The historical consciousness of medieval Jewry has engendered lively
debate in the scholarly world. The focus in this book is on the historical
consciousness of the Jews of Spain and southern France in the late Middle Ages,
and specifically on their perceptions of Christianity and Christian history and
culture. In his detailed analysis of Jews' understanding of the history of the
communities they lived among, Ram Ben-Shalom shows that in these southern
European lands Jews experienced a relatively open society that was sensitive to
and knowledgeable about voices from other cultures, and that this had
significant consequences for shaping Jewish historical consciousness.
Among
the topics that receive special attention are what Jews knew of the significance of Rome, of Jesus and the early days of
Christianity, of Church history, and of the history of the Iberian monarchies. Ben-Shalom demonstrates that, despite the
negative stereotypes of Jewry prevalent in Christian literature and increasing
familiarity with that literature, they were more influenced
by their interactions with Christian society at the local level. Consequently
there was no single stereotype that dominated Jewish thought, and frequently
little awareness of the two societies as representing distinct cultures.
This book contributes to medieval Jewish
intellectual history on many levels, demonstrating that, in Spain and southern
France, Jews of the later Middle Ages evinced a genuine interest in history,
including the history of non-Jews, and that in some cases they were deeply
familiar with Christian and sometimes also classical historiography. In providing
a comprehensive survey of the multiple contexts in which historiographical
material was embedded and the many uses to which it was put, it enriches our\nunderstanding of medieval historiography, polemic, Jewish-Christian relations,
and the breadth of interests characterizing Provencal and Spanish Jewish
communities.
