Jews and Crime in Medieval Europe is a topic laced by prejudice on one hand and apologetics on the other. Beginning in the Middle Ages, Jews were often portrayed as criminals driven by greed. While these accusations were, for the most part, unfounded, in other cases criminal accusations against Jews were not altogether baseless. Drawing on a variety of legal, liturgical, literary, and archival sources, Ephraim Shoham-Steiner examines the reasons for the involvement in crime, the social profile of Jews who performed crimes, and the ways and mechanisms employed by the legal and communal body to deal with Jewish criminals and with crimes committed by Jews. A society's attitude toward individuals identified as criminals - by others or themselves - can serve as a window into that society's mores and provide insight into how transgressors understood themselves and society's atttudes toward them. The book is divided into three main sections. In the first section, Shoham-Steiner examines theft and crimes of a financial nature. In the second section, he discusses physical violence and murder, most importantly among Jews but also incidents when Jews attacked others and cases in which Jews asked non-Jews to commit violence against fellow Jews. In the third section, Shoham-Steiner approaches the role of women in crime and explores the gender differences, surveying the nature of the crimes involving women both as perpetrators and as victims, as well as the reaction to their involvement in criminal activities among medieval European Jews. While the study of crime and social attitudes toward criminals is firmly established in the social sciences, the history of crime and of social attitudes toward crime and criminals is relatively new, especially in the field of medieval studies and all the more so in medieval Jewish studies. Jews and Crime in Medieval Europe blazes a new path for unearthing daily life history from extremely recalcitrant sources. The intended readership goes beyond scholars and students of medieval Jewish studies, medieval European history, and crime in pre-modern society.

The Medieval Iberian Treasury in the Context of Cultural Interchange-expanded beyond the special issue of Medieval Encounters from which it was drawn-centers on the magnificent treasury of San Isidoro de Leon to address wider questions about the meanings of cross-cultural luxury goods in royal-ecclesiastical settings during the central Middle Ages. Now fully open access and with an updated introduction to ongoing research, an additional chapter, composite bibliographies, and indices, this multidisciplinary volume opens fresh ways into the investigation of medieval objects and textiles through historical, art historical, and technical analyses. Carbon-14 dating, iconography, and social history are among the methods applied to material and textual evidence, together shining new light on the display of rulership in medieval Iberia. Contributors are Ana Cabrera Lafuente, Maria Judith Feliciano, Julie A. Harris, Jitske Jasperse, Therese Martin, Pamela A. Patton, Ana Rodriguez, and Nancy L. Wicker.

Richard Kaeuper's career has examined three salient concerns of medieval society - knightly prowess and violence, lay and religious piety, and public order and government - most directly in three of his monographs: War, Justice, and Public Order (Oxford, 1988), Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 1999), and Holy Warriors (Penn, 2009). Kaeuper approaches historical questions with an eye towards illuminating the inherent complexities in human ideas and ideals, and he has worked to untangle the various threads holding together cultural constructs such as chivalry, licit violence, and lay piety. The present festschrift in his honor brings together scholars from across disciplines to engage with those same concerns in medieval society from a variety of perspectives. Contributors are: Bernard S. Bachrach, Elizabeth A.R. Brown, Samuel A. Claussen, David Crouch, Thomas Devaney, Paul Dingman, Daniel P. Franke, Richard Firth Green, Christopher Guyol, John D. Hosler, William Chester Jordan, Craig M. Nakashian, W. Mark Ormrod, Russell A. Peck, Anthony J. Pollard, Michael Prestwich, Sebastian Rider-Bezerra, Leah Shopkow, and Peter W. Sposato.

In The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letters: Arabic Knowledge Construction, Muhsin J. al-Musawi offers a groundbreaking study of literary heritage in the medieval and premodern Islamic period. Al-Musawi challenges the paradigm that considers the period from the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1919 as an "Age of Decay" followed by an "Awakening" (al-nahdah). His sweeping synthesis debunks this view by carefully documenting a "republic of letters" in the Islamic Near East and South Asia that was vibrant and dynamic, one varying considerably from the generally accepted image of a centuries-long period of intellectual and literary stagnation. Al-Musawi argues that the massive cultural production of the period was not a random enterprise: instead, it arose due to an emerging and growing body of readers across Islamic lands who needed compendiums, lexicons, and commentaries to engage with scholars and writers. Scholars, too, developed their own networks to respond to each other and to their readers. Rather than addressing only the elite, this culture industry supported a common readership that enlarged the creative space and audience for prose and poetry in standard and colloquial Arabic. Works by craftsmen, artisans, and women appeared side by side with those by distinguished scholars and poets. Through careful exploration of these networks, The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letters makes use of relevant theoretical frameworks to situate this culture in the ongoing discussion of non-Islamic and European efforts. Thorough, theoretically rigorous, and nuanced, al-Musawi's book is an original contribution to a range of fields in Arabic and Islamic cultural history of the twelfth to eighteenth centuries.

Alongside annals, chronicles were the main genre of historical writing in the Middle Ages. Their significance as sources for the study of medieval history and culture is today widely recognised not only by historians, but also by students of medieval literature and linguistics and by art historians. The series The Medieval Chronicle aims to provide a representative survey of the on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods and cultural backgrounds.

This book investigates perceptions, modes, and techniques of Venetian rule in the early modern Eastern Mediterranean (1400-1700) between colonial empire, negotiated and pragmatic rule; between soft touch and exploitation; in contexts of former and continuous imperial belongings; and with a focus on representations and modes of rule as well as on colonial daily realities and connectivities.

A Companion to Medieval Lubeck offers an introduction to recent scholarship on the vibrant and source-rich medieval history of Lubeck. Focusing mainly on the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, the volume positions the city of Lubeck within the broader history of Northern Germany and the Baltic Sea area. Thematic contributions highlight the archaeological and architectonical development of a northern town, religious developments, buildings and art in a Hanseatic city, and its social institutions. This volume is the first English-language overview of the history of Lubeck and a corrective to the traditional narratives of German historiography. The volume thus offers a fresh perspective on the history of medieval Lubeck-as well as a handy introduction to the riches of the Lubeck archives-to undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in related fields. Contributors are Manfred Finke, Hartmut Freytag, Antjekathrin Grassmann, Angela Huang, Carsten Jahnke, Ursula Radis, Anja Rasche, Dirk Rieger, Harm von Seggern and Ulf Stammwitz.

Ma?berot Immanuel is a collection of twenty-eight chapters in Hebrew of rhymed prose and poetry written by the poet and amateur philosopher Immanuel of Rome during an era of rapid political change in late medieval Italy. The final chapter, Mah?beret Ha-Tofet Ve-ha-'Eden (A Tale of Heaven and Hell), like Dante's Commedia, depicts Immanuel's visits to hell and heaven. Bridging Worlds focuses on the interrelation of Immanuel's belletristic work and biblical exegesis to advance a comprehensive and original reading of this final chapter. By reading Immanuel's philosophical commentaries and literary works together, Dana Fishkin demonstrates that Immanuel's narrative made complex philosophical ideas about the soul's quest for immortality accessible to an educated populace. Throughout this work, she explains the many ways Mah?beret Ha-Tofet Ve-ha-'Eden serves as a site of cultural negotiation and translation. Bridging Worlds broadens our understanding of the tensions inherent in the world of late medieval Jewish people who were deeply enmeshed in Italian culture and literature, negotiating two cultures whose values may have overlapped but also sometimes clashed. Fishkin puts forth a valuable and refreshing perspective alongside previously unknown sources to breathe new life into this extremely rich and culturally valuable medieval work.

Since the publication of the first edition of The Crusades: A Reader, interest in the Crusades has increased dramatically, fueled in part by current global interactions between the Muslim world and Western nations. The second edition features an intriguing new chapter on perceptions of the Crusades in the modern period, from David Hume and William Wordsworth to World War I political cartoons and crusading rhetoric circulating after 9/11. Islamic accounts of the treatment of prisoners have been added, as well as sources detailing the homecoming of those who had ventured to the Holy Land-including a newly translated reading on a woman crusader, Margaret of Beverly. The book contains sixteen images, study questions for each reading, and an index.

The Middle Ages: A New History, 1000-1400 provides students with an engaging and enlightening journey through the historical events, social and personal dynamics, intellectual developments, and religious beliefs of the Middle Ages. The book begins with an overview of Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Proceeding chapters cover the peasantry and rural society; religious life and the church; political history in Iberia, France, Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, and Italy in the 11th century; and trade, commerce, guilds, and the economy. Students learn about Islamic, Jewish, and Christian intellectual traditions, and the experiences of the disenfranchised-the poor, minorities, women, and "others." They study key political events that shaped Scandinavia, the Holy Roman Empire, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. Additional chapters address topics related to the church and its institutions-including the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Mendicant Orders, and more-as well as secular administration, finance, and legal systems. Closing chapters discuss medieval popular culture and entertainment, as well as the many calamities that struck Europe between 1300 and 1400, including famine, plague, war, rebellions, and a conflicted and weakened church. Illuminating and well-researched, The Middle Ages is an ideal textbook for courses in world and European history.

Contributions to this Festschrift for the renowned American legal and literary scholar William Ian Miller reflect the extraordinary intellectual range of the honorand, who is equally at home discussing legal history, Icelandic sagas, English literature, anger and violence, and contemporary popular culture. Professor Miller's colleagues and former students, including distinguished academic lawyers, historians, and literary scholars from the United States, Canada, and Europe, break important new ground by bringing little-known sources to a wider audience and by shedding new light on familiar sources through innovative modes of analysis. Contributors are Stuart Airlie, Theodore M. Andersson, Nora Bartlett, Robert Bartlett, Jordan Corrente Beck, Carol J. Clover, Lauren DesRosiers, William Eves, John Hudson, Elizabeth Papp Kamali, Kimberley-Joy Knight, Simon MacLean, M.W. McHaffie, Eva Miller, Hans Jacob Orning, Jamie Page, Susanne Pohl-Zucker, Amanda Strick, Helle Vogt, Mark D. West, and Stephen D. White.

The Historia Selebiensis Monasterii is an account of the origins of the earliest Norman abbey to be founded in the north of England following the Conquest of 1066, and of the history of the monastery in its first one hundred and six years. The history was written by a young monk of Selby in 1174, and the unique medieval manuscript in which it survives appears to have been sent from Selby to the French monastery of Auxerre, from where the author claimed the founder-monk of Selby came. Weaving together historical narrative and miracles associated with the relic held at Selby Abbey, the middle finger of St Germanus of Auxerre, the author produced a lively and entertaining account designed to record the history of his monastery and promote the cult of the relic around which it had grown up. At the same time he created a past, and a corporate memory of that past, for his community. This volume contains a critical edition of the Historia, with English translation, and textual notes and historical commentary. The Introduction explores the dynamics of the text - its purpose, composition, and use of sources - and its significance as a source for monastic history. It offers a reassessment of the origins of the first Norman abbey in northern England.

In On Both Sides of the Strait of Gibraltar Julio Samso studies the history of medieval astronomy in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), the Maghrib and the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. He proves that the Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, Castilian and Catalan sources belong to the same tradition whose origin can be dated in the 11th century due to the changes in Ptolemy's astronomical theory introduced by the Toledan astronomer Ibn al-Zarqalluh/Azarquiel. The book also analyses the role of al-Andalus and the Iberian Peninsula in the transmission of Islamic astronomy to Europe and justifies the fact that Eastern Islamic works published after ca. 950 CE were not accessible to medieval European scholars because they had not reached al-Andalus.

In Tales of the Iron Bloomery Bernt Rundberget examines the ironmaking in southern Hedmark in Norway in the period AD 700-1300. Excavations show that this method is distinctive and geographically limited; this is expressed by the technology, organization, development and large-scale production. The ironmaking practice had its origins in increasing demands for iron, due to growth in urbanization, church power, kingship and mercantile networks. Rundberget's main hypothesis is that iron became the economic basis for political developments, from chiefdom to kingdom. Iron extraction activity grew from the late Viking Age, throughout the early medieval period, before it came to a sudden collapse around AD 1300. This trend correlates with the rise and fall of the kingdom.

This book surveys current archaeological and historical thinking about the dimly understood characteristics of daily life in Great Britain during the fifth and sixth centuries. Arthurian legends are immensely popular and well known despite the lack of reliable documentation about this time period in Britain. As a result, historians depend upon archaeologists to accurately describe life during these two centuries of turmoil when Britons suffered displacement by Germanic immigrants. Daily Life in Arthurian Britain examines cultural change in Britain through the fifth and sixth centuries-anachronistically known as The Dark Ages-with a focus on the fate of Romano-British culture, demographic change in the northern and western border lands, and the impact of the Germanic immigrants later known as the Anglo-Saxons. The book coalesces many threads of current knowledge and opinion from leading historians and archaeologists, describing household composition, rural and urban organization, food production, architecture, fashion, trades and occupations, social classes, education, political organization, warfare, and religion in Arthurian times. The few available documentary sources are analyzed for the cultural and historical value of their information. Presents maps and illustrations of Britain during the relevant time periods Includes a bibliography of major print and quality internet resources accessible to the public Provides an index of key concepts, sites, historic persons, events, and materials Contains an appendix on the nature of archaeological evidence

This volume explores a core medieval myth, the tale of an Arthurian knight called Wigalois, and the ways it connects the Yiddish-speaking Jews and the German-speaking non-Jews of the Holy Roman Empire. The German Wigalois / Viduvilt adaptations grow from a multistage process: a German text adapted into Yiddish adapted into German, creating adaptations actively shaped by a minority culture within a majority culture. The Knight without Boundaries examines five key moments in the Wigalois / Viduvilt tradition that highlight transitions between narratological and meta-narratological patterns and audiences of different religious-cultural or lingual background.

In The Crown, the Court and the Casa da India, Susannah Humble Ferreira examines the social and political context that gave rise to the Portuguese Overseas Empire during the reigns of Joao II (1481-95) and Manuel I (1495-1521). In particular the book elucidates the role of the Portuguese royal household in the political consolidation of Portugal in this period. By looking at the relationship of the Manueline Reforms, the expulsion of the Jews and the creation of the Santa Casa da Misericordia to the political threat brought on by the expansion of Ferdinand of Aragon into the Mediterranean, the author re-evaluates the place of the overseas expansion in the policies of the Portuguese crown.

Alongside annals, chronicles were the main genre of historical writing in the Middle Ages. Their significance as sources for the study of medieval history and culture is today widely recognised by historians, by students of literature and linguistics, and by art historians. All chronicles raise such questions as by whom, for whom, or for what purpose they were written, how they reconstruct the past, or what kind of literary influences are discernible in them. With illuminated chronicles, the relation between text and image leads to a wholly different set of questions. The series The Medieval Chronicle, published in cooperation with the Medieval Chronicle Society (medievalchronicle.org), provides a representative survey of on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods, and cultural backgrounds.

In Faces of Charisma: Image, Text, Object in Byzantium and the Medieval West, a multi-disciplinary group of scholars advances the theory that charisma may be a quality of art as well as of person. Beginning with the argument that Weberian charisma of person is itself a matter of representation, this volume shows that to study charismatic art is to experiment with a theory of representation that allows for the possibility of nothing less than a breakdown between art and viewer and between art and lived experience. The volume examines charismatic works of literature, visual art, and architecture from England, Northern Europe, Italy, Ancient Greece, and Constantinople and from time periods ranging from antiquity to the beginning of the early modern period. Contributors are Joseph Salvatore Ackley, Paul Binski, Paroma Chatterjee, Andrey Egorov, Erik Gustafson, Duncan Hardy, Stephen Jaeger, Jacqueline E. Jung, Lynsey McCulloch, Martino Rossi Monti, Gavin Richardson, and Andrew Romig.

Maximus the Confessor (c.580-662) has become one of the most discussed figures in contemporary patristic studies. This is partly due to the relatively recent discovery and critical edition of his works in various genres, including On the Ascetic Life, Four Centuries on Charity, Two Centuries on Theology and the Incarnation, On the 'Our Father', two separate Books of Difficulties, addressed to John and to Thomas, Questions and Doubts, Questions to Thalassius, Mystagogy and the Short Theological and Polemical Works. The impact of these works reached far beyond the Greek East, with his involvement in the western resistance to imperial heresy, notably at the Lateran Synod in 649. Together with Pope Martin I (649-53 CE), Maximus the Confessor and his circle were the most vocal opponents of Constantinople's introduction of the doctrine of monothelitism. This dispute over the number of wills in Christ became a contest between the imperial government and church of Constantinople on the one hand, and the bishop of Rome in concert with eastern monks such as Maximus, John Moschus, and Sophronius, on the other, over the right to define orthodoxy. An understanding of the difficult relations between church and state in this troubled period at the close of Late Antiquity is necessary for a full appreciation of Maximus' contribution to this controversy. The editors of this volume aim to provide the political and historical background to Maximus' activities, as well as a summary of his achievements in the spheres of theology and philosophy, especially neo-Platonism and Aristotelianism.