Introduction Introduction- Popular Violence Images Peter the Hermit Leading Knights and Pilgrims, 1096 Clifford’s Tower, York The Black Death, 1348-49 Jewish Perceptions of Persecution Jewish Perceptions of Violence Primary Texts Worms, 1096, Mainz, Anonymous Mainz, 1096, Mainz, Anonymous Xanten, 1096, Solomon bar Simson Chronicle Germany, 1348-49, Herman Giges’s Fourteenth-Century Narrative Germany, 1348-49, Heinrich Truchessis’s Fourteenth-Century […]
Introduction Introduction- Historic Jewish Enmity Images Crucifixion with Ecclesia and Synagoga Crucifixion with Sponge Bearer Descent of the Jews into Hell The Jews in Hell Primary Texts Crusader Slogan, 1096, Mainz Anonymous—Late-Eleventh-Century Hebrew Narrative Crusader Slogan, 1096, Solomon bar Simson Chronicle—Mid-Twelfth-Century Hebrew Narrative Crusaders in Mainz, 1096, Mainz Anonymous Crusaders, 1147, Ephraim of Bonn’s Late-Twelfth-Century […]
Popular perceptions of the Jews were heavily negative during our period. This negativity had numerous sources. Perhaps the simplest was the fact that the vitalization of western Christendom attracted Jews to areas of Europe in which Jews had not heretofore settled. Newcomers are rarely welcome, and resistance to immigrants in sedentary societies, such as medieval […]
Popular perceptions of the Jews were decidedly negative during our period. This negativity had numerous sources. Perhaps the simplest was the fact that the vitalization of western Christendom attracted Jews to areas of Europe—particularly in the north—in which Jews had not heretofore settled. Newcomers are rarely welcome, and resistance to immigrants in sedentary societies, such […]
Introduction Protection Images Pope Alexander II Bernard of Clairvaux Preaching the Second Crusade Pope Gregory IX Primary Texts Pope Alexander II, 1060’s Papal Document Bernard of Clairvaux, 1146 Ecclesiastical Letter Pope Gregory IX, 1236 Papal Document Pope Innocent IV, 1247 Papal Document Pope Innocent IV, 1247 Papal Document Pope Gregory IX, 1233 Papal Document Pope […]
Medieval western Christendom, fragmented into many separate areas as we shall shortly see, was unified by broad commitment to Christianity and general acceptance of the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church Fathers bequeathed to the medieval Church and its believers a rich legacy regarding Judaism and Jews, encompassing doctrine, policy, and imagery. This rich legacy was expanded and […]
Medieval Europe—like modern Europe—was a potpourri of diverse topographies, climates, languages, ethnicities, and cultures. Unlike modern Europe, however, Europe of the Middle Ages was unified by broad commitment to Christianity and general acceptance of the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, the Church played a unifying and central role in the fate of medieval […]
Introduction An observer viewing world Jewry in the year 1000 would have readily discerned obvious Jewish demographic distribution and equally obvious configuration of Jewish creativity. The oldest, largest, and most creative Jewish communities were located in the Muslim sphere, stretching from Mesopotamia westward through the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea, across North Africa, and over onto the Iberian […]
Edited by Prof. Robert Chazan With the assistance of Abby Kornfeld and Eytan Zadoff Overview- The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom, 1000-1500 The Church and the Jews Popular Perceptions and Violence The State and the Jews Jewish Responses to Material Challenges Jewish Responses to Spiritual Challenges