From Scott to Rispart, from Ivanhoe to the York Massacre of the Jews Rewriting and Translating Historical “Fact” Into Fiction in the Historical Novel

Nitsa BEN-ARI

From Scott to Rispart, from Ivanhoe to The York Massacre of the Jews Rewriting and translating historical “fact” into fiction in the historical novel

Corpus Texts Rispart, Eugen [Dr. Frankolm], 1861 [1842], Die Juden und die Kreuzfahrer in England unter Richard Löwenherz [The Jews and the Crusaders in England under Richard the Lionheart], Institut zur Förderung der israelitischen Literatur. First published in Leipzig, Kollmann. On line at http://books.google. com/books?id=fYw5AAAAMAAJ&dq=eugen+rispart&printsec=frontcover &source=bl&ots=3Jm1RUQCnZ&sig=5TPAQCYa1NdelOg45uolvm6Tcmg&h l=en&ei=YED_SfOKL-WblQfazr2WCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=1#PPA342,M1, last accessed 01/02/2011. —, 1895, [part 1, 1869, part 2, 1895], Ha-Yehudim be-Anglia o ha-Yehu- dim ve-Nosei ha-Zlav be-Mlokh Ricard Lev-Ha’ari [The Jews in England, or The Jews and the Crusades under the Reign of Richard the Lionheart], tr. Miriam Markel-Mosessohn, Warsaw, Halter Weisenstadt. —, 1965, Gibore metzudat York [The Heroes of York Castle], tr. M. Z. Wolfovsky, Tel Aviv, Am Oved. Scott, Walter, Ivanhoe, 1890 [1819], New York and London, Harper & Brothers, on line at http://www.online-literature.com/walter_scott/ivanhoe, last accessed 01/02/2011. 20 Nitsa Ben-Ari

(1) “You leave England then?” said Rowena, scarce recovering the surprise of this extraor- dinary visit. “I leave it, lady, ere this moon again changes. My father had a brother high in favour with Mohammed Boabdil, King of Grenada―thither we go, secure of peace and protection, for the payment of such ransom as the Moslem exact from our people.” “And are you not then as well protected in England?” said Rowena. “My husband has favour with the King―the King himself is just and generous.” “Lady,” said Rebecca, “I doubt it not―but the people of England are a fierce race, quar- reling ever with their neighbours or among themselves, and ready to plunge the sword into the bowels of each other. Such is no safe abode for the children of my people. Ephraim is an heartless dove―Issachar an over-laboured drudge, which stoops between two burdens. ��Not in a land of war and blood, surrounded by hostile neighbours, and dis- tracted by internal factions, can Israel hope to rest during her wanderings.” (Scott, 1890: 448)

(2) “We part then thus?” said the Templar, after a short pause; “would to Heaven that we had never met, or that thou hadst been noble in birth and Christian in faith! ―Nay, by Heaven! when I gaze on thee, and think when and how we are next to meet, I could even wish myself one of thine own degraded nation; my hand conversant with ingots and shek- els, instead of spear and shield; my head bent down before each petty noble, and my look only terrible to the shivering and bankrupt debtor―this could I wish, Rebecca, to be near to thee in life, and to escape the fearful share I must have in thy death.” “Thou hast spoken the Jew,” said Rebecca, “as the persecution of such as thou art has made him. Heaven in ire has driven him from his country, but industry has opened to him the only road to power and to influence, which oppression has left unbarred. Read the ancient history of the people of God, and tell me if those, by whom Jehovah wrought such marvels among the nations, were then a people of misers and of usurers! ―And know, proud knight, we number names amongst us to which your boasted northern nobil- ity is as the gourd compared with the cedar―names that ascend far back to those high times when the Divine Presence shook the mercy-seat between the cherubim, and which derive their splendour from no earthly prince, but from the awful Voice, which bade their fathers be nearest of the congregation to the Vision―Such were the princes of the House of Jacob.” (Scott, 1890: 385-6)

Palimpsestes 24 From Ivanhoe to The York Massacre of the Jews 21

(3) „Auch Sie ist tod!“ „Sie! Sie!“ erwiderte die Königin. „Wer?“ „Sie! Sie!“ erwiderte Richard heftig, „die Jüdin, der mein Herz gehört, der es noch gehört.“ „Ihr sprechet von Malka,“ sagte dir Königin sanft. „Ich weiss seit kurzem, dass sie nicht mehr lebt. Aber wie ist diese Nachricht an Euch gekommen?“ „Graf Salisbury, der von London kam, traf mich auf dem Wege hierher,“ erwiderte der König, „durch ihn erfuhr ich Alles.“ [“She too is dead!” “She! She!” the Queen replied, “Who?” “She! she!” Richard answered with emotion, “The Jewess, to whom my heart belongs. To whom it still belongs.” “You mean Malka,” said the Queen softly. “I have recently learned that she is no longer alive. But how did this news reach you?” “Count Salisbury, who came from London, met me on the way here,” the King answered, “I heard it all from him.”] (my translation) (Rispart, 1861: 484-485)

(4a) It is probable that the government would have overlooked the slaughter of a few Jewish subjects, and the levying of a small fine might have repaired the damage done to the castle; but the last act of the mob [burning all proof of pecuniary obligations] was enough to rouse the virtuous indignation of the king and his ministers, for the law provided that all debts owing to a deceased Jew should revert to the crown. […] The principal authors of the outrage had escaped over the Scottish borders; and Granville, who was instructed to make inquiries as to the guilty parties, found so many implicated that he thought it prudent to desist from the pursuit. (Palmer, 1874: 254, 256)

(4b) The outbreak at York had shown that the financial interests of the Jews, and consequently also of the King, were placed in considerable jeopardy by the system then in force of recording debts to the Jews. The northern barons had undoubtedly been greatly influ- enced in their attack on the Jews by the hope, justified in many instances, that in destroy- ing the available records of their indebtedness they would at the same time liquidate the debts. (Hyamson, 1908: 50)

(5) When the Normans came to York, they brought in their train some Jewish merchants who […] established themselves there, and applied themselves, with all the dogged obsti- nacy of their race, to cultivating good relations with the Yorkists. […] when Richard the First was proclaimed king, the Jews were in high feather; they knew that their new sovereign was both warlike and needy, and, with such an one, they could always make good terms. […]

Le réel en traduction : greffage, traces, mémoire 22 Nitsa Ben-Ari

The old chronicler tells us that, long before this time, the Jews had become objects of strong aversion to their fellow-citizens; and that when, in the reign of Henry the Second they began to build fine stone dwellings―princely mansions the monks call them— the indignant wrath of the poverty-stricken Yorkshire gentlemen knew no bounds. […] (p. 440) whilst the Yorkists lived in timber huts, devoid of any trace of comfort, the Jews not only had stone houses, but in decorating them, indulged to the full their national love for glowing colors and Asiatic splendor, even hanging before the windows precious silks and damasks. The chronicler dwells on these curtains as a special eyesore. Perhaps in addition to gratifying the aesthetic tastes of the Israelites, they served a second purpose, that of shutting out all prying eyes. Nor was this their only offence. The Jews, with their hereditary herbal lore, knew how to concoct many a savory dish, the smell of which excited no small amount of envious rage in the souls of their less luxuriously fed fellow-citizens. Perhaps, too, strong in the protection of the Angevin sovereign, they had cast aside that prudent self-restraint by which they had first won toleration, and no longer troubled to hide the scorn they felt for their boorish Gentile neighbors. Be that as it may, a dozen causes―the memory of debts which never could be paid, of lands pledged to the hated intruders―all had their share in swelling the wrath of the Yorkists. Money, probably was at the bottom of this tragedy, as of most others; for the Englishmen were poor and extravagant, and the Jews unscrupulous and grasping. (Littell, 1888: 438)

(6) Men of Israel! The God of our fathers, to Whom none can say what doest Thou? Commands us, at this time, to die for his Law; and behold, death is even before our eyes, and there is nothing left us to consider but how to undergo it in the most reputable and easy manner. If we fall into the hands of our enemies (which I think there is no pos- sibility of escaping), our deaths will not only be cruel, but ignominious. […] My advice therefore is, that we voluntarily surrender those lives to our Creator, which He seems to call for, and not wait for any other executioners than ourselves. The fact is both rational and lawful; nor do we want examples, from amongst our illustrious ancestors, to prove it so. They have frequently proceeded in the like manner, upon the same occasions. (Tovey, 1738: 22)

(7) Thus most of them perished at one another’s hands, on the day before the great Sabbath which forms the introductory festival in celebration of the redemption from Egyptian bondage, at about the same time when the last Zealots had put themselves to death in a similar manner after the destruction of the Temple, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans. (Graetz, 1894: 415)