The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume 6: The Middle Ages: The Christian World

930 Pages·2018·20.578 MB·English

by  Robert Chazan

THE CAMBRIDGE
HISTORY OF JUDAISM
VOLUME VI
THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF JUDAISM
FOUNDINGEDITORS
†
W.D.Davies
†
L.Finkelstein
ALREADYPUBLISHED
Volume1Introduction:ThePersianPeriod
EditedbyW.D.DaviesandLouisFinkelstein
1984,9780521218801
Volume2TheHellenisticAge
EditedbyW.D.DaviesandLouisFinkelstein
1989,9780521219297
Volume3TheEarlyRomanPeriod
EditedbyWilliamHorbury,W.D.DaviesandJohnSturdy
1999,9780521243773
Volume4TheLateRoman-RabbinicPeriod
EditedbyStevenT.Katz
2006,9780521772488
Volume7TheEarlyModernWorld,1500–1815
EditedbyJonathanKarpandAdamSutcliffe
2018,9780521889049
Volume8TheModernWorld,1815–2000
EditedbyMitchellB.HartandTonyMichels
2017,9780521769532
THE CAMBRIDGE
HISTORY OF JUDAISM
VOLUMEVI
THE MIDDLE AGES: THE CHRISTIAN WORLD
VOLUMEEDITOR
ROBERT CHAZAN
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I.Davies,W.D.II.Finkelstein,Louis
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CONTENTS
ListofFigures pageviii
Introduction 1
ROBERT CHAZAN,NewYorkUniversity
part i jews in the medieval christian world 7
1 ThePriorChurchLegacy 9
ROBERT CHAZAN,NewYorkUniversity
2 MedievalChurchDoctrinesandPolicies 32
ANNA SAPIR ABULAFIA,OxfordUniversity
3 MutualPerceptionsandAttitudes 54
DAVID BERGER,YeshivaUniversity,NewYork
4 Byzantium 76
NICHOLAS DE LANGE,UniversityofCambridge
5 Italy 98
TheSouth 98
DAVID ABULAFIA,UniversityofCambridge
TheNorth 117
ROBERT BONFIL,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
6 TheIberianPeninsula 129
TheTransitiontoChristianRule 129
YOM TOV ASSIS†
UnderChristianRule 146
MARK MEYERSON,UniversityofToronto
7 SouthernFrance 185
RAM BEN SHALOM,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
8 NorthwesternEurope 213
ROBERT CHAZAN,NewYorkUniversity
v
vi contents
9 Germany 239
ALFRED HAVERKAMP,TrierUniversity
10 NortheasternEurope 282
NORA BEREND,UniversityofCambridge
part ii social and institutional history 305
11 TheSources 307
EPHRAIM SHOHAM STEINER,Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev,
Beer-Sheva,Israel
12 DemographyandMigrations 335
MICHAEL TOCH,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
13 EconomicActivities 357
MICHAEL TOCH,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
14 CommunalandReligiousOrganization 380
JEFFREY WOOLF,BarIlanUniversity,RamatGan,Israel
15 SchoolsandEducation 393
EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL,YeshivaUniversity,NewYork
16 AnnualCycleandLifeCycle 416
ELISHEVA BAUMGARTEN,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
17 TheFamily 440
ELISHEVA BAUMGARTEN,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
part iii spiritual and intellectual history 463
18 TheSources 465
DANIEL J. LASKER,Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev,
Beer-Sheva,Israel
19 LanguagesandTranslations 485
Languages 485
DAVID M. BUNIS,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
Translations 506
JAMES T. ROBINSON,TheUniversityofChicago
20 BookProduction 535
MALACHI BEIT ARIE´,TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem
21 BibleStudies 555
MARTIN LOCKSHIN,YorkUniversity,Toronto
contents vii
22 TalmudicStudies 582
EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL,YeshivaUniversity,NewYork
23 JewishLaw 620
ALYSSA M. GRAY,HebrewUnionCollege JewishInstitute
ofReligion,NewYork
24 LiturgyandPiyut 648
Liturgy 648
STEFAN C. REIF,UniversityofCambridge
Piyut 664
ELISABETH HOLLENDER,GoetheUniversity,Frankfurt
25 Philosophy 678
MAURO ZONTA†
26 ScienceandMedicine 702
GAD FREUDENTHAL,CentreNationaledelaRechercheScientifique,
Paris
27 Mysticism 742
ELLIOT R. WOLFSON,UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara
28 Belles-Lettres 787
JONATHAN P. DECTER,BrandeisUniversity,Waltham,MA
29 Polemics 813
DANIEL J. LASKER,Ben-GurionUniversityoftheNegev,Beer-Sheva,
Israel
30 Historiography 836
EVA HAVERKAMP,LudwigMaximilianUniversity,Munich
31 MaterialCultureandArt 860
KATRIN KOGMAN APPEL,WestfälischeWilhelms-Universität,
Münster
SuggestedReadings 882
Index 905
FIGURES
9.1 JewishsettlementsintheRegnumteutonicumaround1200 page240
20.1 Mapofthegeo culturaldivisionofthemaintypesofHebrew 546
bookcraftandscript
31.1 SynagogueofIbnShoshan,Toledo,latethirteenthcentury,interior 862
31.2 SynagogueofSamuelHaleviAbulafia,Toledo,1356,architectural 863
decoration
31.3 SynagogueofWorms,begun1174,withlateradditions,capital 865
31.4 Altneushul,Prague,latethirteenthcentury,architecturaldecoration 866
attheentrance
31.5 LeipzigMahzor,Leipzig,Universitätsbibliothek,MSVoller1002 3, 867
˙
vol.II,fol.129r,Worms,c.1310,“TheLilyoftheValley”
31.6 LeipzigMahzor,Leipzig,Universitätsbibliothek,MSVoller1002 3, 868
˙
vol.I,fol.31r,Worms,c.1310,ShabbatShekalim
˙
31.7 BirdHeadsHaggadah,Jerusalem,IsraelMuseum,MS180/57, 871
fol.22v,southernGermany,c.1300,thecollectionofManna
31.8 DamascusKeter,Jerusalem,NationalLibraryofIsrael,cod.4º790, 873
fol.310v,Toledo(?),c.1260withadditionsfromBurgosfromthelate
thirteenthcentury,carpetpage
31.9 PerpignanBible,Paris,BibliothèquenationaledeFrance,codhébr. 874
7,fol.12v,Perpignan,1299,theTempleimplements
31.10 AmbrosianaBible,Milan,BibliotecaAmbrosiana,MS30 32inf., 876
vol.III,fol.135v,southernGermany,1236,“Themessianicbanquet”
viii
INTRODUCTION
robert chazan
Historians writing from the perspective of the modern West have
usually defined the “Middle Ages” as the period between 500 and
1500 and as the epoch during which the Church controlled the major
directions taken by the societies of Christendom. The Renaissance
thinkers who initially coined the locution and those moderns who
subsequently made its usage common were very much focused on
Europe and were profoundly hostile to the medieval epoch. The notion
of a “middle” period in European history was meant to conjure up the
greatness of the earlier Greco-Roman era, the decline fostered by the
victory of Christianity and the Church, and the anticipated revitaliza-
tion of Europe in the spirit of Greece and Rome. The “Middle” of the
Middle Ages was a term of opprobrium.
That opprobrium was heightened during the Enlightenment, when
“medieval” came to symbolize all the ills against which Enlightenment
thinkers railed – dictatorial ecclesiastical powers, obscurantist religious
views, and suppression of innovative and creative thinking. Intense
Enlightenment castigation of medieval civilization and its achievements
eventuallystimulatedaRomanticreactionthatprojectedontotheMiddle
Agestheenduringvirtuesseeminglyabsentinthenew,moresecular,and
moredemocraticera.
With the passage of time, ideologically grounded opprobrium and its
opposite–adulationofthemedievalChurchandmedievalsociety–have
bothgivenwaytomorescholarlydistanceandtotherecognitionthatthe
“Middle Ages” produced highly creative and constructive achievements,
along with much that was harmful and destructive. The broadening of
recent scholarly interests beyond the borders of Europe has enlarged
perspectivesonthe“MiddleAges,”especiallythroughthegrowingaware-
ness that European Christendom was by no means the sole or even the
dominantforceontheWesternsceneduringmuchoftheperiodbounded
by 500 and 1500. Scholars have become increasingly aware of the extent
to which the “Middle Ages” reflect a Eurocentric perspective, and of the
difficulties in applying the notion outside Europe. Recognition of the
1
2 the middle ages: the christian world
range and power of the medieval Islamic world has been one of the most
significantelementsinthisnewerandbroadersenseoftheMiddleAges.
Duringtheseventhcentury,anunanticipatednewreligiousvision and
forceemergedfromtheArabianpeninsula.Muslimarmiesconqueredvast
territories, stretching from central Asia westward to the eastern shores
of the Mediterranean Sea, across North Africa, and onto the European
continent. Within this enormous area, Muslim rulers built effectively on
the foundations of prior civilizations, absorbed much of the learning and
wisdom of the Greco-Roman world, and fashioned multi-ethnic and
multi-religious societies of great terrestrial power and equally great intel-
lectualandspiritualvitality.ThisvastIslamicaterealmincludedtheover-
whelming majority of the world’s Jewish population from the seventh
century through the early centuries of the second Christian millennium.
The concentration of the world’s Jewish population and creativity in the
orbit of Islam during this period is reflected in the decision to devote the
bulk of volume 5 of TheCambridge History of Judaism toJewish commu-
nitiesandJewishlifeunderIslamicruleduringtheMiddleAges.
DuringthefirsthalfoftheMiddleAges,theChristiansphereofpolitical
powerwasdividedintotwosectors.InAsiaMinor,thevenerableEastern
Roman Empire maintained its authority and creativity, grounded in the
teachingsoftheGreekOrthodoxChurch.TheByzantineEmpiresetlimits
totheIslamicconquestalongthenortheasternshoresoftheMediterranean
Sea.Furtherwestward,theRomanChurchprovidedessentialcoherenceto
the diverse principalities of Latin Christendom. While western Christian
armies were eventually successful in halting the Muslim advance across
Europe, Latin Christendom suffered grievous losses and emerged as the
weakest of the three major religio-political blocs of the first half of
the Middle Ages. Buffeted from every direction – by Muslim forces, by
Byzantium,andbyraidingpartiesfromthenorth–therulersofWestern
Christendom during the first half of the Middle Ages were constantly on
the defensive, seeking as best they could to protect their clients and
followersfromthemultitudeofdangersthreateningfromallquarters.
Justastheriseof Islamand theIslamicconquestscouldnothavebeen
foretold during the sixth century, so too the vitalization of Western
Christendom could not have been predicted during the tenth century.
Modemscholarsarenotatallcertainastotheexplanationsforthereversal
of position that enabled Latin Christendom to evolve from the weakest
of the Western blocs to the strongest. The vitalization was more than
simplymilitary.Beginninginthetenthcentury,thepopulationofWestern
Christendom grew rapidly, its economic productivity expanded, urban
life developed impressively, effective governments emerged, the Church
became ever better organized, and wide-ranging cultural and spiritual