'The Jew in Medieval Iberia' is an exploration of the richness and diversity of Jewish society in Christian Iberia from 1100-1500, providing a fresh look at the ways in which medieval Jews conceived of themselves and their communities, as well as their relationship to the surrounding society. The essays collected in this volume transcend older stereotypes of Christian persecution and Jewish piety to reveal a complex and vibrant community of merchants and scholars, townsmen and women, cultural intermediaries and guardians of religious tradition. Taken together, they present a portrait that adds greater nuances to our understanding of both medieval Jewish and medieval Spanish history.

This collection of essays looks at the shared experience of exile across different groups in the early modern period. Contributors argue that exile is a useful analytical tool in the study of a wide variety of peoples previously examined in isolation.

'The Jew in Medieval Iberia' is an exploration of the richness and diversity of Jewish society in Christian Iberia from 1100-1500, providing a fresh look at the ways in which medieval Jews conceived of themselves and their communities, as well as their relationship to the surrounding society. The essays collected in this volume transcend older stereotypes of Christian persecution and Jewish piety to reveal a complex and vibrant community of merchants and scholars, townsmen and women, cultural intermediaries and guardians of religious tradition. Taken together, they present a portrait that adds greater nuances to our understanding of both medieval Jewish and medieval Spanish history.

This collection of essays looks at the shared experience of exile across different groups in the early modern period. The contributors argue that exile is a useful analytical tool in the study of a wide variety of peoples previously examined in isolation.

Calling all spirit enthusiasts, wannabe mixologists and fans of aperitifs and digestifs... That's the Spirit! is here to guide and entertain you through the world of spirits and liqueurs, including whiskies both familiar and surprising, dangerous tequila and mezcal, gin and its Dutch counterpart genever, under-rated grappa, love-it-or-hate-it Bailey's, legendary absinthe and enough rum to make you book a flight to Jamaica immediately.

Behind this very well-stocked, virtual bar is author Jonathan Ray, who knows a thing or two about alcohol, being drinks editor of the Spectator. Through his personal selection of the 100 most deliciously fascinating spirits and liqueurs in the world, he tells us all about the makers behind the drinks, what makes certain brands so enduring and fascinating, which famous drinkers had one glass too many, and what makes specific tipples taste so irresistible.

Among these 100 bottles are tips on your essential home cocktail kit, the world's best cocktail bars, which glassware is right for which drink, and the ultimate way to serve key spirits at home.

Fans of Jonathan's best-selling Drink More Fizz! and all things alcoholic will love this invaluable excuse to drink spirits with style.

No subject looms larger over the historical landscape of medieval Spain than that of the reconquista, the rapid expansion of the power of the Christian kingdoms into the Muslim-populated lands of southern Iberia, which created a broad frontier zone that for two centuries remained a region of warfare and peril. Drawing on a large fund of unpublished material in royal, ecclesiastical, and municipal archives as well as rabbinic literature, Jonathan Ray reveals a fluid, often volatile society that transcended religious boundaries and attracted Jewish colonists from throughout the peninsula and beyond.

The result was a wave of Jewish settlements marked by a high degree of openness, mobility, and interaction with both Christians and Muslims. Ray's view challenges the traditional historiography, which holds that Sephardic communities, already fully developed, were simply reestablished on the frontier. In the early years of settlement, Iberia's crusader kings actively supported Jewish economic and political activity, and Jewish interaction with their Christian neighbors was extensive.

Only as the frontier was firmly incorporated into the political life of the peninsular states did these frontier Sephardic populations begin to forge the communal structures that resembled the older Jewish communities of the North and the interior. By the end of the thirteenth century, royal intervention had begun to restrict the amount of contact between Jewish and Christian communities, signaling the end of the open society that had marked the frontier for most of the century.

No subject looms larger over the historical landscape of medieval Spain than that of the reconquista, the rapid expansion of the power of the Christian kingdoms into the Muslim-populated lands of southern Iberia, which created a broad frontier zone that for two centuries remained a region of warfare and peril. Drawing on a large fund of unpublished material in royal, ecclesiastical, and municipal archives as well as rabbinic literature, Jonathan Ray reveals a fluid, often volatile society that transcended religious boundaries and attracted Jewish colonists from throughout the peninsula and beyond.

The result was a wave of Jewish settlements marked by a high degree of openness, mobility, and interaction with both Christians and Muslims. Ray's view challenges the traditional historiography, which holds that Sephardic communities, already fully developed, were simply reestablished on the frontier. In the early years of settlement, Iberia's crusader kings actively supported Jewish economic and political activity, and Jewish interaction with their Christian neighbors was extensive.

Only as the frontier was firmly incorporated into the political life of the peninsular states did these frontier Sephardic populations begin to forge the communal structures that resembled the older Jewish communities of the North and the interior. By the end of the thirteenth century, royal intervention had begun to restrict the amount of contact between Jewish and Christian communities, signaling the end of the open society that had marked the frontier for most of the century.