Judah ben Samuel Halevi 413Joinville, Jean de (Jehan de)(ca. 1224–1317)heredi-
tary seneschal of Champagne, French author
The noble Jean de Joinville was born in the second half
of 1224, or the first months of 1225, and became lord of
Joinville and seneschal of Champagne at an early age.
He was 17 when he met his famous lord, the poet
Thibault IV de Champagne (r. 1201–53), at a feast at
Saumur in 1241. When King LOUISIX left on the Sev-
enth CRUSADE, Joinville followed him to EGYPT and
PALESTINEbut had little enthusiasm for actual military
action. After the capture of the town of Damietta in
1249, the only success of the expedition, Joinville and
the king were taken prisoners and were only released by
ransom. In 1254 Joinville returned home. When Louis
set off for the fateful Eighth Crusade, Joinville excused
himself on the grounds that his first duty was to protect
his own people at home. Jean was later a witness for
Louis’s canonization in 1282.
About 1305 Queen Jeanne of Navarre (1273–1305)
ordered or asked Joinville to write his memoirs of Louis.
She was dead when Joinville finished the Life of Saint
Louis, and so dedicated it in 1309 to the dauphin.
Events were recorded in it with remarkable accuracy
and clarity. The Life of Saint Louiswas written with no
idea of publication. In the most personal series of remi-
niscences that have survived from Louis’s era, Joinville
was concerned with the exemplary integrity and virtue
of Louis. He also gave an account of his career from his
birth in 1214 and coronation in 1226, emphasizing the
Seventh Crusade. He included the king’s fears and an
account of this poorly conducted campaign. The last
secondhand chapters told of Louis’s Second Crusade, his
illness, and his death in 1270. It also mentioned
Joinville’s participation in a canonical inquiry that led to
the canonization of Louis. He died, an old man, on
December 14, 1317.
Further reading:Joinville and Villehardouin, Chroni-
cles of the Crusades,trans. Margaret R. B. Shaw (1963;
reprint, Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1977); Jean Joinville,
The Life of St. Louis,trans. René Hague (London: Sheed
and Ward, 1955); Lionel J. Friedman, Text and Iconogra-
phy for Joinville’s Credo(Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval
Academy of America, 1958); Maureen Slattery, Myth,
Man, and Sovereign Saint: King Louis IX in Jean de
Joinville’s Sources(New York: P. Lang, 1985).
Joseph of Arimathea, Saint character of biblical origin
In the four GOSPELSJoseph’s role was confined to burying
Jesus after the Crucifixion, but in the apocryphal gospel
of Nicodemus, he played a significant part in stories
about Jesus’ death and subsequent Resurrection. Joseph
was supposedly a prominent member of the Jewish High
Council. After Jesus’ death, with Pilate’s permission and
assisted by Nicodemus, he removed Christ’s body from
the cross, wrapped it in cloth, and buried it in a tomb. As
a disciple of Christ, Joseph was soon imprisoned in a
heavily guarded building but later vanished. The story
had it that Jesus appeared to him in the night and
released him.JOSEPH AND THE GRAIL
The tale of Joseph of Arimathea and the GRAIL was
extremely popular in ENGLAND, in part because it made
Joseph the founder of GLASTONBURY ABBEY. The first
mention of Joseph’s presence in England was in a
manuscript of WILLIAM OFMALMESBURY’s On the Antiq-
uity of Glastonburg,written around 1250 at Glastonbury
Abbey itself. The story that Joseph was the abbey’s
founder was included to attract pilgrims. According to
this, Joseph, with 12 followers, was sent to England from
FRANCEby the apostle Philip. A pagan king granted him
a piece of land near what is now Glastonbury, where
Joseph built a church in honor of the Virgin MARY.
According to this story, on his death Joseph was buried
near Glastonbury.
Further reading: Joseph, of Arimathea, Joseph of
Arimathea: A Critical Edition,ed. David A. Lawton (New
York: Garland, 1983); Robert de Boron, Joseph of
Arimathea: A Romance of the Grail,trans. Jean Rogers
(London: Steiner, 1990); R. F. Treharne, The Glastonbury
Legends: Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King
Arthur(London: Cresset Press, 1967).jousting SeeTOURNAMENTS.Jubilee SeeHOLYYEAR.Judah ben Samuel Halevi(ha-Levi, Yehudad Halevi)
(ca. 1075/80–ca. 1141/45)Spanish Hebrew poet, religious
thinker
Few definite facts are known about Judah Halevi. He was
probably born between 1075 and 1080 in Tudela in
NAVARRE to a wealthy family. He received his religious
training in the school of a famous Talmudist, Isaac Alfasi
(1013–1103). He had a secular education in Greek and
Arabic PHILOSOPHY, the poetic arts, and MEDICINE.
Unhappy as a physician, he found fulfillment in poetry, in
which he expressed his true genius. He transferred the
forms and structure of Arabic poetry into Hebrew verse,
filling it with graphic symbolism and simile, yet inter-
weaving biblical idioms and allusions.
Halevi spent his youth in the enjoyment of nature,
friends, love, and wine. This was reflected in his earlier
secular verse. However, he witnessed the destruction of
the Spanish Jewish communities during the struggle for
the RECONQUESTof SPAINby the Christians. His outlook
became even more reflective when he saw Jewish suffer-
ing during the CRUSADES, and entire Jewish communities
being destroyed.