Reassessing Jewish Life in Medieval Europe

Abstract

This book reevaluates the prevailing notion that Jews in medieval Christian Europe lived under an appalling regime of ecclesiastical limitation, governmental exploitation and expropriation, and unceasing popular violence. Robert Chazan argues that, because Jewish life in medieval Western Christendom was indeed beset with grave difficulties, it was nevertheless an environment rich in opportunities; the Jews of medieval Europe overcame obstacles, grew in number, explored innovative economic options, and fashioned enduring new forms of Jewish living. His research also provides a reconsideration of the legacy of medieval Jewish life, which is often depicted as wholly destructive and projected as the underpinning of the twentieth-century catastrophes of antisemitism and the Holocaust. Dr. Chazan's research proves that, although Jewish life in the medieval West laid the foundation for much Jewish suffering in the post-medieval world, it also stimulated considerable Jewish ingenuity, which lies at the root of impressive Jewish successes in the modern West.

Negative shocks and mass persecutions: evidence from the Black Death

“…Jews also played an important role as doctors and merchants. The value of Jewish communities was clearly perceived at the time (Chazan, 2010). 16 The Black Death Persecutions.…”

Jewish Persecutions and Weather Shocks: 1100–1800

“…Rulers encouraged Jewish settlement in order to promote economic development. The Bishop of Speyer in 1084 wrote: ‘When I wished to make a city out of the village of Speyer, I Rudiger, surnamed Huozmann, bishop of Speyer, thought that the glory of our town would be augmented a thousandfold if I were to bring Jews’ (quoted in Chazan, , p. 101).…”

“… Important historical contributions include Baron (, b , , b , ); Chazan (, ); Israel (); Jordan (, ); Mundill (, ); Poliakov (); Richardson (); Roth (); Stow (, ) and many others. …”

Plague, Politics, and Pogroms: The Black Death, Rule of Law, and the Persecution of Jews in the Holy Roman Empire

“…During the medieval period, Jewish communities spread across western and central Europe. The largest Jewish community was in Spain, but the communities in Germany-particularly along the Rhineland were prosperous and well established (Chazan, 2006(Chazan, , 2010 …”

“…18 Consequently, as residual claimants on Jewish incomes, rulers had a financial incentive to protect Jews from either elite or popular hostility (see Barzel, 1992;Chazan, 2010;Koyama, 2010b). As Nirenburg writes: 'This special relationship between Jews and rulers proved tremendously useful to European monarchs and magnates trying to establish and expand their power in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries' (Nirenberg, 2013, 194).…”