CATTEDRA PER LA TEOLOGIA DEL POPOLO DI DIO the Jewish Hat As

CATTEDRA PER LA TEOLOGIA DEL POPOLO DI DIO PRESSO LA PONTIFICIA UNIVERSITÀ LATERANENSE questions that paintings pose—2 by bruno alber

The Jewish hat as a form of objection

In the previous section of our series “questions that paintings pose” we realized that apart from a few exceptions the Christian majority society had no home place for the Synagogue for more than two thousand years. Furthermore, the Synagogue was subject to constant humiliation, rejection, mockery, and vilification, which in turn ended in most cases in pogroms and waves of expulsions. This applies partic- ularly to the times of ecclesiastic anti-Judaism. But even during the darkest chapters in church history objections can be found, either in form of words or in pictures. Today we will have a closer look at the latter.

In a first discourse we will look at three presentations, which rose objections against anti-Judaism—on the occasion of pogroms against the Jews and their expulsion. They phrased their objection in an almost absurd way by turning great Old Testa- ment characters into people of their own time, supplying them with a Jewish hat.

After the turn of the millennium, the pointed hat or the Phrygian cap 1 had become the distinguishing attribute of the Jews, stigmatizing them publicly. Now, ecclesias- tical employers or their craftspeople respectively used this attribute like a riposte to voice their protest against this social discrimination. They put the reviled hat on biblical characters, thus transforming it to a badge of honor and reminding the spectators that all of our ancestors in faith were Jews.

Fig. 1: The so-called windows of the prophets in the Cathedral of Augsburg: Jonah, Daniel, Hosea, David and Moses. The source of the pictures can be found on page 6.

In the Cathedral of Augsburg (fig. 1) the windows of the prophets contain five presentations, which impressively illustrate this phenomenon. They are located high above in the Southern clearstory. They show in the Hebrew reading order (sic!) from right to left Moses, David, Hosea, Daniel and Jonah. Let us dwell for a mo- ment on the Daniel window (fig. 2).

Like the other glass-windows it does not show the prophet in an antique-like gar- ment but dressed like a nobleman from the first part of the 12th century: calf-length tunic and cloak, stockings and cuffed shoes—and wearing the Jewish felt hat. The others are dressed in a similar way, with the exception of King David. He wears a crown, similar to the German imperial crown.

These presentations only make sense in light of the shock of the pogroms against the Jews during the time of the crusades (1st crusade from autumn 1096 till July 15, 1099) 2. They support the findings of modern research, which dates the time of origin for these windows in Augs- burg in the first half of the 12th century.3 They are the oldest and best-preserved glass-windows in the Occident.

Some researchers interpret the quota- tion from the book of Daniel also as a reference to the political upheavals in Augsburg in 1132. In the course of the enthronement of King Lothar II of Sup- plinburg (1075–1137) large parts of the city were destroyed and the cathedral severely damaged.

Daniel, who is depicted from the front, is holding an S-shaped banner in his left hand, his right hand pointing toward it. The complete half-verse, quoted ac- cording to the Vulgate is saying: „ET OS- TENDE FACIEM TUAM SUPER SANC-

Fig. 2: Prophet Daniel. Glass-window from the Cathe- TUARIUM TUUM, QUOD DESERTUM dral in Augsburg, 1st half of the 12th century. EST, PROPTER TEMET IPSUM“ (= for

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your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary) (Dan 9,17b).

The employers of that time wanted to make clear: the edification of the Church will only succeed by living the message as a result of the correct interpreting and understanding the Scriptures of Israel and not by persecuting the Jews.

The second example is similar—though even more to the point: The Fécamp Bi- ble (fig. 3) takes us to France to the long time period between the first crusade and the final expulsion of all the Jews from the French heartland in 1306. The period is characterized by several at- tempts by local kings to remedy their chronically ailing state treasury by mak- ing use of Jewish property—like other European rulers. The Jews after all were their serfs. Thus, expulsion (after having transferred all assets) alternated with the call to return (combined with special taxes). 4

In the end, in 1306 king Philipp IV (his reign lasted from 1285–1314) tried again to make money by wresting their property from two unloved minorities: first the Jewish communities 5 and then the Order of the Knights Templar. In both cases the foulest of accusations were used. Since state and Church were too Fig. 3: Initial “L” with “tree [or root] of Jesse”, Fécamp-Bible, Paris, 3rd quarter of 13th century. closely intertwined, nothing endangered this abuse of power.

The criticism of these criminal machinations was all the more sharply expressed by the initial illuminations of the Fécamp Bible. The Bible was named after the famous Abbey of Fécamp (Normandy), from which area the manuscript stems. It does not only contain an extensive explanation of the Hebrew names but also dresses Yishai (=Jesse) with a Jewish hat, in order to call the problem “radically” (radix Jesse) by its name. If the root—symbolized by the sleeping Yishai, father of king David—and all

other ancestors were Jews, then also the offspring. Yishai’s Jewish hat testifies that Jesus is a Jew. A courageous combination.

The third example (fig. 4) continues consequently along these lines. There the Jew- ish hat appears on Jesus himself—on the risen Christ. The story behind it can be reconstructed easily. It is placed in England during the third crusade (1189–1192), more precisely in York in the year 1190.6 The money needed to finance this mil- itary expedition was not only tak- en from special taxes but most- ly from Jewish money lenders and had to be re- paid. As we have learned from the previous example, there existed other ways and Fig. 4: Christ with two disciples at supper in Emmaus, detail from the Leiden means to circum- Psalter (see fig. 5). vent the straight path: Soon the wildest horror tales against the Jews circulated, even charges of ritual murder.

But it did not stop there.

The riots against the Jews in Lynn, Norwich, and Stanford in spring 1190 culmi- nated in the massacre of York in the night from March 16 to March 17 (the Shab- bat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath before Passover). All resident Jews, although they could initially flee to the royal fortress Clifford’s Tower, were murdered by the mob

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Abb. 5: Easter cycle, double page from the Leiden Psalter (also called Psalter of Louis the Saint), between 1190 and 1200, left: the three women at the empty tomb with angel; beneath: Christ in the underworld ; right: “Noli-me-tangere” scene and supper in Emmaus, beneath: the risen Lord and Thomas.

and their property confiscated.7 The king was abroad, and the nobility (including the bishop) were at loggerheads.

This pogrom provided an occasion for the courageous archbishop of York, Geof- frey Plantagenet (1152–1212), a half-brother to King Richard the Lionheart, to inter- vene at least in an iconographic way. Though he could not inhibit the murderers he ordered his illuminating artist to choose this visual imagery. Even 800 years later the spectator may observe the determination of the bishop, ordering his artist to portray the supper at Emmaus in the Easter event in exactly that way and in no other (fig. 5). Even the insinuated architecture—of the heavenly Jerusalem— may be seen as a reference to the fortress in York. And the pleats of the tablecloth flicker like the fires of the pogrom. A sign of mourning in recognition of those ap- proximately 150 Jews who found their death then.8 And as a beacon: whoever kills Jews, kills the risen Lord.

On the whole, this protest was too isolated and too weak in order to turn around the destiny of the Jews. 9 In 1290, one hundred years later, all of them were evict- ed from England and only in 1655 negotiations started between Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) and Rabbi Samuel Menasseh ben Israel (1604–1657) discussing the re- settlement of Jews in Great Britain. In 1664 these negotiations were completed successfully.

Image sources:

Fig. 1 and 2: picture by Hans Bernhard, 2010, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode,

Fig. 3: The British Library, BL, Yates Thomas Ms. 1, f. 419v. Detailed record for Yates Thompson 1

Fig. 4 and 5: Leiden University Libraries, Ms. BPL 76A, fol. 26v-27r, England (York?), http://hdl.handle. net/1887.1/item:1611715

Endnotes

1 The oldest preserved presentation of a Jewish hat dates back to the „Precious Gospel Book of Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim“ (Cathedral Museum Hildesheim) from the year 1015 (e.g. the three Wise Men at the manger). Initially, this Jewish hat is just a neutral sign and signifies in the language of iconography the oriental origin of the carrier. Interestingly, at the same time the bishops introduced the pointed Mitra as new head covering instead of the former headband.

2 After the massacre in 1066 (“Gezerot Tatnu“) in Granada, where more than 1500 Jewish families were killed (= between 4000 and 5000 people) by the Islamic rule, in February 1096 the first organized pogroms against the Jews took place in the Rhineland, in Western Christendom. This so-called ”peasants- crusade“ took place before the first knights-crusade.

3 Earlier interpretations saw the date of origin as identical with the consecration date of the cathedral in 1065.

4 Louis IX, called Louis the Saint, (reigned 1226–1270) ordered the confiscation of all Jewish property in order to compensate for his own debts in 1268 and again in 1269. He forced his Jewish subjects to carry the Rouelle (French for ”disc“), a patch of felt in form of a wheel. (Similar labels had been decreed at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215).

5 On July 22, 1306, one day after the 9th of Aw (Tisha B’Av), the big mourning day, remembering the de- struction of the temple in Jerusalem, all Jews were arrested and ordered to leave France within a month, without property, only with their clothes and with 12 Sous per person.

6 In England, a Jewish minority can only be traced after 1066, following the invasion of William the Con- queror (1027/28-1087). Jews were directly subordinate to the king and settled initially in London. Later, Jewish communities formed also in the surrounding towns. Without legal status English Jews depended, as elsewhere, on the favor of the powerful in state and Church.

7 See: The York Massacre, as described by Ephraim of Bonn (1190).

8 Irony of history: the Psalter had been brought to the French court by relatives and served the young prince Louis (later Louis the Saint) to learn reading and writing. He must have probably repressed the sting of this page of the Psalter.

9 The author only knows of five other examples, which so energetically oppose anti-Jewish actions. All of them are of similar origin and date back to the same time frame.