History of Religion Commons^™

The Woodstruck Deed The Documentation Of Accidental Defloration Among The Jews Of Early Modern Italy, David Malkiel

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The “woodstruck” (mukat ets) deed, a Hebrew document that officially records the accidental defloration of a young girl, appears in sixteenth-century Italy, in a block of deeds recorded by Jewish notaries in Rome, in a rabbinic responsum and in the record book of the Padua community. Prior to that, there is no record of such an instrument anywhere in Jewish history and literature, despite the fact that the frequency of accidental defloration must have been a constant. Moreover, the registers of the Jewish notaries of sixteenth-century Rome contain over a hundred such deeds for the sixteenth century alone. The appearance …

Jewish Women And Economic Encounters With Christians, Debra Kaplan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

R. Yair Hayyim ben Moses Samson Bacharach (1638-1702) is well-known for his knowledge of halakha and Kabbalah. Over the course of his lifetime, he served as the rabbi in several locations in the Holy Roman Empire. In these two responsa, Bacharach deals with one of the halakhic problems surrounding women’s trade with non-Jews. Such trade inevitably caused women to enter into seclusion (yihud) with non-Jews, especially since according to Jewish law, the presence of the non-Jew’s wife did not alleviate the prohibition of seclusion with a non-Jew.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Havvot Yair, Responsum 66
• Havvot Yair, …

Unequal Opportunities The Economic Possibilities Open To Jewish Women In 18th Century Poland-Lithuania, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The following texts present an image of economic opportunities, and gender roles in Jewish society in eastern Europe. The first text is an 18th-century supplication by a Jew, Bunim Szlomowicz, against his wife; the second is a 1751 decree by the Council of Lithuania regulating women's roles in trade.

Family Ties & Political Structure In Pisa And Livorno, Bernard D. Cooperman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In his presentation of two documents pertaining to Jews in Pisa and Livorno, Bernard Cooperman discusses the link between family connections and the construction of a new formal Jewish community and explores the connection between family and business networks. Cooperman argues here that new communities in early modern Italy were often structured as merchant companies, and it was a family that was a base of trade networks. Family also became a method of joining the community, while at the same time families and individuals used membership in a community to legitimize a family. The presentation further explores interracial marriages and …

Marriage And Networkbuilding, Claudia Ulbrich

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In eastern France Jewish marriages are well documented in the eighteenth century. Following a decree by Louis XIV in 1701 that Jewish marriage contracts had to be deposited with notaries within 15 days of marriage, these documents were registered with increasing frequency in the entire French-German region. Registration became generally obligatory in that time, so that we have large amounts of documents both for Christian as for Jews. Historians have never fully analyzed these files. Jean Fleury, who was prompted by genealogical interests, surveyed the 8500 items in the Metz archive, and compiled 2021 marriage contracts from the seventeenth and …

How Family Wealth And Power Are Organized, Moshe Rosman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The following is a translation of Todros Kozuchowski's will. Originally written in Polish, then translated into Hebrew, the will was translated into English by Moshe Rosman.

Pinkas Shamash Altona (1766-1767), Elisheva Carlebach

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Elisheva Carlebach's presentation discusses excerpts from the Pinkas Shamash Altona, providing a glimpse on an aspect of Jewish life that usually remained obscured--illegitimate children born to Jewish domestic servants, and the servants themselves, held very marginal status in the community. One of the pertinent issue was death. If they died the responsibility for buying them was contested between many different parties.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Pinkas Shamash Altona (1766-1767)

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Jewish Marriage In Christian Eyes, Yaacov Deutsch

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation deals with a Christian description of early modern Jewish marriage rituals. The text is a translation of a chapter on Jewish marriage from Johannes Buxtorf's "Synagoga Judaica" or "Jewish Synagogue" (1603).

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Synagoga Judaica (The Jewish Synagogue) by Johannes Buxtorf (1603)

Ordering Early Modern Marriage, Elisheva Baumgarten

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

In this presentation, Elisheva Baumgarten discusses marriage rituals as recorded by a seventeenth-century Jewish author of a book of customs (sefer minhagim), which became popular in the early modern period. Baumgarten compares Yuspa of Worms' work with materials from the medieval period. She also places Jewish marriage rituals within the context of non-Jewish cultures of the time.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• The Custom book of R. Juspa of Worms (17th century)

Click here to view the video

Emw 2006: Gender, Family, And Social Structures, Emw 2006

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 2006 Early Modern Workshop on the topic of “Gender, Family, and Social Structures” addressed a spectrum of topics about the transformation of the concept and form of family in general, and of Jewish family in particular in the early modern period.

The workshop took up questions of: marriage rituals, as represented by early modern (Elisheva Baumgarten) and Christians (Jacob Deutsch), and marriage contracts (Ruth Lamdan), responsibilities of the Jewish community to women and out-of-wedlock children (Elisheva Carlebach), challenges to marriage and marital propriety (Debra Kaplan on rabbinic responses to Jewish women’s encounters with Christian men; David Malkiel and Kenneth …

Vengeance And The Crusades, Susanna A. Throop

History Faculty Publications

This article demonstrates that the popularity of the idea of crusading as vengeance was not limited to the laity, and, instead of fading away after 1099, the ideology grew more widespread as the twelfth century progressed. The primary aim here is to present the evidence alongside preliminary analysis, reserving further, more detailed interpretation for future publications.

The Gothic Cathedral And Medievalism, Stephanie A. Glaser

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The juxtaposition of these two terms would surprise few, for who would question that the medieval edifice and the study of it in archaeology and art history, and its use in promoting religious, political, social, or aesthetic ideologies since the fifteenth century is a rich subject of medievalism? And yet, at three recent conferences dedicated to the subject: La Cathédrale (2000), The Idea of the Gothic Cathedral (2005), and L'imaginaire moderne de la cathédrale (2006), medievalism as a point of view or even point of departure for the discussions about modern representations of the Gothic edifice, was practically non-existent. This …

The City As A Place Of Regulation, Border And Exclusion, Bernard D. Cooperman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Supplications to the Government, Jewish Settlement in Livorno Atti Civili del Ufficio di governatore di Livorno (1605, 1610)

Law, Boundaries, And City Life In Early Modern Poland-Lithuania, Magda Teter

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The dynamics of relations within cities thus are shaped not only by class or religious or ethnic membership but also by the legal framework. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, divisions between the private and royal domains within cities disrupted not only their legal coherence but also that of Jewish communities themselves, sharpening economic competition and often also conflict. This is what the 1711 decree of the Lithuanian Tribunal against the kahal of Minsk highlights--legal distinctions sometimes exacerbated urban tensions.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Decree of the Lithuanian Tribunal against the Kahal of Minsk (1711)

Click here to view …

Close Quarters Privacy And Jewish House Space In Early Modern Polish Cities, Adam Teller

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The following texts were chosen in order to illustrate the implications of the growth in Jewish population in Poland's larger towns during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the number of Jews grew faster than the non-Jewish authorities would allow the Jewish quarters to expand. This led to an increasing degree of crowding in the Jewish quarter as a whole as well as in individual houses. To illustrate this, some demographic data on the situation in the Jewish quarter of Poznan may be seen in the presentation.

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Cracow Community Ordinance of 5355 (1595) …

Rural Jews Of Alsace, Debra Kaplan

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

From 1348/9-1477, the Jews of Alsace were expelled from the cities in which they had lived throughout the Middle Ages. While many opted to leave the Empire for centers in Eastern Europe and Italy, some Jews remained, moving to the towns and villages in the countryside. By the 1470's, the majority of Alsatian Jews lived in rural areas. Quotas often dictated residential policies in towns and villages, so it was not uncommon to find one or two Jewish families per village/town. The following documents detail the relationship of rural Alsatian Jews, as represented by their communal leaders, with two Alsatian …

(Review) Finding The Middle Way: The Utraquists' Liberal Challenge To Rome And Luther, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Modern Jewries, Emw 2004

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The 2004 workshop’s goal was to look broadly at the early modern period, and develop a number of themes that might be pursued at subsequent workshops. At the workshop, a number of scholars worked together for three days trying to define the parameters of this chronological period in Jewish history. Participants have covered a broad, if still necessarily limited, range of geographic, thematic, and disciplinary topics, resulting in the first collection of impressive texts on early modern Jewish history. They include privileges granted by monarchs and lords to Jews (privileges granted to Jews of Great Poland in 1453, to a …

A Nun's Life : Barking Abbey In The Late-Medieval And Early Modern Periods, Teresa L. Barnes

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project is to gain an understanding of the daily lives of nuns in an English nunnery by examining a particular prominent abbey. This study also attempts to update the history of the abbey by incorporating methods and theories used by recent historians of women's monasticism, as well as recent archaeological evidence found at the abbey site. By including specific examinations of Barking Abbey's last nuns, as well as the nuns' artistic and cultural pursuits, this thesis expands the scholarship of the abbey's history into areas previously unexplored. This thesis begins with a look at the nuns …

(Review) Monastische Reform Zwischen Person Und Institution: Zum Wirken Des Abtes Adm Meyer Von Gross St. Martin In Kön (1454-1499), Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

(Review) Kaspar Von Greyerz, Religion Und Kultur, 1500–1800, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Butcher's Tale: Murder And Anti-Semitism In A German Town, Michael F. Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

(Reviews) Iotsald Von Saint-Claude, Vita Des Abtes Odilo Von Cluny/Studien Zu Iotsalds Vita Des Abtes Odilo Von Cluny, Frederick S. Paxton

History Faculty Publications

Reviews the books 'Iotsald von Saint-Claude, Vita des Abtes Odilovon Cluny,' edited by Iotsald von Saint-Claude and 'Studien zu Iotsalds Vita des Abtes Odilo von Cluny,' by Johannes Staub.

(Review) L’An Mil Et La Paix De Dieu, La France Chrétienne Et Féodale 980-1060, Frederick S. Paxton

History Faculty Publications

Reviews the book 'L'an mil et la paix de Dieu: La France chretienne et feodale 980-1060,' by Dominique Barthelemy.

(Review) A Negotiated Settlement, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Romans Commentaries Of William Of St. Thierry And Peter Abelard: A Theological And Methodological Comparison, Steven R. Cartwright

Dissertations

In 1140, William o f St. Thierry, a Cistercian monk and former Benedictine abbot, accused Peter Abelard, the well-known philosopher and theologian, of propagating grave errors concerning Christian doctrine in his theological teachings. William’s accusations resulted in Peter’s condemnation at the Council of Sens in 1140.

This study compares the commentaries on the Episode of St. Paul to the Romans written by William of St. Thierry and Peter Abelard in the mid-1130s, only a few years before William’s accusations. While this conflict has been much studied, no one has previously examined it via these commentaries, which are the only literary …

(Review) Wolfgang Burgdorf, Reichskonstitution Und Nation, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

La Persecución De Los Judíos Durante La Inquisición Española Y El Proyecto Imperial De Unificación Religiosa (The Jewish Persecution During The Spanish Inquisition And The Imperial Endeavor Of Religious Unification), Melissa Westerberg

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

During the Spanish Inquisition, the persecution of the Jews (and other anti-Catholic groups) was, in my opinion, unjustifiable. The Muslims had conquered Spain in 711, and the Christians began to re-conquer the Iberian Peninsula during the 1300's. In 1492, the Christians took Granada (the last city which was held by Muslim power), Columbus discovered the New World, and the Jews were expelled from Spain. My study involved the countless conflicts between the Catholics and the Jews during this time of re-conquest. One of the main issues that was critical to the predicament of Jewish life involved the desires of the …

(Review) The Anabaptists, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

(Review) Der Schweizerische Bauernkrieg Von 1653, Marc R. Forster

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.