402 Jewish art and architecture
The crusaders built religious buildings in the north,
among them the ROMANESQUEchurch of Saint Ann, and
added to already existing churches and MOSQUES, which
were converted into Catholic churches.
The kingdom grew in the 12th century, and
Jerusalem prospered, even though the center of
economic and social activity was in the coastal area,
where most of the crusaders’ settlements were estab-
lished. crusader authorities gradually opened Jerusalem’s
doors to JEWSand Muslims, whose work as craftsmen
helped boost the economy. In 1187, after the crusaders’
defeat at the Battle of HATTIN, much of the kingdom of
Jerusalem was conquered by SALADIN, who allowed Jews
to resettle in the city. The title of king was maintained by
several would-be rulers for centuries, but the kingdom
was gone.
See also ASSIZES OF JERUSALEM;BALDWINIV THE
LEPER;CRUSADES;HOSPITALLERS;JERUSALEM;SALADIN;
TEMPLARS.
Further reading:Joshua Prawer, The Latin Kingdom
of Jerusalem: European Colonialism in the Middle Ages
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972); Jean Richard,
The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 2 vols., trans. Janet
Shirley (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1979); Steven
Runciman, A History of the Crusades,Vol. 2, The Kingdom
of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951).
Jewish art and architecture SeeART AND ARCHITEC-
TURE,JEWISH.
Jews and Judaism Judaism was and is the religion
and associated culture of the Jewish people. It meant the
whole of the doctrine, religious, moral, and philosophi-
cal ideas, and the rules of life, or HALAKHAH, generally
recognized by religious Jews. After the biblical and Hel-
lenistic periods, Judaism progressively took on a differ-
ent shape from that found in the Hebrew BIBLE. The
biblical heritage certainly lived on in a monotheistic
basis with GODas the creator of the universe and with
strict ritual practices such as the sabbath, feasts, alimen-
tary rules, and ceremonial laws. The TALMUDor the
Mishnahwas accepted as a codification of moral, social,
and religious laws, whose compilation had been com-
pleted early in the third century. The Gemara,a discus-
sion of the propositions of the Mishnah,was completed
early in the sixth century. It sought to elucidate these
practices in a contemporary situation almost completely
different from the world described in the Bible. Judaism
had become a religion in a changed context, lacking a
Temple and a homeland for a people now in a wide and
frequently powerless diaspora. All these conditions
necessitated and initiated doctrinal reflection and devel-
opment to ensure cultural and religious survival. Medieval
Judaism had to be marked by essentially voluntary
acceptance by individuals and groups or communities
under the spiritual leadership of masters or sages of law,
later known as rabbis, sometimes backed by a mercantile
elite of families. They interpreted the Talmud and
applied its rules to communities, thus in many ways
making the Jews self-segregating. These communities
were to be self-governed on the basis of rabbinical legis-
lation and interpretations.
See alsoART AND ARCHITECTURE,JEWISH;ASHER,BEN
JECHIEL;ASHKENAZ ANDASHKENAZIM;ELEAZAR BENJUDAH
BENKALONYMUS OFWORMS;GERSHOM BENJUDAH;JEWS
ANDJUDAISM:RELATIONS WITHCHRISTIANS ANDMUSLIMS;
JUDAH BENSAMUELHALEVI;KABBALA;KALONYMUS FAMILY;
KHAZARS;MAIMONIDES,MOSES;SEPHARDIM.
Further reading:Nicholas de Lange, Hebrew Scholar-
ship and the Medieval World(Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 2001); Daniel R. Frank and Oliver Leaman,
eds., The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Philosophy
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Elie
Kedourie, ed., The Jewish World: Revelation, Prophecy and
History(London: Thames and Hudson, 1979); Norman
Roth, ed., Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia
(New York: Routledge, 2003); Patricia Skinner, ed., The
Jews in Medieval Britain: Historical, Literary and Archaeo-
logical Perspectives (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell Press,
2003); see also “Jews in the Middle Ages,” in the bibliog-
raphy, pp. 847–849.Jews and Judaism: relations with Christians and
Muslims The history of the Jews in medieval Europe
was of a minority at first integrated into the Christian
West but, though sometimes prosperous and at peace,
only too often periodically persecuted. Judaism was the
religion and associated culture and meant the whole of
the doctrine, religious, moral, and philosophical, and the
rules of life, or HALAKHAH, generally recognized by reli-
gious Jews.
In the eyes of the church of the Middle Ages, the
Jews had stubbornly refused to recognize Christ as
the messiah. This characterization was compounded by
the Gospels, which were readily interpreted as portraying
Jews as guilty of the death of Christ. Jews were perceived
as a different and separate group within CHRISTENDOM.In
simplistic terms this anti-Judaism was not based on racial
attitudes, as it was much later, but on religious differ-
ences. In ISLAM, Jews were regarded as “people of the
Book” (ahl al-Kitab,possessors of Scripture) and subject
to the tolerant rules accorded them by the DHIMMI.Their
Scriptures were regarded as authentic but corrupted and
were superseded by the QURAN.TOLERANCE ALTERNATING WITH PERSECUTION
Jews had spread throughout the Roman Empire and
remained scattered after the fall of that empire. Many
Jews converted to Christianity either willingly or through