Jewish Ideas about the Papacy 31
twelfth centuries Jews in germany and Northern France were apparently much
more hostile to their Christian neighbours than those in Spain and portugal,
although, as we know, in the iberian peninsula relations deteriorated in the late
medieval and early modern periods.16 Nevertheless, despite often difficult relations
with Christians, vibrant Jewish communities did exist in germany—an unam-
biguously Christian area of medieval Europe—and these disseminated cultural and
intellectual ideas far and wide.17 indeed the evidence suggests that all over northern
Europe Jewish communities were not only busy producing their own literature,
but knew about and even borrowed each others’ works.18 Such communities, like
their Christian counterparts, flourished best in towns both in terms of their own
internal well-being and in relation to the exterior gentile world.19
Through detailed analysis of texts from the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
centuries, each in its individual geographical, historical, and cultural setting, we
shall see that Jewish ideas about the papacy appear very clearly in relation to five
major concerns: authority, protection, the defence of Judaism, the denigration of
Christianity, and messianic theology. of course when assessing sources written
over several centuries, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with a very broad
range of political, social, and cultural contexts. More specifically, a variety of texts
from France, provence, italy, germany, and Spain often targeted very different
types of audiences. Furthermore, a contemporary historian is always faced with the
complex problem of memory, in particular the formation of collective memory:
that ‘social reality transmitted and sustained through the conscious efforts and
institutions of the group’.20
of course our Jewish sources do not necessarily agree in their attitudes towards
the papacy. popes themselves varied greatly from each other in character, had pur-
sued diverse careers prior to their pontificates, and differed in the scope of their
of Jews in early modern Europe, see David ruderman, ‘Jewish Cultural History in Early Modern
Europe: An Agenda for Future Study’, in Rethinking European Jewish History, ed. J. Cohen, M.
rosman, pp.95–111, passim. For the impact of the reformation on the Jews, see Miriam Bodian,
‘The reformation and the Jews’, in Rethinking European Jewish Identity, ed. J. Cohen, M. rosman,
pp.112–32, passim. For modern political theory about the Jews, including the enlightenment view of
the Middle Ages and medieval philosophy, see Funkenstein, Perceptions of Jewish History, pp.220–56,
passim, especially pp.234–47.
16 Abraham grossman, ‘The Cultural and Social Background of Jewish Martyrdom in germany in
1096’, in Juden und Christen zur Zeit der Kreuzzüge, Vorträge und Forschungen 47, Konstanzer Arbeitkreis
für mittelalterliche Geschichte, ed. A. Haverkamp (Sigmaringen, 1999), pp.77–9.
17 Schäfer, ‘Jews and Christians in the High Middle Ages’, p.30. For discussion of the idea of histor-
ical tradition in Jewish communities in germany in the late Middle Ages, see Frantisek graus,
‘Historische traditionen über Juden im spätmittelalter (Mitteleuropa)’, in Zur geschichte der Juden im
deutschland des späten mittelalters und der frühen neuzeit, ed. A. Haverkamp (Stuttgart, 1981), pp.1–26.
18 Abulafia, ‘Christians and Jews in the High Middle Ages’, p.24; see also Ephraim Kanarfogel,
Jewish Education and Society in the High Middle Ages (Detroit, 1992), pp.15–17; robert Bonfil, Jewish
Life in Renaissance Italy, trans. A. oldcom (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1994), pp.125–6; Yehuda
Bialer, Estelle Fink, Jewish Life in Art and Tradition. Based on the Collection of the Sir Isaac and Lady
Edith Wolfson Museum, Hechal Shlomo, Jerusalem (London, 1976), p.88.
19 Haverkamp, ‘The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages’, pp.14–15.
20 Yerushalmi, Zakhor, p.xv; see also rosman, How Jewish is Jewish History?, p.50; Myers,
ruderman, ‘preface’, p.xiii; Funkenstein, Perceptions of Jewish History, pp.3–10; Susan Einbinder, No
Place of Rest. Jewish Literature, Expulsion, and the Memory of Medieval France (philadelphia, 2009),
p.3; p.9.