Jewish Belonging in Medieval Europe: Challenges and Possibilities

Abstract

This article discusses aspects of the ways Jews belonged and were seen as belonging in the Middle Ages, alongside the ways they were set aside and portrayed as outsiders in medieval Europe. It details different social, cultural and religious means through which the affinity of Jews to their medieval homes were expressed together with expressions of difference and alienation. The introduction sets the stage for the articles in this volume that explore different facets of this topic.

This fascicle of the Medieval History Journal deals with the ways medieval Jews, primarily in Europe, expressed their affiliation and belonging to the places where they lived. Throughout the Middle Ages, but increasing markedly from the thirteenth century onwards, definitions of Jews as an alienated minority of ‘others’, as ‘pariahs’ and festering sores in the body politic and as enemies of the church and society were commonplace. ¹ The result of these declarations could and often did lead to growing animosity towards the Jews, persecution and expulsion, whether from cities, towns, regions or even kingdoms, as in the case of England and France. ²

Alongside the attitudes of Christian-majority society towards Jews, the Jews themselves also constantly defined and redefined the ways they saw themselves and their affinity to the places and societies within which they lived. As recent research has demonstrated, in many cases, the very Jews who were ‘othered’ by their Christian neighbours saw themselves as part of their surroundings and at times even expressed distinct local pride. ³ For example, some Jews’ names expressed their belonging, stating they were from Paris or Cologne. ⁴ How did these contrasting ideas of belonging coexist? How did Jews conceive of themselves as both insiders and outsiders and how did their Christian neighbours view them? In what way were these understandings shared and how did they differ? These questions are at the heart of the articles in this special issue, which examine different aspects of the ways Jews were understood to belong and/or saw themselves as belonging to medieval society.

One of the ways to problematise belonging is to view it through what can be seen as its opposite: In the most extreme cases, anti-Jewish sentiment and activities led to expulsion or death. ⁵ Exile, the result of expulsion, was a common punishment in medieval Europe and was not reserved only for Jews. Based on the biblical precedent, it was first and foremost a punishment for murder, and at times also for other sins. A variety of legal and moral compilations throughout the Middle Ages, both Christian and Jewish, expounded on exile as a punishment and explained its effectiveness. ⁶ One such text, written in thirteenth-century Spain by the author of Sefer ha-Hinukh, whose name is unknown, is particularly interesting in that it contrasts the experience of exile and that of belonging. Explaining the force of exile as a punishment, he wrote:

For exile is almost equal to the pain of death—as a person is separated from his friends and from his birthplace and [instead] dwells with strangers all of his days. ⁷

Clearly arising from this passage is a conception of the severity of the punishment of leaving one’s home, being separated from one’s friends, and detached from the place of one’s birth.

Writing in Germany several decades earlier, R. Judah b. Samuel (often called R. Judah he-Hasid) expresses a similar sentiment in his work Sefer Hasidim. There he argues, in a number of instances, that exile was a suitable punishment for a variety of sins, primarily murder but also adultery and theft. This is reinforced by the fact that he goes on to note cases in which people who deserved to be exiled, instead offered to undertake significant alternative punishments, in order to be able to stay in their homes. For example, he tells of a person who killed another and instead of exile took it upon himself to supply food for the family members of the person he killed, as well as a number of other self-inflicted mortifications. ⁸ Thus, R. Judah, like the author of Sefer ha- Hinukh, conveys the idea that ties to one’s home and community are so strong and of such importance that one should do anything to stay and not be banished. ⁹

This idea is expressed in a number of other medieval Jewish sources, all of which refer to the place where they lived as their home and viewed exile or any attempt to forcefully remove them from there as a punishment. One expression often found in this context in these sources is the ‘grace of the place for its’ inhabitants’ (hen shel makom al yoshvav), which stems from the Talmud. ¹⁰ It was a phrase used by some medieval exegetes to explain why, in the Books of Exodus and Numbers, there are several instances where the Israelites, so miraculously freed from Egypt, still longed to return to the place of their slavery. It expressed the desire to return to the familiar, despite the suffering experienced there. These sources, and those above, reinforce the understanding that for medieval Jews the idea of home was one of tremendous value, providing a sense of belonging, of community and of security. This is also evident, for example, on the seals Jews created and in the way they presented themselves in writing and images. ¹¹

These comments, made by medieval Jews concerning their feelings of affinity to the places where they lived, contrast with some of what their Christian neighbours said about them. ¹² At other times, Jews and their neighbours cooperated, as members of shared communities. Jews were part of city patrols and were seen as part of their environs, often given rights, owning properties and being part of local markets. ¹³ The tensions between these different options and forms of inclusion led to questions concerning the ways in which Jews navigated their local landscapes, fostering a feeling of affinity to the towns and cities where they lived, while contending with their religious alienation. How was it that Jews felt at home and sometimes were also viewed as belonging to the very places where they were seen as outsiders and as interlopers? How can these sentiments be understood in a shared context? ¹⁴

These questions have become particularly interesting in light of recent scholarship, which has shown that the Jewish minority was more deeply entangled and embedded in the culture, the societies and the daily life of the towns and cities in which they lived than was previously thought. ¹⁵ This renders questions regarding the place of Jews in medieval Europe, the way they saw themselves and the ways their neighbours viewed them, and the issue of coexistence in the face of ever-growing animosity and hatred, all the more pertinent. Whereas some scholars of medieval Jewish history have sought to understand this complexity and some scholarship in this direction has been produced over the past decades, scholars of medieval Christian society often ignore evidence of Jews or relegate it to the category of ‘others’, preventing a broader understanding of how they were or were not a part of their surroundings. ¹⁶

The shifting place of Jews within their medieval surroundings did not take place in a social or ideological vacuum. They were part and parcel of many other changes within medieval politics, religion and culture. Among these was the development of civic culture. The number of towns and cities increased substantially during the Middle Ages, and urban practice and theories of civic frameworks evolved and changed with them. New ideas, categories and definitions of belonging were introduced. ¹⁷ Land ownership was transformed and properties owned and split in new ways as civic cultures flourished. ¹⁸ The variety of systems concerning the way people paid taxes and other fees to the places in which they lived expanded and the processes by which order was obtained and enforced, as well as the relationships between rulers and subjects, underwent transformations. ¹⁹

Citizenship was one of the ways to indicate the connection between individuals and their places of residence, a relationship that defined individuals as cives, burges and in Hebrew bnei hamakom or bnei hair. Citizenship included both rights and duties, such as land ownership, tax obligations and the right to vote or to sit on local councils. However, it was possible to be part of one’s locality without having the appellation of citizen. Thus, in some places, Jews could be citizens and in others not. This too changed over time and often had to be renegotiated. ²⁰ Regardless of the formal definition they enjoyed, throughout the Middle Ages, and in contrast to some long-held assumptions, Jews were often able to own the houses in which they lived, and to buy and sell properties. In some places, despite not having the same legal definition, they had similar rights to the local bourgeoisie. They also had obligations related to general and special taxes. ²¹

As the articles in this special issue show, Jewish participation in urban legal and fiscal structures is just one part of the picture. They also partook in local rituals, both mundane and celebratory. Like their neighbours, Jews felt pride in their town or city and identified as members of local communities, with shared symbols and stories. Thus, another important tool for understanding Jewish belonging has to do with their spatial presence. In many places, although tending to live close to each other, Jews did not live in solely Jewish neighbourhoods, and often had non-Jewish neighbours. Ghettos developed only in the early modern era.

More research is needed concerning these different aspects of belonging, whether legal, fiscal, cultural or ceremonial, both with regard to specific issues relating to Jewish life in medieval Europe and with regard to comparisons between Jews and other marginalised groups in medieval European society. Furthermore, these should all be explored both as part of theories or prescriptive writings on how society should or could be organised, as has been commonly done to date, and within the context of everyday practice. It is also useful to ask whether a sense of belonging depended on social class or on other factors and how it differed between places within and outside of Europe. Jews were minorities not just in Europe, and the comparison between the different Jewish diasporas and the changing ways such comparisons are undertaken is of importance to future research. ²²

The articles in this special issue each attempt to underline some aspect of Jewish belonging in medieval Europe, from different perspectives. Olivier Richard’s article focuses on the majority Christian population, discussing what it meant to be a citizen, and the performance of citizenship, in the late medieval Holy Roman Empire. Richard shows how belonging was expressed through a variety of rituals, ritual objects and spoken practice.

The next two articles examine ways of enacting citizenship available to Jews during this period. Andreas Lehnertz’s article focuses on two such options: oaths sworn in civic and legal contexts and seals used to seal legal documents. Lehnertz, like Richard, focuses specifically on the Holy Roman Empire. Hannah Teddy Schachter broadens the focus from acts of citizenship related to legal and fiscal institutions to civic participation. Her article discusses what Jews did when kings came to town. Did they join their neighbours in welcoming royalty to the city? And if so, in what ways was their participation similar and in what ways different from that of their Christian neighbours? Her article encapsulates how Jews were simultaneously both part of and separate from their surroundings.

Annika Funke’s article jumps forward a century and a half later, to the fifteenth century, a period during which the situation of Jews had deteriorated drastically and they were often the victims of persecution and expulsion. Her article examines how one man, Anschel of Münzenberg, contended, as a Jew, with the different political alliances in his small village, attempting to use them to his own advantage, and how he, as did other Jews, played a part in local political dynamics.

The experiences of Jews as being a part of their surroundings while also striving to preserve a distinct identity were not limited to medieval Europe. It was equally true in other geographic centres and under other religions. Moshe Yagur’s article provides a counterpoint to some of the issues discussed in its attempt to establish conclusively whether there was or was not a Jewish neighbourhood in the city of Fustat in Egypt. Building on textual evidence from the Cairo Geniza and other sources, and incorporating a topographic approach, his article also explores the meaning of the spatial term of neighbourhood and its relationship to the social construct of community.

The volume concludes with an afterword by Paola Tartakoff, who reflects on some of the implications of these articles. As she notes: ‘The expulsions of Jews from Christian Europe during the later Middle Ages leave no question about the endurance of the view among non-Jews that Jews did not belong’. Yet, all the articles in the collection demonstrate that scholars who are interested in understanding the medieval past must be cognisant that this was only one way of thinking and acting in medieval Europe. Although it ultimately prevailed in many places, this was not an inevitable outcome, nor was it the only mode of managing the presence of the Jewish minority. Medieval Jews themselves displayed both their loyalty to local cultures and their growing sense of marginalisation.

It is our hope that this volume of essays will serve to provoke other scholars to think deeply about belonging, expulsion and other modes that Christians adopted to deal with the Jewish minority in their midst, as well as to embark on a more nuanced consideration of Jewish perceptions of what it meant to belong, or not to belong, to the places where Jews had been living for hundreds of years.