The Jews of Medieval Europe

Paper Summary:

The paper researches the history of the Jewish community in Medieval Europe, particularly in the areas dominated by the Christian rulers and the Church. The paper examines the discrimination and cruel prosecution of the Jews, and the reasons behind this persecution. The paper gives specific examples of their periodic persecution and also discusses their treatment by the Muslim rulers in Spain.

Table of Contents:
The Root Cause of the Bias Against Jews
Jews in the Early Middle Ages
(i) Jewish Community in the Iberian Peninsula
(ii) Money Lending Jews and Isolated Existence
(iii) Prosecution During Crusades
(iv) Later Middle Ages

From the Paper:

"Although the Christian crusades in the Middle Ages were primarily directed against their arch enemies--the Muslims, they frequently degenerated into massacres of an easier target--the Jewish communities in Europe. For example, during the First Crusade in 1096 AD, the German crusaders on their way to the East, turned on the flourishing Jewish communities on the Rhine and the Danube and utterly destroyed them."

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