Jewish Life in Medieval Spain

Jewish Life in Medieval Spain
Author: Jonathan Ray
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2023-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1512823848

Jewish Life in Medieval Spain is a detailed exploration of the Jewish experience in medieval Spain from the dawn of Sephardic society in the ninth century to the expulsion of 1492. An important contribution of the book is the integration of the rise and fall of Jewish life in Muslim al-Andalus into the history of the Jews in medieval Christian Spain. It traces the collapse of Jewish life in Muslim Spain, the emigration of Andalusi Jewry to the lands of Christian Iberia, and the long and difficult confluence of these two distinct Jewish subcultures. Focusing on internal developments of Jewish society, it offers a narrative of Jewish history from the inside out, bringing to light the various divisions and rivalries within the Jewish community. This approach, in turn, allows for a deeper understanding of the complex relations between Spanish Jews and their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Jonathan Ray's original perspective on the Jewish experience is particularly instructive when considering the widescale anti-Jewish riots of 1391. The combination of violence and mass conversion of the Jews irrevocably shifted the dynamics of inter-religious relations as well as those within the Jewish community itself. Yet even in the wake of these tragic events, the Jews of Spain continued to flourish, fostering a culture that they would carry into exile and that would preserve the memory of Jewish Spain for centuries to come.

The Ornament of the World

The Ornament of the World
Author: Maria Rosa Menocal
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2009-11-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0316092797

This classic bestseller — the inspiration for the PBS series — is an "illuminating and even inspiring" portrait of medieval Spain that explores the golden age when Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance (Los Angeles Times). This enthralling history, widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where for more than seven centuries Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and where literature, science, and the arts flourished. "It is no exaggeration to say that what we presumptuously call 'Western' culture is owed in large measure to the Andalusian enlightenment...This book partly restores a world we have lost." —Christopher Hitchens, The Nation

The Sephardic Frontier

The Sephardic Frontier
Author: Jonathan Ray
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801474514

Reveals a fluid, often volatile society that transcended religious boundaries and attracted Jewish colonists from throughout the peninsula and beyond.

A History of the Jews in Christian Spain

A History of the Jews in Christian Spain
Author: Yitzhak Baer
Publisher: Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society of America
Total Pages: 486
Release: 1961
Genre: History
ISBN:

Volume II: In the second volume of his classic exploration of the Spanish-Jewish community, Baer covers such major historical events as the Spanish Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. This work examines the effect of church policy on the Jewish population in the 15th century, and the points at which Jewish culture as a whole was altered by Spain's actions.

Jewish Life in the Middle Ages

Jewish Life in the Middle Ages
Author: Israel Abrahams
Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
Total Pages: 479
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN: 0827605420

This classic work of scholarship illustrates the richness, complexity, and fullness of medieval Jewish life. Readers will discover how much was hidden from the inquisitive and often hostile gaze of Christian Europe. Israel Abrahams vividly details the customs, manners, and mores, and delves into the social culture of Jewish life at this time.

A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain

A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain
Author: Mark D. Meyerson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2021-02-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400832586

This book significantly revises the conventional view that the Jewish experience in medieval Spain--over the century before the expulsion of 1492--was one of despair, persecution, and decline. Focusing on the town of Morvedre in the kingdom of Valencia, Mark Meyerson shows how and why Morvedre's Jewish community revived and flourished in the wake of the horrible violence of 1391. Drawing on a wide array of archival documentation, including Spanish Inquisition records, he argues that Morvedre saw a Jewish "renaissance." Meyerson shows how the favorable policies of kings and of town government yielded the Jewish community's demographic expansion and prosperity. Of crucial importance were new measures that ceased the oppressive taxation of the Jews and minimized their role as moneylenders. The results included a reversal of the credit relationship between Jews and Christians, a marked amelioration of Christian attitudes toward Jews, and greater economic diversification on the part of Jews. Representing a major contribution to debates over the Inquisition's origins and the expulsion of the Jews, the book also offers the first extended analysis of Jewish-converso relations at the local level, showing that Morvedre's Jews expressed their piety by assisting Valencia's conversos. Comparing Valencia with other regions of Spain and with the city-states of Renaissance Italy, it makes clear why this kingdom and the town of Morvedre were so ripe for a Jewish revival in the fifteenth century.

Art of Estrangement

Art of Estrangement
Author: Pamela Anne Patton
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2012
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0271053836

"Examines the influential role of visual images in reinforcing the efforts of Spain's Christian-ruled kingdoms to renegotiate the role of their Jewish minority following the territorial expansions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries"--Provided by publisher.

Jews of Spain

Jews of Spain
Author: Jane S. Gerber
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1994-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0029115744

The history of the Jews of Spain is a remarkable story that begins in the remote past and continues today. For more than a thousand years, Sepharad (the Hebrew word for Spain) was home to a large Jewish community noted for its richness and virtuosity. Summarily expelled in 1492 and forced into exile, their tragedy of expulsion marked the end of one critical phase of their history and the beginning of another. Indeed, in defiance of all logic and expectation, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain became an occasion for renewed creativity. Nor have five hundred years of wandering extinguished the identity of the Sephardic Jews, or diminished the proud memory of the dazzling civilization, which they created on Spanish soil. This book is intended to serve as an introduction and scholarly guide to that history.