Description
Book SynopsisOne of the unanticipated results of the First Crusade in 1095 was a series of violent assaults on major Jewish communities in the Rhineland. The author offers a detailed analysis of these events, illuminating the attitudes that triggered the assaults as well as the beliefs that informed Jewish reactions to them.
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
I. The Background
The Awakening of Northern Europe
The Growth and Development of Northern European Jewry
Christian-Jewish Relations
II. The Sources and Their Reliability
The Christian Sources
The Jewish Sources
III. The Violence of 1096
Varieties of Violence
The Devastating Assaults: A Closer Look
IV. The Patterns of Response
Preserving Jewish Lives
Conversion or Martyrdom
v. Subsequent Jewish Reactions
The Return to Normalcy
Memorialization, Rationalization, and Explanation
VI. The Church, the Jews, and the Later Crusades
Assertion of Effective Control over Crusading
Related Economic Issues
VII. Glances Backward and Forward
Reflections of the Late Eleventh Century
1096 as a Watershed
1096 as a "Portent of Things to Come"
New-Style Persecution and New-Style Martyrdom
Appendix
Abbreviations
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
