Book Review: The catalogue accompanying the exhibition on the Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity is both beautiful and informative
Category: Medieval Books
Atlas of Garments from Late Antiquity
Pictorial Atlas presents a lexicographic overview of all sorts of garments from Late Antiquity through art, archaeological pieces and drawings
The Bishop and the Territory from the 5th to the 13th century
New book by Florian Mazel explores how the church invented this idea of regional sovereignty, which came to inspire the later princely or monarchical states
King Harold Bluetooth’s Cross Coinage
Cross coins dominated the local coinage in Denmark during the late reign of Harold Bluetooth from c. 975 – 90 . Recently, a detailed analysis and catalogue was published.
Ordinary Writing in the 13th Century
New book by Paul Bertrand about “Ordinary Writing” in Northern France and Flanders in the long 13th century follows in the footsteps of Michael T. Clanchy
The Muslim Mercenary in the Mediterranean
Over the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Christian kings of Aragon recruited thousands of foreign Muslim soldiers to serve in their armies and as members of their royal courts. The Mercenary Mediterranean explores this little-known and misunderstood history.
Austrian Master Tailors from the 16th century
Manuscripts containing Tailors' patterns from the 16th century may not be that rare as they were used to help apprentices to pass their exams and become master tailors. However, they are often overlooked in libraries. Now three have been transcribed and fully edited.
Religion and Rulership in Late Iron Age Scandinavia
Comparative archaeological and cultural historical explorations of Late Iron Age Society in Scandinavia have uncovered a complex religious landscape
Making Early Medieval Societies
What held small- and large-scale communities of the late Roman and early medieval West together, at a time when the world seemed to be falling apart? New book explores this question from an interdisciplinary perspective
Approaches to Poverty in Medieval Europe
In a new book on "Approaches to Poverty in Medieval Europe" Sharon Farmer and a number of medievalists explores different aspects of poverty before and after the late medieval crisis
Medieval History Books 2016
Totally unfair, we have highlighted a handful of books on Medieval History, which we are looking forward to in 2016
The Materiality of Devotion
Devotion and Spirituality are highly sensual and materialistic practices. This book explores the devotional world of late medieval northern Europe
The Origins of Papal Infallibility
The medieval roots of the doctrine of papal infallibility are traced in this new book by Donald S. Prudlo
Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West
Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West provides an insight into how the Arabic-Islamic world perceived medieval Western Europe in an age that is usually associated with the rise and expansion of Islam, the Spanish Reconquista, and the Crusades
Medieval Jews and the Christian Past
The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the medieval Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and culture
Medieval Jews and the Christian Past: Jewish Historical Consciousness in Spain and Southern France
by Ram Ben-Shalom (Author) with Chaya Naor (Translator)
Littman Library Of Jewish Civilization 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1904113904
ISBN-10: 1904113907
ABSTRACT:
The historical consciousness of medieval Jewry has engendered lively debate in the scholarly world. The focus in this book is on the historical consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages, and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and culture. In his detailed analysis of Jews’ understanding of the history of the communities they lived among, Ram Ben-Shalom shows that in these southern European lands Jews experienced a relatively open society that was sensitive to and knowledgeable about voices from other cultures, and that this had significant consequences for shaping Jewish historical consciousness. Among the topics that receive special attention are what Jews knew of the significance of Rome, of Jesus and the early days of Christianity, of Church history, and of the history of the Iberian monarchies. Ben-Shalom demonstrates that, despite the negative stereotypes of Jewry prevalent in Christian literature and increasing familiarity with that literature, they were more influenced by their interactions with Christian society at the local level. Consequently, there was no single stereotype that dominated Jewish thought, and frequently little awareness of the two cultures as representing distinct theologies.
This book contributes to medieval Jewish intellectual history on many levels, demonstrating that, in Spain and southern France, Jews of the later Middle Ages evinced a genuine interest in history, including the history of non-Jews, and that in some cases they were deeply familiar with Christian and sometimes also classical historiography. In providing a comprehensive survey of the multiple contexts in which historiographical material was embedded and the many uses to which it was put, it enriches our understanding of medieval historiography, polemic, Jewish-Christian relations, and the breadth of interests characterizing Provencal and Spanish Jewish communities. This fascinating and well-documented study will appeal not only to scholars of Jewish studies and of medieval history and literature, but also to those interested in Christian history and historiography and in the long saga of Jewish-Christian relations. The Hebrew edition of the book was awarded the Samuel Toledano Prize for its contribution to understanding the Sephardi part in its Christian context.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ram Ben-Shalom is Professor of the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Director of the Center Hispania Judaica; he is a member of the academic board of I-Core Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters and chair of the International Society for Sephardic Studies. He has served as head of the Department of History, Philosophy, and Judaic Studies at the Open University of Israel. He has been a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He has published widely on medieval European Jewish history and is a specialist in the Jewish–Christian discourse of the Middle Ages. The Hebrew edition of the present volume, published in 2006, was awarded the Samuel Toledano Prize for its contribution to understanding the Sephardi past in its Christian context. He is the co-editor of Conflict and Religious Conversation in Latin Christendom (2014). His The Jews of Provence: Renaissance in the Shadow of the Church (Hebrew) is forthcoming, and his current projects include an edition of the letters of a Jewish scribe in Aragon and a study of Isaac Nathan of Arles.
FEATURED PHOTO:
Expulsion of Jews. From: Grandes Chroniques de France 1182
Voice and Voicelessness in Medieval Europe
Voice and Voicelessness in Medieval Europe forges connections between medieval voices and contemporary ones, giving "voices" to a fresh generation of scholars