Description
Book SynopsisBased on extensive archival research, this book explores the history of Frankism, a Jewish religious movement that began in Poland and spread into the Habsburg Empire and the German lands in the later eighteenth century.
Trade Review"With this multifaceted study of Frank and Frankism, Paweł Maciejko has made a major contribution to our understanding of the intricacies and varieties of Judaism in eastern Europe in the eighteenth century. He brings tremendous erudition and insight to the religious history of early modern Poland." *
Times Literary Supplement *
"Magnificent. . . . [Maciejko] has seemingly mined every available text on Frank and the Frankists; unlike earlier scholars, such as Gershom Scholem, he commands the Polish sources as well. He tells the story in riveting style." *
Jewish Review of Books *
"A major scholarly achievement . . . this is the single best study written to date of Frank and Frankism in all their complexity and will be required reading for any student or scholar of early modern Jewish history and Christian-Jewish relations, kabbalah, and Jewish messianism." *
AJS Review *
"Maciejko's scholarship is stunning in its comprehensiveness and the combination of careful analysis of detail with breadth of historical vision. This book fills a longstanding lacuna in European and Jewish historiography. It is innovative both in the sense that many new sources are consulted and in its conceptually innovative revision of the historical significance of Frank and his movement." * Gershon David Hundert, McGill University *
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
Chapter 1. In the Shadow of the Herem
Chapter 2. The Peril of Heresy, the Birth of a New Faith
Chapter 3. Where Does Frankism Fit In?
Chapter 4. The Politics of the Blood Libel
Chapter 5. How Rabbis and Priests Created the Frankist Movement
Chapter 6. Ghosts of the Past, Heralds of the Future
Chapter 7. The Fall of Edom
Chapter 8. The Vagaries of the Charlatans
Chapter 9. The Ever-Changing Masquerade
List of Current and Historical Place Names
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
