Economic Flexibility Primary Texts Business Dealings among Jews Eleventh-Century Responsum Business Arrangement between Jew and Bishop Eleventh-Century Responsum from Sefer ha-Dinim Business Dealings between Jew and Non-Jew Eleventh-Century Responsum Business Dealings between Jew and Non-Jew Eleventh-Century Responsum Early Jewish Money Lending, An Anonymous Responsum Dispute between a Jew and a Prior over Loan, […]
Here are the confines of Germany, a country full of hills and mountains. The Jewish congregations of Germany inhabit the banks of the great river Rhine, from Cologne, where the empire commences, unto Cassanburg, the frontier of Germany, which is fifteen days’ journey, and is called Ashkenas by the Jews. These are the cities of […]
Introduction Introduction- Demographic Movement Images Map of Medieval Spanish Jewish Settlement Map of Medieval Northern European Jewish Settlement Map of Expulsions from Europe Map of Medieval Eastern European Jewish Settlement Primary Texts Establishment of Jewish Rights throughout France, Rabbi Meir Bar Simon’s Milhemet Mizvah Purported Movement of Jews from Italy to Rhineland, R. Elazar of […]
Having described the context within which Jewish life in medieval western Christendom developed—the diverse forces that encouraged, limited, and opposed the Jews, we must now proceed to examine the Jewish experience from within, to identify the challenges presented to the Jews in western Christendom on both the material and spiritual planes, their responses to these challenges, and the legacy […]
Within the Christian majority of medieval Europe, diverse forces encouraged, limited, and opposed the presence of Jews. What was it that drove the Jews themselves to remain in older areas of Jewish settlement and to strike out dramatically into areas heretofore beyond the boundaries of late ancient and early medieval Jewish settlement? The answer is […]