By the twelfth century in both literature and art the form of the suffering Christ was supplanting the form of the conquering Christ.
From Triumphant to Suffering Jesus: Visual and Literary Depictions of the Crucifixion, 300-1200
January 4, 2014 By
From Scott to Rispart, from Ivanhoe to The York Massacre of the Jews Rewriting and translating historical “fact” into fiction in the historical novel
November 23, 2013 By
From Scott to Rispart, from Ivanhoe to The York Massacre of the Jews Rewriting and translating historical “fact” into fiction in the historical novel Nitsa Ben-Ari Palimpsestes, 24 (2011) Abstract Historical “data” concerns not only facts, as we all know, but memory (individual as well as collective), language, cultural heritage (“real” or invented). In his […]
Illustrated Octateuch Manuscripts: A Byzantine Phenomenon
November 22, 2013 By
Illustrated Octateuch Manuscripts: A Byzantine Phenomenon John Lowden The Old Testament in Byzantium: Selected papers from a symposium held Dec. 2006, Dumbarton Oaks Abstract The first recorded use of the word Ὀκτάτευχος (literally “eight books”) was by Prokopios of Gaza (d. 538), who called a volume of his biblical commentary Exegeses of the Octateuch (Εἰς τὴν […]
Two Augustines?
October 13, 2013 By
Beyond the decision to keep what Christians call the Old Testament, probably the only positive Christian contribution to Jewish-Christian relations from the patristic era was Augustine’s ‘witness doctrine.’
The Caliph’s Favorite: New Light from Manuscript Sources on Hasdai ibn Shaprut of Cordova
October 13, 2013 By
By approximately 930, the Jewish family of Hasdai son of Joseph ibn Shaprut had moved from their hometown of Jaen to the Muslim capital of Cordova,
Building the past through the eyes of the present: Were the Kingdoms of Medieval Spain a model of tolerance?
October 8, 2013 By
In this paper I am going to look at the ways in which contemporary concerns have shaped historians’ depictions of Medieval Iberian societies, and how that distant past is now used by politicians.
The Jewish Physician in Medieval Iberia: New Directions
September 15, 2013 By
We are thus in a far better position to capture the range and characteristics of those Jews who engaged in medical practice in medieval Iberia.
Byzantine golden treasures discovered in Jerusalem
September 10, 2013 By
Archaeologists working at the foot of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have discovered a large haul of treasure from the remains of a Byzantine-era building
The Storie of Asneth and its literary relations: the Bride of Christ tradition in late Medieval EnglandThe Storie of Asneth and its literary relations: the Bride of Christ tradition in late Medieval England
September 10, 2013 By
This is a study of the fifteenth-century, “Storie of Asneth,” a late-medieval English translation of a Jewish Hellenistic romance about the Patriarch, Joseph, and his Egyptian wife, Asneth (also spelled Aseneth, Asenath).
Coexistence among the Peoples of the Book under Abd al-Rahman III
August 16, 2013 By
A policy of coexistence among the Peoples of the Book was pursued by Abd al-Rahman III as such an existence was conducive to economic prosperity. To pursue these ends, the Jewish community was tolerated and protected, while the muwallads, mozarabs and Christian principalities were managed through violence and enforced cooperation within the Iberian Peninsula.
A Fourteenth-Century Augustinian Approach to the Jews in Riccoldo da Monte Croce’s Ad Nationes Orientales
August 4, 2013 By
Riccoldo da Monte Croce (d.1320) was an educated Florentine Dominican preacher who traveled as a pilgrim and missionary in the Middle East between the years c.1288 to 1300.
That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds
August 1, 2013 By
That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds Cam Lindley Cross University of Chicago, December 8 (2010) Abstract “Birds,” writes Albertus Magnus, “generally call more than other animals. This is due to the lightness of their spirits.” Although Albertus here employs “lightness” (levitas) as a technical term, the broader valences of the word […]
“Her Husband Went Overseas”: The Legal and Social Status of Abandoned Jewish Women in Medieval Provence and Languedoc
July 16, 2013 By
This paper deals with the legal term ‘medinat ha-yam’ (meaning ‘overseas”) in Jewish law, which, among other things, refers to a husband abandoning his wife, and to debtors who refuse to pay their debts, and commercial partners who took someone else’s property out of their homeland.
The Jew Who Wasn’t There: Anti-Semitism, Absence and Anxiety in Medieval Scandinavia
July 11, 2013 By
On the 2nd July 1350 in the city of Visby, a man named Diderik was burnt at the stake.
Blood beliefs in early modern Europe
June 29, 2013 By
This thesis focuses on the significance of blood and the perception of the body in both learned and popular culture in order to investigate problems of identity and social exclusion in early modern Europe.
From the Persecuting to the Protective State? Jewish Expulsions and Weather Shocks from 1100 to 1800
June 20, 2013 By
Violence against Jews was caused by many factors, but we build on the common claim advanced by historians that Jews were convenient scape-goats for social and economic ills.
Crisis and Regeneration: the Conversos of Majorca, 1391-1416
June 10, 2013 By
This dissertation investigates the economic, social and political factors that promoted Jewish identification among the first two generations of conversos in Majorca following their baptism in 1391.
Project uses GIS to map Jewish communities of the Byzantine Empire
June 5, 2013 By
Geographic information systems – once limited to the domain of physical geographers – are emerging as a promising tool to study the past, as researchers are discovering for medieval history.
Converso Identities in Late Medieval Spain: Intermediacy and Indeterminacy
May 21, 2013 By
In late medieval Spain, Christian leaders and missionaries developed conversion campaigns to bring Jews into Christianity. Some converts appear to have fully assimilated with their new religion. Those who did not effectively assimilate are known as conversos, members of a group whose beliefs and actions grew increasingly suspect. Historians disagree about conversos. Did conversos want to become Christian despite continued Jewish practices, or were they ‘secret Jews’ who knowingly engaged in the practice of their former religion?
Rare 15th-Century Manuscript of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah purchased by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and The Metropolitan Museum of Art
April 30, 2013 By
The Mishneh Torah was created by Moses Maimonides (d.1204), and is considered one of the most important documents of medieval Jewish law.
Jewish Hawking in Medieval France: Falconry, Rabbenu Tam, and the Tosafists
April 29, 2013 By
Falconry reached an apex in the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, but in the modern era it was displaced to a great extent by the use of firearms. The present article explores the medieval Jewish knowledge of, and especially the exploitation of this technique, centered in twelfth-century Northern France in the communities surrounding the great master Tosafist, Rabbenu Tam.
The Cathedral of Bourges: A Witness to Judeo-Christian Dialogue in Medieval Berry
April 1, 2013 By
Positing any kind of Jewish-Christian “golden age” in Western Europe during the medieval centuries may seem somewhat foolish in light of what happened to Jews between 1240 and 1492: expulsions, forced conversions, social and political ostracism, deprivation of income and compa- rable economic oppression, accusation of and prosecution for so-called “crimes” against Christians, periodic rampages by Crusaders, and other attacks—both physical and mental— which functioned as insults to Judaism.
Why There May Have Been Contacts between Slovenes and Jews before 1000 A.D.
March 16, 2013 By
The first documented evidence of a Jewish presence in Slovenia dates from the 13th century, when Yiddish- and Italian-speaking Jews migrated south from Austria to Maribor and Celje, and east from Italy into Ljubljana. This is a good three centuries after the first mention of Jews in the Austrian lands.
Jews of Medieval Eastern Europe migrated from Caucasus region, study shows
January 22, 2013 By
Despite being one of the most genetically analysed groups, the origin of European Jews has remained obscure.
Was there Race before Modernity? The Example of ‘Jewish’ Blood in Late Medieval Spain
January 20, 2013 By
Less than a lifetime ago many scholars agreed that racial concepts offered reasonable explanations for the differences they perceived between certain human populations.
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