178 Popes and Jews, 1095–1291
1139.83 Papal control over Jewish communities in this context is strikingly por-
trayed in the Shebet Yehudah of Shelomo ibn verga,84 who seems to have been
one of the many Spanish exiles of 1492 who crossed the border into Portugal, was
embroiled five years later in the forced baptisms of all Portuguese Jews, and subse-
quently managed to escape.85 Given his wanderings and the circumstances in which
he struggled for safety, his assertion that he was an authority on Christian doctrine
and more knowledgeable even than the clergy is not particularly surprising.
Although the Shebet Yehudah is not a medieval text and was written long after the
events it describes, it provides insight into how later writers perceived Jewish–papal
relations in the High Middle Ages and with an idea of historiography not evident
in medieval chronicles, sees a special significance in the events of its own time.86
The Shebet Yehudah recorded the ecumenical councils of lateran III and lateran
Iv and described the fear felt by Jews on the eve of these councils.87 referring to
the Third lateran Council, it records how Alexander III summoned the council:88
In the year 139 [1179] the pope collected together all his bishops and priests from
France and Spain; and all the communities were extremely anxious and they fasted for
three consecutive days.89Yet, as the Shebet Yehudah then reassuringly affirmed, despite their sins, God
proved good and provided for them. It is surprising, however, that the text makes
no reference to Canon 26 which decreed that Christians must not live in Jewish
homes, that Christians who served Jews or Muslims should be excommunicated,
that Christian testimony was to be admitted against Jews just as Jewish testimony
against Christians, and that secular authorities must ensure that those who con-
verted to Christianity were financially no worse off than before conversion.90
Possibly the author felt that there was no need to examine this particular piece
of legislation in detail because, unlike papal authorization of crusades, it had no
83 r. Salamo aben verga, Shevet Jehudah, trans. M. Weiner (neudruck, 1924), p.112. See Salo
Baron, ‘“Plenitude of Apostolic Powers” and Medieval “Jewish Serfdom’”, in Ancient and Medieval
Jewish History, ed. l. A. Feldman (new Brunswick, 1972), p.288.
84 For discussion of Shelomo ibn verga, see, for example, Salo Baron, A Social and Religious History
of the Jews: Late Middle Ages and Era of European Expansion, 1200–1650, vol. 9: Under Church and
Empire, 2nd edn (new York, london, 1965), p.104; and much more recently, for example, Yosef
Yerushalmi, The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah (Cincinatti, 1976),
pp.3–4; Jeremy Cohen, The Friars and the Jews. The Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism (Ithaca,
london, 1982), p.88.
85 Yerushalmi, The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah, p.3.
86 For discussion of the Shebet Yehudah and its place in sixteenth century Jewish literature, see Yosef
Yerushalmi, Zakhor. Jewish History and Jewish Memory (Seattle, london, 1982), pp.60–9. For discussion
of the popularization of this work and the Yiddish version, see Michael Stanislawski, ‘The Yiddish Shevet
Yehudah: A Study in the “Ashkenization” of a Spanish-Jewish Classic’, in Jewish History and Jewish Memory:
Essays in Honour of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, ed. E. Carlebach, J. M. Efron, D. n. Myers (Hanover, london,
1998), pp.134–49; Amos Funkenstein, Perceptions of Jewish History (Berkeley, oxford, 1993), p.15.
87 For discussion of Shelomo ibn verga see, for example, Baron, A Social and Religious History of the
Jews, p.104; and much more recently, for example, Yerushalmi, The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the
Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah, pp.3–4; Cohen, The Friars and the Jews, p.88.
88 The Shebet Yehudah of Shelomo ibn Verga, ed. A. Shohat (Jerusalem, 1947), p.146.
89 The Shebet Yehudah of Shelomo ibn Verga, ed. Shohat, p.146.
90 Tanner, Vol. 1, pp.223–4; X.5.6.5, col. 773.