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Jewish Communities in Medieval Europe: An Overview
A plain overview of where Jews lived in medieval Europe, how their communities governed themselves, how they earned a living and how their legal position changed.
Faith and Health
Jews in Medieval Europe
Jewish communities, scholarship, restrictions and expulsions.
Blood Libel and Persecution in the Middle Ages
How the false blood libel accusation began in twelfth-century England, spread across Europe, and led to killings of Jews, despite repeated rejection by popes and rulers.
Jewish Moneylending and Royal Taxation
How medieval kings, especially in England, used Jewish lenders as a source of credit and revenue, taxed them heavily, and sometimes ruined them when the money ran short.
Maimonides: Physician and Philosopher
The life of Moses Maimonides, from Cordoba to Cairo: his law code, his Guide of the Perplexed, his medical writing and his lasting influence on Jewish and Christian thought.
Rashi and Medieval Jewish Scholarship
Who Rashi was, how his clear commentary on the Bible and Talmud shaped Jewish study, and how the schools of the Rhineland and northern France carried his work forward.
The Cairo Geniza and What It Reveals
What the Cairo Geniza is, how its hoard of medieval documents was found, and what the letters, contracts and fragments reveal about trade, family life and everyday affairs.
The Expulsion of Jews from England in 1290
Why Edward I ordered Jews out of England in 1290: the decline of Jewish finance, church and popular pressure, the royal bargain with Parliament, and what happened next.
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Monasteries and Orders Monks, monasteries and the military religious orders. Medicine and Healing Doctors, herbs, theories and beliefs about illness and magic. Philosophy and Theology How medieval thinkers joined faith and reason. The Black Death The plague of the 1300s and its effects on society. Inquisition and Heresy How medieval church courts pursued heresy, and what the records really show. Saints and Mystics Holy men and women, visionaries and a martyr. Theologians and Reformers Thinkers who shaped and challenged Church teaching. The Church and Its Power How the medieval church was organized and how it used its influence. Afterlife and Purgatory What people believed about death, heaven, hell and purgatory. Sin, Salvation and Virtue Medieval ideas about sin, salvation, providence and the virtues. Pilgrimage, Relics and Shrines Holy journeys, saints bones and the shrines that drew travelers.