HISTORY OF THE MEDIAEVAL JEWS BY REV. MAURICE HARRIS (1907) . This is the second in a three volume series of Jewish history. It covers the age of Charlemagne to the the Expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. Topics covered include Jews in Moorish and Christian Spain, 'Blood Libel', pogroms, and expulsions in France, England, and Germany, Jewish converts and 'Crypto-Jews', Rashi, Maimonides, and other Jewish moralists, and the role of Jews in the discovery of America. TABLE OF CONTENTS BOOK I. DECLINE OF THE EASTERN ACADEMIES ............................................................................................ 5 CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS TIME ......................................................................................................................... 6 ISRAEL IN THE MOSLEM ORIENT ..................................................................................................................... 9 THE KARAITES. .............................................................................................................................................. 12 SAADYAH GAON AND THE TWO ACADEMIES. ............................................................................................... 16 CHAZARS—THE PROSELYTE KINGDOM ....................................................................................................... 20 A 'LIGHT' IN LANDS OF EXILE. ....................................................................................................................... 22 BOOK II. SPAIN'S GOLDEN AGE .................................................................................................................... 27 UNDER THE CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA .......................................................................................................... 28 JEWS AS VIZIERS. .......................................................................................................................................... 32 IBN GABIROL, POET AND PHILOSOPHER ....................................................................................................... 36 BACHYA AND OTHER MORALISTS. ................................................................................................................ 43 JEHUDA HALEVI. ............................................................................................................................................ 49 JEWISH ACHIEVEMENTS IN CHRISTIAN SPAIN. ............................................................................................. 58 BOOK III. IN CHRISTIAN EUROPE .................................................................................................................. 65 THE CRUSADES ............................................................................................................................................. 67 RASHI AND HIS TIMES. .................................................................................................................................. 72 FRANCE, NORTH AND SOUTH: A CONTRAST ................................................................................................ 77 THE ZENITH OF POPISH POWER. .................................................................................................................. 80 JEWISH LIFE IN GERMAN STATES. ................................................................................................................ 84 HOW FARED THE JEWS OF ENGLAND ........................................................................................................... 90 BOOK IV. RATIONALISM AND MYSTICISM. ..................................................................................................... 96 MAIMONIDES. ................................................................................................................................................. 97 THE GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED. 1 ................................................................................................................ 103 Page MAIMUNISTS AND ANTI-MAIMUNISTS. ......................................................................................................... 108 TOLERATION DECLINES IN THE PENINSULA. ............................................................................................... 112 NACHMANIDES AND THE DISPUTATION. ...................................................................................................... 116 THE RISE OF MYSTICISM. ............................................................................................................................ 121 THE DEVELOPMENT OF KABALA.................................................................................................................. 127 EXPULSIONS FROM FRANCE. ...................................................................................................................... 130 GERSONIDES AND ASHERIDES: A CONTRAST ............................................................................................ 135 DAVID ALROY, MESSIAH. ............................................................................................................................. 140 BOOK V. SPAIN'S IRON AGE ........................................................................................................................ 144 CASTILE'S GATHERING STORM. .................................................................................................................. 146 THE BLACK PLAGUE. ................................................................................................................................... 152 UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE PAPACY. ...................................................................................................... 156 ISRAEL'S FURTHER FORTUNES IN ITALY. .................................................................................................... 163 THE MARANOS. ............................................................................................................................................ 167 ALBO AND HIS 'IKKARIM.' ............................................................................................................................. 171 THE HUSSITE MOVEMENT AND ITS EFFECT ON JEWRY. ............................................................................ 174 THE RISE OF POLAND AND FALL OF ROME ................................................................................................. 178 THE SPANISH INQUISITION .......................................................................................................................... 184 THE SPANISH EXPULSION. .......................................................................................................................... 190 LAST YEARS IN PORTUGAL. ........................................................................................................................ 195 THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. .................................................................................................................... 200 INTRODUCTION Jewish history in the Middle Ages is, broadly speaking, European; hitherto it had been Asiatic. The story of the Jews of the epoch here treated is largely a Spanish story; and in so far as it is Spanish, it is largely a literary story. Long deprived of State power and prestige, their work is confined to the academy and the study. The Jewish Chazar Kingdom is hardly an exception, for, like Jonah's gourd, "it came up in a night and withered in a night." It is true that in the Peninsula the Jews did exercise a kind of political power, but it was "behind thrones," not on them. Here Ibn Nagdela, Ibn Schaprut and Abarbanel loom prominent. The literature, the production of which covers so much of this period, falls into two groups: — 2 Page 1. A literature written around the Law, consisting of Commentaries, Digests and Responsa. These form an unbroken chain of development in Jewish practice from the close of the Babylonian schools to the production of the Summary of the Asherides. 2. A Philosophy, interpreted for the most part in terms of the prevailing Neo- Platonic and Aristotelian schools, yet with certain vital discriminations that make it a distinctively Jewish Theology. It synchronizes with the Scholasticism of the Church, which it greatly influenced. This Philosophy covers a wide range from the rationalism of Gersonides to the mysticism of Kabala. Yet here and there these two streams merge. The Philosophy took the Bible as its starting point and objective, while some of the commentaries are philosophies. Some men belong to both divisions, such as Saadyah; Maimonides gave us a "Second Law" as well as a "Guide to the Perplexed." Between the two, the poets occupy a middle place; yet even these take God and the Law as their classic themes. Gabirol and Halevi were poet philosophers. The Jewish litterateur wrote only for his own people, though occasionally reaching beyond the confines of Jewry. But the Jewish trader served an economic function for the world at large. Here he was the advance herald of commerce in an age of feudalism. He financed States and projects before the Italian banker appeared to give dignity to money-lending by the use of a new name. But far more important than his place as middleman in the realm of industry was his place as middleman in the realm of letters. The Jewish linguists and translators brought Judaeo-Arabic science to the knowledge of Christian Europe, thus linking the races. While the Hebrew and the Moslem lived together congenially and explored