! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ©2017! Brooke!Falk! ALL!RIGHTS!RESERVED! ASSAULTS ON THE FAITH: IMAGINING JEWS AND CREATING CHRISTIANS IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES By BROOKE FALK A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Art History Written under the direction of Dr. Laura Weigert And approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey January, 2017 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Assaults on the Faith: Imagining Jews and Creating Christians in the Late Middle Ages By BROOKE FALK Dissertation Director: Laura Weigert My dissertation examines manuscripts and early printed books of the “Fortress of Faith” (Fortalitium fidei) as influential works in late medieval constructions of Jewish and Christian identity. I argue that the “Fortress of Faith” moves beyond traditional polemics in its comprehensive use of popular argumentative approaches, particularly in its use of images, which appealed to a variety of late medieval audiences. I suggest a revised stemma, giving preference to the influence of woodcuts over miniatures. Through both types of images, Christians were armed with mental pictures of themselves as knights guarding a Christian fortress. The first two chapters study surviving manuscripts and incunabula of the text with regard to their material execution, visual imagery, verbal content, and regional production and dissemination. The presentation of the text evolved with its shifting audience from the time it was composed around 1460 by a Castilian Franciscan friar to the time it was translated into French and illuminated around 1480 and also while it was printed numerous times between 1471 and 1525. A third chapter addresses the “Fortress of Faith’s” role in shaping communal memory. It verbally and visually underscored the perceived dangers non-Christians posed to Christianity and suggested the unique danger ii that the faith’s own delinquents posed toward it. The final chapter focuses on the hermeneutical Jew represented in the “Fortress of Faith” and beyond. In this text the “bad Jew,” so familiar in the medieval world, became the template for the much more broadly defined monstrous “other.” My analyses show how the images of the preaching manual within the Latin manuscript and incunabula and French manuscripts of the “Fortress of Faith” contributed to the text’s slandering of its enemies: heretics, Jews, Muslims, and demons. The body of images appropriated the visual symbols of courtly romance for new use in molding religious identity. For readers of the Fortalitium fidei, the fortress became the central feature in a universal program of animosity toward Jews and other non-Christians. This message was significant in its historical moment, affecting the understanding of medieval Jews, but also modeling their treatment throughout the early modern period in Europe. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project, my constant companion, has been a labor of love, but I would be remiss in saying that all of the labor was my own. Many contributed in unique ways to help me complete my research and writing and build a teaching portfolio. From my academic program to my teaching appointments to my dear friends and family, my debts of gratitude will follow me far into the future. My first thank you must go to my advisor, Laura Weigert, whose own work so inspires mine. Though I had adamantly denied I would work on manuscripts and/or Jewish-Christian relationships, my interest in these things was piqued during my very first encounter with her work, and her expert guidance lead me to a topic with which I remain fascinated. Her patience with my “I want it all” attitude has been a remarkable source of reassurance over the years, and I will be forever grateful. The members of my dissertation committee provided crucial support at various stages of my graduate career. Erik Thunø must be thanked for taking a chance on an unknown applicant and challenging me to mature as an art historian and a medievalist. Sarah McHam’s thoughtful comments were integral in the final conception of my argument, and her encouragement during and after coursework was much appreciated. My outside reader, Nina Rowe of Fordham University, both indirectly and directly inspired my work. Her work continually arose as important source material for my own research, and suggestions for improving the dissertation draft were invaluable as the project came to a close. Several other faculty members in the Department of Art History at Rutgers University made helpful suggestions for avenues of research, and teaching appointments for summer courses and writing courses, as well as a position in the Visual iv Resources Collection provided crucial financial assistance while I resided away from home. Some earlier influences on my career as an art historian include the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a public residential high school for the arts, which taught me to pursue the unexpected and to delight in the process. At the College of Charleston, my advisors, Tessa Garton and David Kowal, became lifelong friends. Although they both now live in very different parts of the world, their presence remains in my work. The College of Charleston Honors College has been a source of support since before I entered graduate school. They supported my unorthodox research plans as a wide-eyed twenty-one-year-old, and upon my return to Charleston several years later, Dean John Newell entrusted me with the art history component of the Honors College’s annual Western Civilization Colloquium. With the blessing of the current Dean, Trisha Folds-Bennett, I have now taught in the colloquium six times and developed two other interdisciplinary courses for Honors students. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the finest and most supportive students and colleagues one could hope for. Thank you especially to my sounding board, Cristy Landis; my ambitious partner in crime, Lauren Humphreys; my soul sister, Jennifer Cavalli; and my life coach, Bryan Ganaway. Further thanks go to all of my students, but especially Ellie Smith and those students from the Fall semesters of 2015 and 2016. I have often said that the advantage of my dissertation project is also its disadvantage. The quantity of primary sources of the “Fortress of Faith” is both rewarding and overwhelming, and my research has taken me to a number of institutions. v The kind curators and librarians at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme in Paris, the British Library in London, the Bodleian and College Libraries at Oxford University, and the Brooklyn Museum and Pierpont Morgan Library in New York made the work of research enjoyable no matter the circumstance. That being said, much of that research was made possible via funding from the Department of Art History at Rutgers University, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and a 2010 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute in Oxford, England. The last of these also prompted the codifying of my project as I worked with incomparable faculty lead by Irven Resnick and other scholars, many of whom I continue to admire. True friends have the privilege of occasionally seeing you at your best but, more importantly, the responsibility of remaining steadfast when you are at your worst. The same is true of friends from graduate school. I have fond memories with many friends from my program, but a few need special acknowledgment. Thank you to Jenevieve de los Santos Montayne, who was there on the first and the last day; to Becky Shields Xhoxhi, who understood my balancing act; to Carly Jane Steinborn, who helped me find my topic and make it my own; to David Boffa, who reminded me there was more to life than work; to Benjamin Eldredge, who understood me without explanation; and to Hilary Haakenson, who shared my ice cream, wandered the streets of New York with me, and stood beside me on my wedding day. Finally, I owe so much to my family, who supported me even if some did not understand me. Thank you to my Aunt Dee and Uncle Bobby, who kept me and fed me rent-free for over three years; to my mother- and father-in-law, who patiently waited for vi me to finish and lovingly cared for my children so that I could keep working; to my Dad, who reminded me that the only failure was in giving up; to my Mom, who believed in me as both a scholar and a mother and who often shared my sleepless nights; and to my sisters and brothers (Lexi, Nathan, Cassie, Sarah, and Josh) for always being there and for sometimes coming to my rescue. Thank you to my children, Tyson and Max, and my husband, Chris, for showing me the joy in every day. You give me a life worthy of envy. vii DEDICATION ~ For my children, without whom this project would have been completed much faster, and for my husband, my own fortress, without whom it might never have been finished at all. ~ viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ii. Abstract iv. Acknowledgments viii. Dedication ix. Table of Contents x. List of Illustrations 1. Introduction: Turris fortitudinis a facie inimici 17. Chapter Two: The Manuscripts of the Fortalitium fidei and the Forteresse de la foy 88. Chapter Three: Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Editions of the Fortalitium fidei 130. Chapter Four: History Meets Memory 184. Chapter Five: One Enemy to Define Them All 217. Conclusion: Discerning the “Other” and Erasing the Self 222. Appendix I: Manuscripts of the Fortalitium fidei 223. Appendix II: Printed Editions of the Fortalitium fidei 224.