Reassessing Jewish life in Medieval Europe
By: Robert  Chazan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9780521763042; 9780521145435
Description: "This book re-evaluates the prevailing notion that Jews in medieval Christian Europe lived under an appalling regime of ecclesiastical limitation, governmental exploitation and expropriation, and unceasing popular violence. Robert Chazan argues that, while Jewish life in medieval Western Christendom was indeed beset with grave difficulties, it was nevertheless an environment rich in opportunities; the Jews of medieval Europe overcame obstacles, grew in number, explored innovative economic options, and fashioned enduring new forms of Jewish living. His research also provides a reconsideration of the legacy of medieval Jewish life, which is often depicted as equally destructive and projected as the underpinning of the twentieth-century catastrophes of antisemitism and the Holocaust. Dr Chazan's research proves that, although Jewish life in the medieval West laid the foundation for much Jewish suffering in the post-medieval world, it also stimulated considerable Jewish ingenuity, which lies at the root of impressive Jewish successes in the modern West"--

"This book reevaluates the prevailing notion that Jews in medieval Christian Europe lived under an appalling regime of ecclesiastical limitation, governmental exploitation and expropriation, and unceasing popular violence. Robert Chazan argues that, while Jewish life in medieval Western Christendom was indeed beset with grave difficulties, it was nevertheless an environment rich in opportunities; the Jews of medieval Europe overcame obstacles, grew in number, explored innovative economic options, and fashioned enduring new forms of Jewish living. His research also provides a reconsideration of the legacy of medieval Jewish life, which is often depicted as wholly destructive and projected as the underpinning of the twentieth-century catastrophes of antisemitism and the Holocaust"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Prologue: group narratives: tenacity and accuracy; Introduction: the emergence of medieval European Jewry; Part I. Historical Schemes: 1. The Jewish middle age: the Jewish view; 2. The Jewish middle age: the Christian view; 3. The European middle ages; 4. The European Jewish middle ages; Part II. Historical Themes: 5. Demographic movement and change; 6. Economic activity; 7. Status; 8. Relocations within the Christian populace; 9. Identity; Epilogue.