Rome: Images and Influence

This chapter examines the presence of Rome in medieval Jewish life. Both the Jews and the Christians at the time were familiar with—if not deeply interested in—the Roman empire. In fact, there is evidence of Jews' everyday contact with ancient Rome. Considerable segments of Roman history were included in books about the Second Temple period. There were also books dedicated to Rome, as well as additional historical information found in chronicles. Rome was also mentioned in works outside the genres of historiography and travel literature—in ethical books and biblical commentaries, for instance. Before discussing the images of Rome in these books, the chapter first considers Rome's image in the talmudic and midrashic literature. Here, the images, symbolism, and vocabulary of the Talmud determined the content of the collective memory of medieval Jews.

Genres and Motives

This chapter examines the genres and motives behind Jewish chronology during the Middle Ages. Jewish historiography focused on correlating Jewish chronology, general chronology, and Christian chronology. This was a similar approach to Christian writers. The chapter shows that this correlation of Jewish chronology with Christian and general chronology was one of the many components of medieval Jewish–Christian discourse. On the one hand, this suggests that Jews had a unified approach to history, in which they saw themselves as full participants. On the other, the timing and meaning of historical events were part of the religious polemic with Christianity. Religious polemic and apocalypticism were important reasons why Jewish scholars in Spain and southern France engaged in historiography. Other motives included the moral lessons that could be found in history and intellectual curiosity.

Introduction

This introductory chapter considers the extent of Jewish engagement with the historiography of the non-Jewish world—particularly the Christian world—during the Middle Ages. It focuses on the Jews of the Iberian peninsula and ‘Provincia’ (southern France) between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. The chapter briefly demonstrates that these Jews had some knowledge of Christian history and were not indifferent to it. In fact, certain circles of learned Jews regarded the history of other peoples as part of a general culture in which they too shared; hence, there were historical events that they related to and used for didactic and intellectual purposes. From here, the chapter considers whether this consciousness of a shared history extended to shared values. It also looked at what historical concepts Jewish society absorbed or otherwise shared with Christians.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter discusses the major insights of the previous chapters to present a multifaceted picture of Jewish perceptions of Christianity during the Middle Ages. The Jews held both positive and negative perceptions of the Spanish kingdom and of Christianity in general. Moreover, attraction to and repulsion from Christian culture played an important role in Jewish historical consciousness. The attraction and repulsion can be explained by the Jews' status during the Middle Ages as a minority in a mainly Christian society. Yet the chapter also reveals that the mechanisms of integration and co-operation functioned in Spain and southern France. It was a situation unique to these countries during the Middle Ages, and led to adoption, acceptance, and approval, which furthered acceptance by the majority.

History of the Church

This chapter focuses on stories of saints and popes as presented by Jews. In the Middle Ages, the Church had a significant place in Jewish life. The fragile coexistence of Jews and Christians was based on the Augustinian idea of ‘tolerance’, which left room for Jews in the Christian world. Hence, Jewish comments and observations, based on a large and varied number of Christian sources, provide a lot of information about the Church's impact on the Jews' historical consciousness. A considerable portion of the historical information about the Church was acquired from Christian exempla and hagiography, and it is interesting that Jews often used this material in their own exempla.