Preface ix
decreed the separation of Jews and christians in social and political life. i assess
how papal authorization of crusades against Muslims, heretics, schismatics, and
political enemies affected the status of Jews as yet another minority group in europe,
especially in the context of the development of christian theories of holy war and
just war, and of Muslim theories of Jihad.
such a study demands a comprehensive investigation of ‘encyclicals’ emanating
from the papal curia from Urban ii’s call for the First crusade in 1095 to the year
1291, which witnessed both the fall of the last crusading stronghold of acre during
the pontificate of nicholas iV (1288–1292), and the expulsion of Jews from england.
The chronological scope of the book, 1095–1291, emphasizes the importance of
the crusades in the history of papal–Jewish relations. Yet the correspondence of
boniface Viii (1294–1303) is also included in my investigation, since arguably his
pontificate marks the height and subsequent decline of papal power in the High
Middle ages. similarly his fourteenth-century successors clement V (1305–1314)
and John xxii (1316–1334) are referred to at times in the narrative for comparison
and contrast. The study also requires a detailed study of contemporary church
legislation, as well as Hebrew texts: theological treatises, chronicles, disputations,
and rabbinic responsa.
in addressing these three themes i am particularly concerned to present an account
which highlights the predicament of individual popes confronted with a wide
range of competing demands. i analyse the formation, development, and direction
of papal statements about Jews as an important minority group in europe that con-
temporary polemicists stigmatized as a threat to the well-being of an increasingly
unified and centralized christian society, assessing whether papal pronounce-
ments reveal the pragmatic policies of individual popes or an overriding vision
of the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. overall, my aim is to determine
whether papal statements, fortified by canon law, theology, and the teachings of
the church fathers, were unified by a common fear that through the contact
of christians with Jews and Judaism, christianity itself would be weakened and
endangered. in this context papal authorization of crusades is especially pertinent
since awareness of the external threat from Muslims both in the near east and in
spain increased anxiety about non-christians within christendom itself, thereby
contributing to a drive for uniformity of belief which in the long term would
prove catastrophic for Jews.
Hence the present book is intended as a timely addition to recent scholarship on
medieval christian–Jewish relations and is aimed at a scholarly and academic audi-
ence. However, since its subject-matter—religious and cultural exchange between
Jews and christians during a period crucial for our understanding of the growth
of the western world, the rise of nation states, and the development of relations
between east and west—is extremely relevant in today’s multi-cultural and multi-
faith british society, i hope it will also be of significant interest to a wide range of
readers beyond the academic community—not least to organizations and societies
endeavouring to understand and improve Jewish–christian relations. My approach
is multi-disciplinary in that in addition to being a contribution to Jewish history
and to the history of the papacy at the time of its greatest political power, it bears