History 217/ Religion 214
Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe
Spring 2000
Professor: Deeana Klepper
Office and Hours:
Stetson H12 ext. 2125
Monday 10-12, or by appointment
e-mail: deeana.c.klepper@williams.edu
Schedule: February March April May
Course Description: The relationship between Jews and Christians in medieval Europe was extremely complex and marked by many contradictions. Though they comprised distinct communities with distinct cultures, to a great extent Jews and Christians lived side by side in relative harmony from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. After that point, conditions for Jews deteriorated; restrictions on Jewish economic activity and social interaction, ritual murder charges, the trial and burning of the Talmud, and forced sermons and disputations culminated in the expulsion of Jews from much of Western Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But even during that precarious time, the two communities continued to influence each other. This class will explore positive as well as negative encounters between Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages and wrestle with the difficult question of why Latin Christendom ceased to tolerate the Jewish community in its midst. Subjects will include social relations, economic ties, intellectual and cultural exchanges and influences, the Crusades, the influence of converts/apostates, the attack on the Talmud, changing images of The Other, Christian missionizing and the expulsion from Western Lands.
Required Texts: available for purchase at Water St. Books or on 24 hour reserve at Sawyer Library
Gilbert Dahan, The Christian Polemic Against the Jews in the Middle Ages
Jacob Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance: Studies in Jewish-Gentile Relations in Medieval and Modern Times
Ivan Marcus, Rituals of Childhood: Jewish Acculturation in Medieval Europe
Sharan Newman, Strong as Death
Kenneth Stow, Alienated Minority
Not required, but recommended: Eli Barnavi, ed., A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People
Also: a packet of photocopies, available in the History Office (abbreviated as CP below)
Students are expected to bring all reading materials to class on the day(s) they are assigned.
Course Requirements: Students are expected to attend and participate in every class. All reading is to be completed before the class for which it is assigned. The class participation grade will be based on the level of your preparedness and involvement in discussion. In order to participate you must complete the reading and be prepared to discuss the issues raised by the readings. Written work for the class will include one short analytical paper based on primary sources, a 6-8 page historiographical essay on any subject related to the course material (subject to my approval) and a final exam. The grading for the course will be as follows: 20% for class participation, 25% for each of the two papers, and 30% for the final exam. Please note that students must complete all written work in order to receive a passing grade for the class.
Kenyon College's "In the Margins" project
Labyrinth web guide to medieval studies
Catholic Encyclopedia On Line helpful reference for medieval Church and Christianity
Judaism 101 not quite the Encyclopedia Judaica (on cd rom in Sawyer) but a useful introductory guide
Medieval On Line Reference Book Guide to Medieval Terms [this is a fairly large file -146 kb]
Netserf's Guide to Medieval Terms
1. Thursday, Feb 3 Introduction: Issues in the Study of Medieval Jewish-Christian Interaction
Reading: G. Langmuir, "Majority History and Post-biblical Jews," Toward a Definition of Antisemitism, 21-41 [CP]
2. Tues, Feb 8 Background: Jew and Gentile in Late Antiquity
Readings: Stow, ch. 1 & 2; J. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World, 103-106 [CP]
Web doc: Paul's Epistle to the Romans, ch 2-4
3. Thursday, Feb 10 The Jewish Presence in Europe: Sepharad and Ashkenaz
Readings: B. Bacharach, The Jews in Early Medieval Europe, 44-83 [CP]
Web doc: trade routes of the Radanites
4. Tues, Feb 15 Economic Integration
Readings: M. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross. The Jews in the Middle Ages 78-103; I. Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, 245-248 [CP]
Web docs: Settlement charter in Speyer; Jewish Christian partnership in Barcelona 1242
5. Thurs, Feb 17 Communal Autonomy in a Corporate Society
Readings: Stow, ch. 8; D. Biale, Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, 58-86 [CP]
6. Tues, Feb 22 The Crusades
Readings: R. Chazan, European Jewry and the First Crusade, 169-222; R. Chazan, Church, State, and Jew,100-108 [CP]
Web docs: Fulcher of Chartres on Urban II's sermon on Crusade; Hebrew account of the Mainz massacre, 1096; Two Latin accounts of the massacre
7. Thurs, Feb 24 Acculturation: Sepharad
Readings: J. Gerber, The Jews of Spain. A History of the Sephardic Experience, 59-89; 91-114; O. R. Constable, Medieval Iberia, 84-102; 198-202 [CP]
8. Tues, Feb 29 Acculturation: Ashkenaz
Readings: Stow, ch. 6; I. Marcus, Rituals of Childhood, 1-17; 74-127
9. Thurs, Mar 2 Parallel Pursuits: Study of the Bible
Readings: Stow, ch. 7; TBA [CP]
10. Tues, Mar 7 Parallel Pursuits: Study of Philosophy
Readings: Maimonides (Rambam), Guide of the Perplexed, I, 35-39; II, 13-17 ; J. Marcus, Jew in the Medieval World, 189-191, "An Invective Against the New Learning," Bishop Stephen of Tournai (1192-1203) [CP]
Web docs: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Question I; Summa Contra Gentiles, II, 31-38; AverroÎs, On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy, Introduction and Problem First
11. Thurs, Mar 9 Tolerance and Intolerance: Jewish Perspectives
Readings: J. Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance, Introduction and Part I; G. Remer, "Ha-Me'iri's Theory of Religious Toleration," Beyond the Persecuting Society. Religious Toleration before the Enlightenment, J. Laursen and C. Nederman, eds., 71-91 [CP]
12. Tues, Mar 14 Tolerance and Intolerance: Christian Perspectives
Readings: R.I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting society, ch. 3, "Purity and Danger"; C. Nederman, "Discourses and Contexts of Tolerance in Medieval Europe," Beyond the Persecuting Society. Religious Toleration before the Enlightenment, J. Laursen and C. Nederman, eds., 13-24 [CP]
Web docs: Selections from the Fourth Lateran Council: A-general; B-heresy; C-Jews; Innocent III on the Jews
First Paper Due
13. Thurs, Mar 16 Imagining Jewish-Christian Encounter
Readings: S. Newman, Strong As Death
Spring Break Mar 17-April 2
14. Tues, Apr 4 Thirteenth-Century Decline?
Readings: Stow, ch. 11
Web docs: Richard I to the Jews of England 1190; Charter of the Duke of Austria 1244; The Seven Part Code, Castile, 1265
15. Thurs, Apr 6 The Blood Libel
Readings: G. Langmuir, "The Knight's Tale of Young Hugh of Lincoln," 237-262; R. Chazan, Church, State, and Jew, 123-128 [CP]
Web docs: William of Norwich, 1144 and Chaucer's Prioress's Tale, 1380
16. Tues, Apr 11 Host Desecration Accusations
Readings: M. Rubin, Gentile Tales. The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews, 1-57; 190-198 [CP]
17. Thurs, Apr 13 Trial of the Talmud
Readings: R. Chazan, Church, State and Jew in the Middle Ages, 221-238 [CP]
18. Tues, Apr 18 Moneylending and the Jews
Readings: Stow, ch. 10; R. Chazan, Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages, 197-217; J. Schatzmiller, Shylock Reconsidered, 84-126 [CP]
19. Thurs, Apr 20 1st Day Passover, No Class
20. Tues, Apr 25 Christian Mission
Readings: R. Chazan, Daggers Of Faith: Thirteenth-Century Christian Missionizing And Jewish Response, 7-24; 67-85; 159-181 [CP]
Second Paper Due
21. Thurs, Apr 27 Polemic and Disputation
Readings: G. Dahan, The Christian Polemic against the Jews in the Middle Ages, 1-40; 81-119; R. Chazan, Church, State and Jew in the Middle Ages, 265-276 [CP]
Web docs: Gilbert Crispin and Toledoth Yeshu- a polemical retelling of the life of Jesus
Film: The Disputation
22. Tues, May 2 Conversion
Readings: Katz, Exclusiveness and Tolerance, ch. 6; R. Stacey, "The Conversion of Jews to Christianity in Thirteenth-Century England" Speculum 67 no. 2 (April, 1992), 263-283 [CP]
Web docs: Converts to Judaism and Gerald of Wales' Report and Anselm of Canterbury
23. Thurs, May 4 Rethinking Violence in Christian-Jewish relations
Readings: D. Nirenberg, Communities of Violence, 200-230 [CP]
Web doc: Jews and the plague
24. Tues, May 9 Expulsion and its aftermath
Readings: Stow, ch. 12; O. R. Constable, Medieval Iberia, 352-363 [CP]
Web doc: An Italian Hebrew account of the Spanish Expulsion
25. Thurs, May 11 Final Session: Bringing things together
May 13-16 Reading Period
May 17-22 Final Exams
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