Description
Book SynopsisRevises the conventional view that the Jewish experience in medieval Spain - over the century before the expulsion of 1492 - was one of despair, persecution, and decline. Focusing on the town of Morvedre in the kingdom of Valencia, this title shows how and why Morvedre's Jewish community revived and flourished in the wake of the violence of 1391.
Trade ReviewRunner-Up for the 2005 National Jewish Book Award in History, Jewish Book Council "In his eloquent style, [Meyerson] highlights the complex inner workings of a multicultural society such as that of medieval Morvedre, and presents a new methodology that other Hispanists should apply to their studies."--Choice "Mark D. Meyerson constructs a subtle understanding of Spain before the Expulsion. He details not only the political relationship between the kings and 'their' Jews, but even more interestingly, the complex relationship between open Jews and the conversos of 1391."--Jewish Book World "Making a signal contribution to our knowledge of the Jews of medieval Spain is surely no easy matter. Mark D. Meyerson has performed precisely such a service in these two valuable volumes. All those concerned with the history of the medieval Iberian peninsula and/or its Jews are deeply indebted to him."--Robert Chazan, Ecclesiastical History "Elegantly conceived and painstakingly documented, Mark D. Meyerson's A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain stands as a strong and solid contribution both to medieval Iberian history and Jewish history... Meyerson has given the Jews of Morvedre a historical agency and a uniquely human subjectivity that would otherwise have remained silent."--Horacio Chiong Rivero, Sixteenth Century Journal "This more than authoritative book might not bequeath all the right answers, but it most certainly asks all the right questions."--David Marx, davidmarx.co.uk "This is the most detailed history yet written of any Jewish community in Mediterranean Spain, in the town of Morvedre in the Kingdom of Valencia."--GlennW. Olsen, European Legacy
Table of ContentsFigures and Maps ix Acknowledgments xi Note on Names and Money xiii Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Chapter One On the Edge of Desolation 22 Chapter Two Revival in the Shadow of Valencia 65 Chapter Three Wine, Money,and Mobility 109 Chapter Four Jews and Muslims 143 Chapter Five The Politics of Plenty 157 Chapter Six Converts and Kinsfolk 184 Chapter Seven Chill Wind from Castile 225 Concluding Remarks 240 Glossary 247 Bibliography 249 Index 263
