Gerson, John 291See alsoCHARLEMAGNE;GOLDENBULLS;HANSEATIC
LEAGUE;HOLYROMANEMPIRE;OTTOI THEGREAT;OTTO
III, HOLYROMANEMPEROR;SALIAN DYNASTY; TEUTONIC
KNIGHTS AND ORDER;VERDUN, TREATY OF.
Further reading:Benjamin Arnold, Medieval Germany,
500–1300: A Political Interpretation(Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1997); F. R. H. Du Boulay, Germany in the
Later Middle Ages (London: The Athlone Press, 1983);
Horst Fuhrmann, Germany in the High Middle Ages, c.
1050–1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1986); Alfred Haverkamp, Medieval Germany, 1056–1273,
2d ed., trans. Helga Braun and Richard Mortimer (1984;
reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
Gershom ben Judah, Rabbi(Rabbenu Gershom,
Light of the Exile)(ca. 960–1028/33)German rabbi,
scholar, religious poet
Born about 960, Gershom Ben Judah had a great influ-
ence on Jewish social institutions. He was also known as
Meor Ha-Golah, “Light of the Exile.” The places of the
birth and death of Gershom Ben Judah are unclear; he
spent most of his adult life at Mainz, GERMANY. Ger-
shom’s major achievements were his teaching career and
rabbinical authority. This period was not long after the
extinction of the rabbinical centers in Babylonia. With
the consolidation of the Muslim empire, Babylonian Jew-
ish scholars drifted to Europe, taking their manuscripts,
their scribal traditions, their teaching, and their authority.
The Palestinian centers had long been closed. As a result,
central Europe, and for a time SPAIN, became the heart-
land for the evolution of Jewish life, culture, and religion.
INFLUENCE ON TEACHING AND DAILY LIFEGershom was one of the first and most successful rabbis
to transplant and establish Talmudic learning from Baby-
lonia to Europe. He was an excellent rabbinical scholar,
learned in all the ancient traditions, a natural teacher, and
an organizer of studies. He became famous for his wise
judgments in deciding moral and ethical questions on
ordinary life. Gershom’s magisterial work was his treat-
ment of the TALMUDtext the Takkanat.He established
correct readings, provided commentaries, drew up rules
of exegesis, and taught useful and precise methods of
interpretation. From being merely a personal center for
rabbinical students from all over Europe, his school
became the guide and judge for Jewish communities all
over FRANCE, Germany, and the Low Countries. Even
participating in meetings of community leaders, he influ-
enced social and cooperative institutions by defining and
clarifying local LAWSand customs.
FOUNDATIONAL INFLUENCEGershom’s influence was profound and lasted far beyond
his own time. Not only an educator of rabbis who then
went back to their home communities, he also expressed
ideas that were fundamental in enduring legislation. His
opinions influenced the prohibition of polygamy, the lim-
itation of the husband’s right to divorce, the treatment of
apostates returning to Judaism, the privacy of personal
letters, and the principle of majority rule in local commu-
nities. According to his view, violation of these laws
might be punished by EXCOMMUNICATIONfrom the com-
munity of Israel. He authored many formal responses or
responsato knotty legal questions about conflicts relevant
to everyday life between law and commandment. The for-
mation of community cohesion and the strengthening of
the community’s self-awareness were fundamental for the
establishment of the Talmud and the subsequent history
of European Jewish community. Gershom wrote peniten-
tial prayers and the traditional method of reading, pro-
nouncing, and interpreting the BIBLE. There is some
question of whether all the important works attributed to
him were actually by him. He died between 1030 and
1033 in Mainz.
See alsoASHKENAZ ANDASHKENAZIM;RASHI.
Further reading:Gershom ben Judah, The Responsa
of Rabbenu Gershom Meor Hagolah,ed. by Shlomo Eidel-
berg (New York: Yeshiva University, 1955).Gerson, John (Jean le Charlier de Gerson)(1363–
1429)French clerical leader
John Gerson was born Jean Charlier at Gerson on
December 13/14, 1363. As a member of the Collège de
Navarre at the University of PARIS, he earned a doctorate
in THEOLOGYand was protégé and close friend of Pierre
d’AILLY. When d’Ailly resigned the chancellorship, Ger-
son became the chancellor of the University of Paris in- Gerson’s earlier career at the university was not
unusual, characterized by little controversy and the pro-
motion of a strong, doctrinal orthodoxy. In 1387 he had
demanded the condemnation of a DOMINICANfriar who
had denied the Immaculate Conception or conception
without sin of the Virgin MARY, while warning students of
the evils of “immoral” popular and anticlerical literature;
in this process, Jean became one of the most famous the-
ologians of his day.
Moving to BRUGES, Gerson became an ardent
reformer only when the University of Paris took a leading
role in trying to end the Great SCHISM. Beginning in 1378
the divided church had been supposedly governed by two
rival popes, one at ROMEand another in AVIGNON.By
1409 Conciliarists, favoring the power of church councils
over that of the pope, began to take the initiative in end-
ing the embarrassment. In their views and that of Gerson,
a general council of the church had the right to choose a
new pope. This they accomplished at the Council of PISA
in 1409, but the Roman and Avignonese popes refused to
surrender their offices. During these events the Univer-
sity of Paris had become a strong base for the Concil-
iarists. Gerson gradually joined the movement and finally