XVIII. THE AGE OF SOLOMON BEN ADRET AND ASHERI

XVIII. THE AGE OF SOLOMON BEN ADRET AND ASHERI

Martyrs in Germany--The Jews of Hungary and Poland--The Council at Buda--The Jews of Spain and Portugal--Solomon ben Adret, his character and writings--Raymund Martin's anti-Jewish Works--New antagonism to the Maimunist Philosophy --David Maimuni--Moses Taku--Meïr of Rothenburg--The Jews of Italy--Solomon Petit--Rudolph of Habsburg-- Emigration of Jews from the Rhine Provinces--Sufferings of the English Jews--Expulsion of the Jews from England and Gascony--Saad-Addaula--Isaac of Accho.

1270-1306 C. E.

If Jewish history were to follow chronicles, memorial books and martyrologies, its pages would be filled with descriptions of bloodshed, it would consist of horrible exhibitions of corpses, and it would stand forth to make accusation against a doctrine which taught princes and nations to become common executioners and hangmen. For, from the thirteenth till the sixteenth century, the persecutions and massacres of the Jews increased with frightful rapidity and in intensity, and only alternated with inhuman decrees issued both by the Church and the state, the aim and purport of all of which were to humiliate the Jews, to brand them with calumny and to drive them to suicide. The prophet's description of the martyrdom of the servant of God, of the Messianic people, was fulfilled, or repeated with terrible literalness: "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment ... for the transgression of my people was he stricken." The nations of Europe emulated one another in exercising their cruelty upon the Jews; and it was always the clergy who, in the name of a religion of love, stirred up this undying hatred. It mattered little to the Jews whether they lived under a strict government or under anarchy, for they suffered under the one no less than under the other.

In Germany they were slain by thousands during the troubles which, after the death of the emperor Frederick II, and till the crowning of Rudolph of Habsburg as emperor, arose from the strife between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Every year martyrs fell, now in Weissenburg, Magdeburg, Arnstadt, now in Coblenz, Sinzig, Erfurt, and other places. In Sinzig all the members of the congregation were burnt alive on a Sabbath in their synagogue. There were German Christian families who boasted that they had burnt Jews, and in their pride assumed the name of "Jew-roaster" (Judenbreter). The Church took good care that her flock should not, by intimate intercourse with Jews, discover that they were like other human beings, and so be made to feel sympathy for them. In Vienna, during the contest for the imperial throne of Germany, a large assembly of churchmen met (12th May, 1267) under the leadership of the papal legate Gudeo. Most of the German prelates took part in it, and gave much attention to the question of the Jews. They solemnly confirmed every canonical law that Innocent III and his successors had passed for the branding of the Jews. Jews were not allowed to have any Christian servants, were not admissible to any office of trust, were not to associate with Christians in ale-houses and baths, and Christians were not permitted to accept any invitation of the Jews, nor to enter into discussion with them. As if the German people desired to show that it could surpass all nations in scorn of the Jews, the members of the council at Vienna did not rest content with the command that the German Jews should wear a mark on their dress, but they compelled them to assume a disfiguring head-dress, a pointed, horned hat or cap (pileum cornutum), which provoked the mockery of the gamins. Bloody persecutions were the natural outcome of such distinguishing marks.

In France the clergy did not find it necessary to urge upon their princes, by threats, the degradation of the Jews. The saintly Louis, on his own account, busied himself with this matter. A year before his adventurous journey to Tunis, where he met his death, he emphasized, at the instigation of his much-beloved Pablo Christiani, the Jewish Dominican, the canonical edict which ordained the wearing of the badges. He ordered that this badge should be made of red felt or saffron-yellow cloth in the form of a wheel, and should be worn on the upper garment both on the breast and the back, "so that those who were thus marked might be recognized from all sides." Every Jew found without this badge was to be punished, for the first offense, with the loss of his garment, and for the second, with a fine of ten livres of silver to be paid into the treasury (March, 1269). The Jews of northern France, accustomed to ill-usage, and, as it were, dulled by it, easily yielded; but not so the Jews of Provence, who, being educated and in friendly intercourse with cultured Christians, would not submit to this ignominy. Hitherto they had contrived to escape from wearing the badge, and thought that they would be able to do so on this occasion also. The congregations of the south of France thereupon sent deputies to take counsel for the general welfare; and they in turn selected two distinguished men, Mordecai ben Joseph, of Avignon, and Solomon, of Tarascon, who were to go to court, and try to effect the abrogation of this law. The Jewish delegates met with success, and they returned home with the joyful news that the edict which commanded the wearing of the badge had been rescinded. But Philip III, the successor of Louis, and equally bigoted and narrow-minded, re-introduced the law a year after his accession to the throne (1271). The Dominicans took great care to see that it was not transgressed. Several distinguished Jews, such as Mordecai, of Avignon, and others, who would not submit to this disgrace, were imprisoned. This wearing of a badge by the Jews remained in force in France till the time of their expulsion from the country.

The Church pursued the sons of Jacob with its implacable hate to the very border-line between Europe and Asia. The people of Hungary and Poland, who had not yet laid aside their primitive state of barbarity and their warlike ferocity, were in greater need of the services of the Jews than the nations and states of Central and Western Europe. The Jews, with their commercial habits and their practical skill, had perceived the abundance of produce in the districts lying on the Lower Danube, the Vistula, and on both sides of the Carpathian mountains, had utilized, and thus first conferred value on, this source of wealth. Despite the zeal with which the papacy strove to deprive Jews of public offices, despite its efforts to restrain them from obtaining leases for working the salt mines and from farming the coinage and the taxes in Hungary, it could not expel them from positions in which they were indispensable in preventing the wealth of the country from running to waste. The Hungarian king, Bela IV, the successor of Andrew II, driven by stern necessity, the ravages of the Mongols having impoverished the country, invited Jewish agents. For the benefit of the Jews under his dominion, Bela introduced the law of Frederick the Valiant, of Austria, which protected them from the violence of the mob and the clergy, conceded to them their own jurisdiction, and allowed them the control over their domestic affairs. The papacy, however, turned its attention to the Carpathian districts, partly for the purpose of kindling a new crusade against the Mongols, and partly in order to bring back to the Roman see, by means of trickery and force, the schismatic adherents of the Greek Church. Its spiritual armies, the Dominicans and Franciscans, were despatched thither, and they instilled into the hitherto tolerant Magyars their own spirit of fanatical intolerance. A large church assembly, consisting of prelates from Hungary and the south of Poland, met at Buda (September, 1279). This convocation was under the presidency of Philip, who was the papal legate for Hungary, Poland, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Lodomeria, and Galicia, and decreed a proscription of the Jews of these countries, which the Church executed with logical severity. Jews and other inhabitants of the country not belonging to the Roman Catholic Church were to be debarred from the right of farming the taxes, or from holding any public post. Bishops and other ecclesiastics of higher or lower degree who had entrusted the farming of the revenues of their sees to the hands of Jews were to be suspended from their holy offices. Laymen, of whatsoever rank, were to be placed under a ban of excommunication till they dismissed the Jewish contractors and employés, and had given security that henceforward they would not accept or retain such men, "because it is very dangerous to permit Jews to dwell together with Christian families, and to have intimacy with them at courts and in private houses." The synod at Buda also enacted that the Jews of both sexes dwelling in Hungarian territory (which included Hungary and the provinces of southern Poland) should wear the figure of a wheel made of red cloth on the upper garment on the left side of the breast, and that they should never be seen without this badge. For the time, the exclusion of the Jews of Hungary and Poland from Christian society had little practical effect, for the Mahometans and the schismatic Greek Catholics shared their proscription. These latter were also withheld from public offices. The Mahometans, too, were ordered to wear a badge of a yellow color. The Magyars and Poles had not yet been made so intolerant by church influence as to adopt the refined, cruel practices of both the secular and the regular clergy, who would have denied fire and water to men not wearing a red or yellow sign. The first crop of this poisonous fruit was gathered about half a century later. The last king of the family of Arpad, Ladislaus IV, ratified and confirmed the statutes of the synod in Hungary.

A similar state of affairs was to be met with in the extreme west of Europe, in the Pyrenean peninsula. As Mahometans here also dwelt in proximity to Christians and Jews, the Church was not able easily to carry out its purpose, prompted by intolerance, of crushing the Jews. To this it must be added, that the higher culture of the Jews and their participation in all internal and foreign affairs, were circumstances in their favor here, and they forced respect from their enemies. Although Alfonso the Wise, king of Castile, had promulgated a law precluding Jews from filling state offices, yet he himself continued to appoint Jews to important posts. Amongst others, he promoted Don Zag (Isaac) de Malea, the son of Don Meïr, to be the royal treasurer. He was severely rebuked for doing so by Pope Nicholas III (1279), but still he did not remove the Jews from their offices. On one occasion, indeed, he became very angry with Don Zag, and caused his displeasure to be felt by the Jews generally in an ebullition of rage; this, however, was not out of respect for the Church, but emanated from discordant family relations. Don Zag had large sums of money belonging to the state under his custody, which the king had destined for the carrying on of a campaign. The Infante Don Sancho, who cherished hostile intentions against his father, compelled the Jewish treasurer to surrender the public money to him. King Alfonso was extremely enraged at this action, and, in order to teach his son a lesson, he had Don Zag arrested, put in chains, and thus fettered conducted through the city where the Infante was staying at the time. Don Sancho in vain exerted himself to procure the freedom of the Jewish Almoxarif, who was suffering for no guilt of his own; but Alfonso at once ordered his execution (1280). His displeasure was also visited upon all the Jews of Castile, who were forced to expiate their kinsman's act, which assuredly cannot be termed an oversight. The "wise" King Alfonso issued an injunction that all the Jews be imprisoned on a certain Sabbath, and exacted heavy fines from them, 12,000 maravedis every day for a stated period. The congregations were thus made to replenish the empty treasury. However, in a short time the king had to suffer severely for the violent injustice he had done to Don Zag. His son, who was embittered against him on this account, and took the ill-treatment and execution of Don Zag as a personal affront, openly rebelled against Alfonso, and drew to his side the greater portion of the nobility, the people, and the clergy. The unhappy king, who had indulged in extravagant ideals at his accession, and had hoped, as the emperor of Germany, to found a world monarchy, felt himself so deserted in his old age that in despair he appealed to a Mahometan prince to come to his help, seeing that he was "unable to find any protection or defender in his own land."

The condition of the Jews under Don Sancho, who ascended the throne when his father died grief-stricken, was tolerable, but was dependent upon caprice. This king was the first to regulate the payment of the Jew-tax (Juderia) by the congregations of New Castile, Leon, Murcia, and the newly-acquired provinces in Andalusia (la Frontera). Hitherto, every Jew had paid a capitation-tax of three maravedis (thirty dineros, about thirty-seven cents), in memory of the thirty pieces of silver guiltily paid for the death of Jesus. Don Sancho assembled deputies of the congregations at Huete, and named the total amount which every district was required to pay into the royal coffers, leaving it to the deputies to apportion this sum among the congregations and families (Sept., 1290). The commission for the newly-acquired territory in Andalusia was composed of four men. If these men found themselves unable to come to an agreement, they were to call to their aid the committee of the congregation (Aljama) of Toledo, and especially the aged David Abudarham, probably a highly respected personage. The Jews of the kingdom of Castile, whose population numbered nearly 850,000 souls, contributed 2,780,000 maravedis, part of which was the poll-tax and part the service-tax. In these provinces there were over eighty Jewish congregations, the most famous being in the capital Toledo, which, together with the adjacent smaller cities, numbered 72,000 Jews. There were also very large communities in Burgos (nearly 29,000), Carrion (24,000), Cuenca, Valladolid, and Avila. Over 3000 Jews dwelt in Madrid, which at this time had not yet attained any degree of importance. The king granted certain Jews who were his especial favorites immunity from taxation. This was the cause of much dissension, seeing that the freedom enjoyed by these usually wealthy persons fell as a heavy burden upon the body of the community, and on those less endowed with worldly goods.

At this period the Jews in the new kingdom of Portugal were very favorably placed, both under King Alfonso III (1248-1279) and King Diniz (1279-1325). Not only were they exempt from the canonical decrees which compelled the wearing of a distinctive sign and the payment of tithes to the Church, but prominent persons among them were appointed to fill very important positions. King Diniz had a Jewish minister of finance, named Judah, the chief rabbi of Portugal (Arraby Moor), who was so wealthy that he was able to advance large sums of money for the purchase of a city. Jews and Mahometans were commissioned to mete out punishment to the rebellious clergy, who, at the constant instigation of the papacy, strove to alter the national laws in accordance with canonical decisions, thus kindling fierce strife between the monarchy and the Church. In order to be at peace with the quarrelsome Church, King Diniz at length yielded, and introduced the canonical laws into his country, but made no serious attempt to carry them into effect.

Thus the Jews in the Pyrenean peninsula, in spite of the growing encroachments of the Church, in spite of its wicked desire to humiliate them, and the fanatical preaching and disputations of the mendicant friars, maintained a position superior to that held by Jews in the remaining countries of Europe. Here the pulse of spiritual life was strongest, here the character of Judaism was moulded, here questions of vital importance sprang up, were discussed, debated with passionate energy, and finally decided. Here the doctrines of Judaism were made the subject of warm debate, and the results of the scholarship and erudition of the Spanish Jews only gradually passed into the possession of the inhabitants of other countries and continents. Spain was once again, as in the ante-Maimunic epoch, elevated to the dignity of representing Judaism for the space of two centuries, and this was effected by a rabbi of remarkable genius. This rabbi was Solomon ben Abraham Ben Adret, of Barcelona (abbreviated into Rashba, born about 1245, died 1310). He was a man of penetrating and clear understanding, full of moral earnestness, of pure and unwavering belief, of mild temperament, combined with an energetic character, which prompted him to pursue with perseverance anything that he had discovered to be right. The Talmud, with its labyrinthine tracks and its hidden corners, with all the explanations and supplements of the Spanish and the French Tossafist schools, presented no more difficulty to Ben Adret than a child's primer, and he handled this enormous mass of material with such ease that he aroused the astonishment of his contemporaries. His probity at the same time guarded him from that subtle sophistry which had even then begun to be adopted in the treatment of the Talmud. Ben Adret, in Talmudical discussions, went straight to the core of a question, and did not stoop to employ stratagems or subterfuge. A Spaniard by birth, he did not altogether lack a knowledge of general science, nor disdain to pay some regard to philosophy, as long as it kept within its own province, acknowledged the doctrines of religion, and did not intrude with the desire of becoming a ruling power. He felt the necessity of interpreting those Agadic stories which gave offense by their simple literalness, and to explain them in a rational manner. While on the one side, then, he did no more than display a spirit of tolerance towards philosophy, he, on the other, had profound respect for the Kabbala, perhaps because his master Nachmani had paid such great homage to it. He confessed that he had not dived very deep into the subject, and maintained that his contemporaries who occupied themselves with the study were likewise not very profoundly initiated, and that their pretended secret traditions were idle boasts. He desired that the Kabbala be taught only in secret (esoterically), and be not expounded in public. Ben Adret's greatest power, however, lay in his acquaintance with the Talmud, because this represented to him, as it had to his teachers, the alpha and omega of all wisdom. In this he lived with his whole soul. Every Talmudical expression appeared to him to be an unfathomable well of the profoundest knowledge, and he believed that a mind completely absorbed in the study was necessary in order to reach its depths.

Such was the nature of the man to whom was allotted the task of bearing aloft the standard of Judaism in these greatly disturbed times, and of combating the extravagant stories that arose on two sides--from the philosophers and from the Kabbalists. For forty years the authority of the Rabbi of Barcelona was paramount in the religious affairs of the Jews, not alone in Spain, but also in other parts of Europe, as well as in Asia and Africa. Questions for his decision were sent to him from France, Germany, Bohemia, Italy, and even from St. Jean d'Acre (Accho) in Palestine and from northern Africa. Students from Germany sat at his feet to hear him expound the Talmud. This is the more noteworthy, as the German rabbis were proud of the learning of their own country, and would not admit the superiority of the academies of any country over their own. When David, the grandson of Maimuni, was in great need, he turned to Ben Adret to obtain assistance. David Maimuni (born 1233, died 1300), who, like his father and his grandfather, was the prince (Nagid) over all the congregations in Egypt, had been calumniated by some evil-minded enemies before the Sultan Kilavun, and accused of some crime. He put his detractors under a ban of excommunication, but it appears without effect. At all events, David hoped to be placed on a safer footing, if he succeeded in appeasing the Sultan by gifts of money. He applied to Ben Adret, and laid the story of his sufferings before him; his request met with a ready response. Ben Adret sent an envoy with a letter to the Spanish congregations to collect funds, and all the communities joyfully contributed large sums of money to aid the grandson of the highly revered Maimuni. Whenever any event of importance took place within Jewish circles, Ben Adret was appealed to for advice or assistance.

The unique distinction enjoyed by the Rabbi of Barcelona can certainly not be attributed entirely to his comprehensive knowledge, for at that time there lived many learned rabbis, and even in Spain there was one equal to him. His fellow-student and countryman, Aaron Halevi (born about 1235, died after 1300), was equally well grounded in the Talmud, also composed works on the subject, and was not his inferior even in secular knowledge.

Ben Adret, nevertheless, exercised supreme authority over all the congregations, both far and near. This superiority was conceded to him on account of his energetic, ever ready defense of Judaism against attacks from within and without.

The clouds, pregnant with destruction, which burst upon the Jews of the Pyrenean peninsula two centuries later, began to collect in the time of Ben Adret. The means which the fanatical General of the Dominicans, Raymond de Penyaforte, had devised for the conversion of the Jews, were beginning to be used. The attempts made in Spain during the period of the Visigoths, on the one hand, to work upon the feelings of the princes and legislators by means of anti-Jewish writings, and, on the other, to prevail upon the Jews to desert their faith, were renewed on a larger scale. There now came forth from the institution which had been established by Raymond de Penyaforte for the purpose of instructing the Dominican monks in the literature of the Jews and Arabs to be used as a means of conversion, a monk, who was the first man in Europe to sharpen weapons of learning for the contest against the Jews. Raymund Martin wrote two books full of malevolent hostility against Judaism, whose very titles announce that the prison cell and the sword were to be employed against its adherents. They are called "Bridle for the Jews," and "Dagger of Faith" (Capistrum Judæorum, and Pugio Fidei). Martin possessed a thorough knowledge of Biblical and rabbinical literature, and was the first Christian who was better acquainted with Hebrew than the Church Father Jerome. He read with ease the Agadic works, the writings of Rashi, Ibn-Ezra, Maimuni and Kimchi, and used them to show that, not alone in the Bible, but also in the rabbinical writings, Jesus was recognized as the Messiah and the Son of God. As might be expected, Raymund Martin laid especial stress upon the argument that the Jewish laws, although a revelation from God, were not intended to have force for ever, and they would lose their validity, particularly at the time of the Messiah. To demonstrate this point, he adduced apparent proofs from the Agadic literature of the Talmud. He also urged that the Talmudists had tampered with the text of the Bible.

Although Raymund Martin's "Dagger of Faith" was neither sharp nor pointed, and although the book is so devoid of spirit that no person could be seduced by it, yet it made a great impression because of the amount of learning displayed therein. By means of the subjoined Latin translation of the Hebrew texts, Christians for the first time were able to peer into the recesses of the Jewish world of thought, which had hitherto been an impenetrable secret to them. Dominicans, eager for the fray, were provided with weapons from this well-stocked arsenal, and aimed blows with them which, to the superficial observer, appeared to strike the air only, but which were regarded by Solomon ben Adret as fraught with danger. He very frequently had interviews with Christian theologians, and, it appears, with Raymund Martin himself. He heard from them various statements, and all sorts of arguments to prove the divine character of Christianity, and was afraid that the weak-minded and the immature might be induced thereby to abandon the Jewish belief. In order to counteract this, he wrote a small pamphlet, in which he briefly refuted all those arguments which were employed at the time by Christians against Judaism. In this refutation and justification, Ben Adret manifested a remarkable spirit of moderation and calmness: no bitter or passionate utterance escaped him.

His polemical writings against a Mahometan writer are much more severe. This author, with scathing criticism, attacked the three revealed religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and directed his arrows very cleverly against their weak points. But Ben Adret's defense is feeble: it proves the correctness of the Bible from the Bible itself, and combats his critical opponent with Talmudical weapons. He thus continually reasons in a circle, and by no means did he achieve a glorious victory. Ben Adret's activity was productive of better results within the ranks of Judaism than beyond them. His time was one of great agitation, in which science and religion were diverging more steadily and noticeably than before: piety daily widened the gulf between it and thought; and thought continually separated itself more and more from the sphere of religion. The Kabbala, growing ever bolder, interfered in the fierce battle of opinions and religious beliefs, and cast its dark shadows over the dimly illuminated basis of Judaism. The old questions, whether Maimuni was to be termed a heretic or not, whether his philosophical writings were to be shunned or indeed consigned to the flames, or whether they were to be considered a satisfactory exposition of Jewish principles,--these questions now burst into new life, and again caused divisions. In Spain and in southern France, the strife had been extinguished by the solemn repentance of the former anti-Maimunist, Jonah I. Since his time, the rabbis of these congregations held Maimuni in great reverence, and considering his ideas as indisputably conducive to the strengthening of religion, they made use of them with more or less skill and lucidity of thought. Even the most orthodox Talmudists in Spain and Provence quoted sayings of Maimuni in their expositions of religious questions. But the battle for and against Maimuni was waged on another scene of action. In the German and Italian communities, it inflamed the minds of men anew, penetrated as far as Palestine, and, as it were, enfolded all Judaism in its embrace. The German Jews, who hitherto had not shown any liking for science, and who had limited their thoughts to the narrow circle of the Talmud, were unacquainted with the work of the active spirits of Montpellier, Saragossa, and Toledo. They did not suspect that Maimuni, in addition to his code of religious laws, which they accepted, had left writings of a more questionable nature. They were now rudely awakened from their happy religious slumber, and their minds agitated with speculations upon the consequences involved in the Maimunist philosophy of religion.

The man who rekindled this bitter strife was a learned Talmudist, named Moses ben Chasdaï Taku (Tachau?), who flourished from about 1250 to 1290. An eccentric, orthodox literalist, he considered all philosophical and rational views concerning Judaism equal to a disavowal of the truths of the Torah and the Talmud. Taku was quite logical in his opposition. He denounced as heretics not only Maimuni and Ibn-Ezra, but also the Gaon Saadiah, because the latter, in his writings on philosophy, had been the pioneer in this path. The new study had thus originated with him; before his time it had been unheard of in Jewish circles. Led by an unerring instinct, Taku justly affirmed that these men had paved the way for the Karaites. He maintained that it was the bounden duty of every pious Jew, who believed in the written and oral Law, to keep himself aloof from their folly. Moses Taku, with his curious notions, certainly did not occupy an isolated position among the German rabbis. Other men, who had been nurtured in the same school, undoubtedly were in entire agreement with him: but they did not all possess the courage or versatility to take part in a contest against the well-armed representatives of the philosophical school. The most distinguished among them was Meïr ben Baruch of Rothenburg on the Tauber (born 1220, died 1293), on whom the last rays of the dying school of the Tossafists continued to linger. He probably was the first official chief rabbi in the German kingdom, having perhaps received this title from Emperor Rudolph, the first of the house of Habsburg. Although he is sometimes reckoned among the Tossafists, yet his Talmudical writings reveal comprehensive erudition rather than originality or acuteness. He can in no way be compared with Ben Adret; however, he was an authority in Germany and northern France. His piety was of an exaggerated kind. It had been agreed by the French rabbis that in winter rooms might be warmed on the Sabbath by Christians. Meïr of Rothenburg would not allow the Sabbath to be desecrated in this indirect way. He therefore tightly fastened up the doors of the stoves in his house, because the servant-maid had several times made a fire unbidden. In general, the German Jews were more scrupulous than those of other countries; they, for instance, still observed the fast of the Day of Atonement for two consecutive days.

What position the German rabbis took in reference to the denunciation of philosophy and of Maimuni, revived by Moses Taku, is not authentically known, but may be inferred from an event which was the cause of much scandal elsewhere.

A French or Rhenish Kabbalist, who had emigrated to Jean d'Acre (Accho), was stirred up by even more intense zeal than Moses Taku. This man, whose name was Solomon Petit, made it the aim of his life to kindle again the pyre for the wholesale burning of the writings of Maimuni, and to plant the standard of the Kabbala upon the grave of philosophy. At Accho he gathered a circle of pupils around him, whom he initiated into the knowledge of the secret art, and to whom he related marvelous stories in order to cast disrepute upon philosophy. Accho was at this time a very nest of Kabbalists and mystics, of whom the greater number were pupils of Nachmani. Although the days of this town, the last stronghold of the much reduced Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, were numbered, these dabblers in the mystic art conducted themselves as if they were destined to remain there for ever. Solomon Petit thought that he could command sufficient support to venture upon carrying into execution his plan of publishing once more a sentence of condemnation upon Maimunist writings, of forbidding under penalties all scientific study, and excommunicating men engaged in independent research. His fanaticism was especially directed against Maimuni's "Guide" (Moré); in his opinion it deserved to be proscribed, like other heretical works. He enlisted many followers in Palestine to aid him in this attack on heresy. Who would not obey, when the voice of the Holy Land had caused itself to be heard? Who would attempt to justify what it had condemned? But the zealot Solomon Petit met with unexpected opposition.

At the head of the Eastern congregations at this time, there stood an energetic man, Yishaï ben Chiskiya, who had obtained the title of Prince and Exilarch (Resh-Galuta) from the temporal authorities. Those communities of Palestine which were under the rule of the Mahometans and of the Egyptian Sultan Kilavun, naturally belonged to his diocese, and he also claimed obedience from the community at Accho, although it was in the hands of the crusaders. The Exilarch Yishaï held Maimuni in the highest respect, and was on friendly terms with his grandson, David, the Nagid of Egypt. As soon as he received information concerning the doings of Solomon Petit, the mystic of Accho, he dispatched a sharp letter to him, and threatened to excommunicate him if he persisted in his attacks on Maimuni and his writings. Several rabbis, whom Yishaï had called in, to add the weight of their authority to his, expressed themselves to the same effect. But Solomon Petit was not a man to permit himself to be overpowered by obstacles. He undertook a journey to Europe, visited the large congregations, and described the danger of the Maimunistic writings to the rabbis and other distinguished persons. He overawed them by his knowledge of the Kabbala, succeeded in persuading many to join him, and announce, in documents bearing their signatures, that the philosophical writings of Maimuni contained heresies, that they deserved to be put aside or even burnt, and that no Jew ought to read them. Nowhere did Solomon Petit meet with such hearty support as with the German rabbis. They showed their approval of his action in letters, even some of those who had recently been in agreement with the Exilarch Yishaï.

Being assured of the assistance of the German and of some of the French rabbis, Solomon Petit started on his return journey through Italy, and sought to obtain partisans in that country also; but there he met with the least response, for just as Maimuni was finding fresh antagonists in Germany, so his admirers were increasing in Italy. The Italian communities, which hitherto had rivaled the Germans in ignorance of every kind, were just awakening from their torpidity, and their recently opened eyes turned to the light which emanated from Maimuni. Their political condition was not unfavorable; in fact, within the precincts of St. Peter, they were at that time in more propitious circumstances than any of the Jews of central Europe. The canonical laws against the Jews were nowhere more disregarded than in Italy. The small states and municipalities, into which the country was split up at this time, were too jealous of their liberty to permit the clergy to exert any influence over their domestic concerns. The city of Ferrara passed a statute in favor of the Jews, granting many liberties to them, and containing a clause stating, that a magistrate (podestà) could be empowered neither by the pope nor by any one else to deprive them of these privileges. Not only had the king of Sicily, Charles of Anjou, a Jewish physician, Farraj Ibn-Solomon, who, under the name of Farragut, was held in high repute as a scholar in Christian circles, but even the pope himself transgressed the canonical decree which forbade any one's taking medical assistance from a Jew. One of the four popes who reigned during the short period of thirteen years (1279 to 1291) entrusted his holy person to the care of a Jewish physician, Isaac ben Mordecai, who bore the title of Maestro Gajo.

The prosperity enjoyed by Italy in consequence of the wide extension of its flourishing commerce, and the fondness for art and poetry which sprang up at this time, during the youth of the poet Dante, affected also the Italian Jews, and aroused them from their hitherto dormant condition.

The philosophical writings of Maimuni made their influence in favor of the higher culture felt upon the minds of the Italian Jews. About this time, they began to occupy themselves earnestly with the "Guide," and intellectual men delivered discourses upon this profound work. The origin of this revival may be traced back to Anatoli, but Hillel of Verona must be considered the founder and promulgator of the scientific method among the Italian Jews. Maimuni had no warmer admirer than this true-hearted and energetic man, who, though somewhat limited in range of ideas, was exceedingly lovable. Hillel ben Samuel of Verona (born about 1220, died about 1295), a zealous Talmud disciple of Jonah Gerundi, in no way partook of the intolerant and heresy-hunting spirit which characterized his teacher. He had been a witness of the latter's genuine atonement for calling in the aid of the Dominicans in his fanatical onslaught on the writings of Maimuni, and since that time Hillel almost worshiped Maimuni. He avoided Talmudic one-sidedness, and turned his mind also to general studies. He made himself so thoroughly acquainted with the Latin language--a rare accomplishment among the Jews of his day--that he was able to compose in Latin with great ease; he translated a work upon surgery from this language into Hebrew. Indeed, Hillel's Hebrew style was influenced by the peculiarities of Latin syntax. He wrote beautiful, clear, terse Hebrew prose, entirely free from the verbose phraseology and ornate flourishes of the style then in vogue. At first he practised the profession of medicine in Rome, afterwards in Capua and Ferrara, and in his old age in Forli.

With all his intellectual powers Hillel became absorbed in Maimuni's writings on the philosophy of religion, notwithstanding which he remained true to his religious belief, clinging to it with great tenacity. The miracles in the Bible and the Talmud were not regarded by him as fanciful allegories, but on the contrary retained their character as real events. About this time there lived in Italy two logical thinkers, one a native born Italian, Sabbataï ben Solomon, of Rome--in his time a very distinguished personage--and the other, a Spaniard, who had emigrated to Rome, Serachya ben Isaac, a member of the renowned family of Ben Shaltiel-Chen (Gracian?), whose home was in Barcelona. The latter, famous as a physician and an adept in the Aristotelian philosophy, was a passionate opponent of the belief in miracles. The desire of the Italian Jews for knowledge is well illustrated by an anecdote wittily told by an Italian Jewish poet. A Jewish scholar from Toledo arrived at Perugia with eighty books upon science--a considerable library in those days--and, in order to continue his journey more comfortably, he tied them up, sealed them, and left them in Perugia. He had scarcely left the place, when those eager seekers after knowledge, unable to repress their curiosity, broke open the parcel, and possessed themselves of the mental treasures that it contained. The young poet, Immanuel Romi, who perhaps was concerned in this affair, drank in with all the vigor of his ardent mind, the spirit which Hillel of Verona and Serachya-Chen had distilled for the Italian Jews from the writings of Maimuni.

It is quite obvious that in the presence of this revival of culture among the congregations of Italy, the Kabbalist Solomon Petit could not possibly meet with support in his effort to enlist adherents for his denunciation of Maimuni. The fanatic was clever enough not to drop a word of his intentions there. When he arrived at Jean d'Acre (Accho) with the letters against Maimuni written by the German rabbis, he set to work to encourage his confederates, who had been intimidated by the threats of the prince-rabbi of Damascus, to arouse fresh strife, and to induce them to pronounce sentence of excommunication against Maimuni's philosophical writings. The Kabbalists of this community readily assented to his plan, condemned the "Guide" of Maimuni to be burnt, and threatened with excommunication all who might henceforth study it. The Kabbala despite its youth felt itself so powerful, that it imagined itself able to extirpate the firmly-rooted spirit of inquiry from the midst of Judaism. It appears that the tomb of Maimuni at Tiberias was desecrated by these Kabbalists. Instead of the laudatory inscription written on the stone, they substituted, "Moses Maimuni, the excommunicated heretic." However, the community at Accho did not, as a whole, agree with this disgraceful charge of heresy: there were in it warm admirers of Maimuni, and strenuous opponents of his condemnation by self-constituted authorities. Thus there broke out fierce strife in the very heart of the community, which actually led to blows. The news of this contention rapidly spread through the countries in communication with Palestine, and called forth universal indignation. Hillel of Verona, who had been a witness of the destructive consequences of the contest about Maimuni in France, displayed great energy to prevent a repetition. He sent letters to David Maimuni and the congregations in Egypt and Babylonia (Irak), and proposed the following plan for extinguishing once for all the destructive flame of dissension kindled by the writings of Maimuni, which so often blazed up afresh. He suggested that the most distinguished rabbis of the Jews in the East should assemble at a synod at Alexandria, and summon the German rabbis who had supported Solomon Petit to justify their conduct. If they could prove that the philosophical writings of Maimuni contained actual heresies and notions opposed to the Bible and the Talmud, which Hillel himself believed impossible, then it was only just that Maimuni's writings should be condemned, and removed from the hands of the public. If, however, the German rabbis were unable to defend and justify their accusations of heresy, then they should be compelled, under penalty of excommunication, to submit to the universal verdict of the excellence of the "Guide" of Maimuni, and to abstain in future from stirring up discord and division by their opposition to Maimuni's philosophy. The rabbis of Babylonia, who had possessed authority from time immemorial, were to pronounce judgment.

This energetic action in Europe, and the strenuous exertions of Hillel, were not really necessary in order to disturb the work of the mystics in Accho. Solomon Petit and his Kabbalistic faction were isolated in the East. As soon as David Maimuni received information of the condemnation passed upon his grandfather, he journeyed to Accho, where he met with support from the section of the community opposed to fanaticism. He addressed letters to all congregations, calling upon them to take up the defense of the honor of his grandfather against the Jewish Dominicans, the heresy-hunting and narrow-minded Kabbalists. Everywhere he met with approval. The Prince of the Captivity at Mosul, named David ben Daniel, who traced his origin back to King David, and who was the head of the communities on this side of the Tigris, declared that he would place Petit under the severest ban of excommunication till he ceased his attempts to create a disturbance (Iyar, 1289). Eleven rabbis of his college signed this threat against the heresy-hunter of Accho. The Exilarch of Damascus, Yishaï ben Chiskiya, who had already issued a warning against these attacks on Maimuni, again took energetic action in the matter. Together with his college of twelve associates, he pronounced a ban of excommunication (Tammuz--June, 1289), not merely against Solomon Petit and his partisans, but also against any person who dared speak in terms of contempt and disrespect of Maimuni, or who accused his writings of heresy. All persons who possessed any books hostile to Maimuni were commanded to yield them up to David Maimuni or his sons, as quickly as possible, so that no improper use might be made of them. If any persons who at the time dwelt in Accho, or who would immigrate thither at some later time, refused to obey the decisions of the Prince of the Captivity and his colleagues, it was incumbent upon every Jew to employ all possible means to render these men incapable of doing any harm, and even to call in the aid of the secular authorities.

The important congregation of Safet also gave assent to the edict in favor of Maimuni. The rabbi of the town, Moses ben Jehuda Cohen, together with his colleagues, and a portion of the community of Accho, repeated at the grave of Maimuni in Tiberias the formula of excommunication against all who continued their obstinate enmity against him, against those who refused to surrender writings accusing him of heterodoxy, and especially against all who disobeyed the decisions of the Prince of the Captivity, "seeing that they who incite discord in the communities deny the Torah, which preaches peace, and they mock at God, who is peace itself." All the congregations and rabbis in Palestine took up the cause of Maimuni. The members of the community of Bagdad, who at this time basked in the sunshine of the favor of a prominent Jewish statesman, and at whose head as the chief of the academy was Samuel Cohen ben Daniel, also expressed themselves to the same effect (Tishri--September, 1289). The Kabbalists of Accho were condemned by public opinion, and the Exilarch of Damascus took care to acquaint the European communities with what had occurred. The testimonials in favor of Maimuni were forwarded to Barcelona, probably to Solomon ben Adret. The philosopher and poet, Shem-Tob Falaquera, a prolific writer, took advantage of the favorable opportunity to publish a vindication of the "Guide" of Maimuni, saying that in his opinion only very few, perhaps only one person--who was able to read this work on the philosophy of religion in the original--could render it sufficient justice. But in Spain, Maimuni required no advocates; for it was seldom that any one ventured to speak in derogatory terms of his opinions. Though pious Spaniards might here and there have found something to cavil at, they, nevertheless, paid great honor to Maimuni's name.

The German rabbis, by whom Solomon Petit had been supported, had no leisure to note the issue of the strife concerning Maimuni. They were too much occupied with their own affairs. During the reign of Emperor Rudolph of Habsburg, such severe troubles befell the German communities that they determined on emigrating en masse. Rudolph, who from a poor knight had become the ruler over the German empire, did not, indeed, threaten their lives, but had designs upon their money. His coffers were empty, and he was in need of means to enable him to subdue the proud nobles, and to lay the foundation of the power of the house of Habsburg. Jews indeed advanced large sums of money to the poor duke, to whom the crown of an empire had unexpectedly fallen, one of his creditors being Amshel Oppenheimer. But these voluntary advances did not satisfy him, and did not prevent him from extorting larger sums from them. Every favor which he conceded them, and every protection which he extended to them, was preceded by the payment of a considerable present in money. As Rudolph always kept his own advantage in view, a mark of favor displayed towards the Jews was regularly followed by some restriction, so that he might always have them under his control.

He confirmed the privileges of the old congregation at Ratisbon, which it had possessed from ancient days, acknowledging among other things, that it might exercise its own jurisdiction in civil affairs, and that none of its members could be convicted of any crime without the corroborative evidence of a Jewish witness. At the instigation of the bishop, however, he promulgated a decree that the Jews of Ratisbon should remain at home during Eastertide, not show themselves on roads and streets to the "ignominy of the Christian faith," and were to fasten their doors and windows. For the congregations in Austria, Emperor Rudolph confirmed the statute in favor of the Jews passed by Archduke Frederick the Valiant, which afforded protection against persecution and murder. On the other hand, a year later, he issued a special decree to the citizens of Vienna, which solemnly declared the ineligibility of the Jews for public offices. Pope Innocent IV had exonerated them from the charge of child-murder at Passover. Pope Gregory X (1271-1278), at the request of the Jews, had issued a bull, which ordained that they were not to be made by brute force to undergo baptism, and that no injury was to be inflicted upon their persons or their property. Emperor Rudolph ratified these bulls, adding that "it is not true that the Jews feed upon the heart of a slain child on the days of the Passover festival." In order that they might be able to live under his protection, assured of the imperial grace, he confirmed and repeated all the edicts which had been issued by the popes in their favor, especially the one which declared that Jews could be condemned only on the valid evidence of Jews and Christians. He also afforded them many other means of protection, and inflicted punishment upon some murderers of innocent Jews in Lorch. But as the Germans had of old been accustomed to anarchy, there arose, during his reign, a large number of blood-accusations, and massacres of Jews, which the emperor partly left unpunished, partly encouraged.

About Easter time a dead Christian child was discovered at Mayence, and now again arose the lying rumor that the Jews of Mayence had murdered it. In vain did Archbishop Werner, of Mayence, the Lord Chancellor of the kingdom, exert himself with great energy to appease the excited mob, to institute a regular trial against the accused, and to discover the guilty persons. The Christians, whom the sight of the corpse filled with intense fury, attacked their Jewish neighbors on the second day of Easter (or the last day but one of Passover, 19th April, 1283), slew ten persons, and pillaged the Jewish houses. The persecution would have been much more bloody, had not Archbishop Werner energetically intervened for the defense of "his" Jews. Emperor Rudolph is reported to have commanded an inquiry to be made into the matter later on, and to have confirmed the judgment passed upon the Jews, and acquitted the citizens of Mayence from all blame. The possessions of which they had been plundered he is said to have confiscated, not, however, for the benefit of his own treasury, but to be distributed among the poor; for he would not make use of any property acquired by usury, nor would he permit the Church to use it. In other respects, Emperor Rudolph was by no means conscientious. On the day of the attack in Mayence, twenty-six Jews were put to death in Bacharach. Two years later (11th October, 1285) heartrending sufferings befell the congregation of Munich. At this place also the false charge was circulated that the Jews had purchased a Christian child from an old woman, and had killed it. Without waiting for any judicial investigation of these charges, the infuriated populace fell upon the Jews, and put to death all who fell into their hands. The remaining Jews had fled for refuge to the synagogue. Thereupon the adherents of the religion of love procured some inflammable material, placed it around the building, and set fire to the house of prayer. One hundred and eighty persons, old and young, were thus burnt to death. Not long after this, more than forty Jews of Oberwesel, near Bacharach, and others in Boppard, were innocently murdered (1286). The charge against them was that they had secretly drawn out the blood of a pious man, called by the people "the good Werner." The credulous asserted that light had issued from his corpse, on which account this so-called saint became the object of pilgrimages. Emperor Rudolph, however, some time later stripped the man of sanctity, and absolved the Jews from the guilt of his death.

There can be no doubt that it was owing to the annually repeated persecutions, the insecurity of their existence and their wretched state, that the Jews of several congregations resolved to shake the dust of Germany from their feet, and, together with their wives and children, to wander forth and seek a new home. Many families from the cities of Mayence, Worms, Speyer, Oppenheim, and others, in the Wetterau, left their rich possessions in order to go across the sea. At the head of these emigrants was the most famous rabbi of Germany, Meïr of Rothenburg, who was revered as a saint. He also wandered forth, together with his whole family, to make his way to Syria (spring, 1286). A rumor was current that in this land the Messiah had made his appearance, and would redeem unhappy Israel from its troubles.

At this time all eyes in the East beheld with astonishment a Jewish statesman as the most distinguished personage at the court of a Mongol Grand Khan, whose dominion extended from the lower Euphrates and the borders of Syria to the Caspian Sea. The Mongols, or Tartars, had founded a large kingdom in Persia, which was only nominally subject to the khanate of Mongolia and China. After Hulagu, the founder of this kingdom, and his son Abaka (Abagha), his second son had succeeded to the throne, and he embraced Islam, and assumed the name of Ahmed. The Mongols of Persia were, however, dissatisfied with this proceeding: Ahmed was dethroned, and put to death. His successor, in the Perso-Mongolian kingdom, was Argun, the son of Abaka (1284-91). Argun displayed marked aversion to Islam, and a special liking for Jews and Christians. This Grand Khan had a Jewish physician, named Saad-Addaula (perhaps the same as Mordecai Ibn-Alcharbiya), a man possessed of wide learning, acute intellect, political insight, and disinterested character. As he had frequent dealings with Mongols, he was acquainted with their language as well as with Arabic. He had a handsome appearance, charming manners, and the suppleness of a diplomat. He also had a taste for poetry and science, and in later years became their patron. Saad-Addaula practised in Bagdad, where Argun very often held his court. The Grand Khan once fell ill, and was restored to health by Saad. He conversed with the physician to whom he owed his recovery, upon state matters, and learnt from him particulars of the condition of the revenue, which the officials and courtiers, out of avarice, had diligently concealed from the Grand Khan. From that time Saad-Addaula became his favorite and counselor, and rose step by step to the position of the highest state official.

Many wealthy Jews of the districts of the Rhine and the Maine started on their journey; and Meïr of Rothenburg reached Lombardy, together with his whole family. He was only waiting for the members of his congregation in order to take ship in Italy, and, together with other exiles, steer their course towards the East into the haven of safety. Unfortunately, Meïr was recognized by a baptized Jew, who was passing through the same town in the train of the bishop of Basle. At the instigation of the bishop, the captain, Meinhard of Görz, took him prisoner, and delivered him to the authorities. Emperor Rudolph ordered him to be placed under arrest in the tower of Ensisheim, in Alsace (4th Tammuz--19th June, 1286). The emperor did not intend to punish the runaway rabbi, but to keep him safe and prevent him from emigrating. He was afraid that, by the departure of the Jews en masse, the imperial income obtained from these serfs of the chamber ("servi cameræ") would suffer heavy loss. Meïr's imprisonment was, therefore, not a severe one. He was permitted to receive visits, to instruct his pupils, and to perform all the functions of a rabbi, but he was not permitted to leave the place.

The German Jews, however, could not feel easy while their highly respected chief remained in custody: they, therefore, sent deputies to Emperor Rudolph, when he paid a visit to the Rhine country (in the year 1288). Being then, as usual, in need of money, he entered into negotiations with them. The Jews offered him 20,000 marks of silver if he would inflict punishment upon the murderers of the Jews of Oberwesel and Boppard, release Meïr from custody, and guarantee to them security against murderous outrages at the hands of the populace. The emperor acceded to their terms, and laid a heavy fine upon the citizens of Oberwesel and Boppard. Meïr was not, however, released from prison, either because the emperor hoped to make capital of the respect of the Jews for their rabbi, and to extract large sums of money from them, or, as is related, because Meïr himself refused to be liberated on these terms. He feared that the precedent of imprisoning the rabbis to extort ransoms from the Jews, would be frequently resorted to in after times, and therefore continued for five years longer under arrest. From prison he sent replies to inquiries addressed to him, and composed several works there. He died in prison, and the successors of Rudolph kept his corpse unburied for fourteen years, in order to extort money from the congregations. At length a childless man from Frankfort, named Süsskind Alexander Wimpfen, ransomed the body for a large sum, and interred it in Worms. The only reward which the noble Wimpfen demanded was that his bones might be laid by the side of the pious rabbi.

At about this time the Jews of England suffered the extremity of misfortune. They were more unhappy, if that was possible, than the German Jews. Before being expelled, they had to pass through every degree of misery. At the accession of the new king, Edward I, they had prospects of a secure existence, seeing that this monarch, the very opposite of his father, was severe but just; he showed them no favors, but, on the other hand, he extorted nothing from them, and at all events was able to protect them from the attacks of the deluded mob. Edward took very great care that the Jews of his land be not made to suffer nor be subjected to caprice, and that no injury be done either to their persons or their property. They might have lived on in this lowly state, bowed down beneath the burden of the imposts, and wearying themselves to satisfy, through usury, the insatiable demands of the royal treasury, had not a slight occurrence made them the object of the bitter hatred of the monks.

In London there lived a Dominican, named Robert de Redingge, who inflamed the minds of the people by his eloquence in the pulpit. He had studied the Hebrew language, on the cultivation of which so much stress had been laid by the third general of the order, Raymond de Penyaforte, to enable the monks to convert the Jews by means of their own writings. But instead of converting them, the preaching friar, Robert de Reddinge, became himself converted. He was inspired by so deep a love for Judaism that he underwent circumcision, assumed the name of Haggaï, and married a beautiful Jewess (summer of 1275). When he was summoned to answer for his apostasy, he defended his new faith with great warmth. King Edward handed him over for punishment to the archbishop of Canterbury. What was done to him is not known; but it appears that he, together with his wife, escaped unhurt. The Dominicans were, however, enraged at his conversion, for they considered the apostasy of one of their members as a disgraceful blot upon their order. Touched to the quick by the mockery of the people and their rivals the Franciscans, who deeply hated them, the preaching friars sought to wreak their vengeance upon the Jews. As the king could not be approached except by some intermediate agent, they brought their influence to bear upon the bigoted, avaricious queen-mother Eleanor, and they succeeded. She identified herself with the cause of the Dominicans against the Jews, and did not desist till the English Jews had drained the cup of tribulation to the dregs. She first expelled the Jews from the town of Cambridge which belonged to her, and personally fostered the hostile feeling against them throughout the whole country, especially among Christian merchants.

There now commenced, almost against the will of the king, a series of burdensome oppressions, which would appear incredible, were they not authenticated by the testimony of trustworthy sources. Hitherto Parliament had had nothing to do with the Jews; they were considered the king's people, over whom neither the commons nor the nobility had any authority. Just at this time, however, incited by the Dominicans and the queen-mother, the House of Commons passed a statute (called the Statute of Judaism), which breathes the inimical spirit of the Church. It positively prohibited the Jews from taking usury. They were allowed to reside only in royal cities and boroughs. If they had to enforce payment of debts by law, they could not distress beyond the moiety of the debtor's property. Every Jew above the age of twelve was to pay the sum of three pence to the king at Easter. The House of Commons strictly enforced the wearing of the Jew-badge, determined its size and color (substituting yellow for white), and forbade all intercourse with Christians. As an English writer, Tovey, remarks, the Jews in England were treated like their ancestors in Egypt, except that instead of bricks they had to furnish gold. This comparison is good at every point, nothing was granted to them, and yet they were obliged to render a complete tale of services. Even for the privilege of trading they had to rely upon the favor of the king, and to pay a price for it.

A favorable opportunity soon presented itself to the enemies of the Jews to prefer grave charges against them. Counterfeit coins, imported from abroad, were in circulation in England; the coin of the country also was often clipped. The charge was directed against the Jews, that they were the sole originators and circulators of the counterfeit coins. In consequence of this, on Friday, 17th November, 1278, all the Jews of England, together with their wives and children, were thrown into prison, and their houses searched. It was afterwards proved that many Christians, and even some noblemen of London, had been guilty of counterfeiting the coin of the realm, and that throughout the whole kingdom only 293 Jews had been convicted of the crime of which they were accused. Nevertheless, over 10,000 Jews were made to suffer for this act, and whilst the Christians who were implicated, with the exception of three, were liberated on payment of a fine, the 293 Jews were hanged, others sentenced to imprisonment for life, and still others expelled from the country and their possessions confiscated. But the hatred against them was not spent. The Jews continued to be accused of passing counterfeit coins, and their enemies tried to smuggle them into their possession, and then by threatening to denounce them, extorted money from them. Edward, who became acquainted with these intrigues, issued a law (May, 1279), which enacted that charges of tampering with the coin of the realm could only be brought forward till the May of the following year, and thus put a stop to all these denunciations.

The enemies of the Jews, however, did not tire of forging new charges against them. It was soon reported that the Jews of Northampton had crucified a Christian child. For this alleged crime many Jews in London were torn asunder by horses, and their corpses hung on the gallows (2nd April, 1279). Next, the Jews were charged with acts of disrespect to Christian emblems. The king thereupon issued a decree that the blasphemers were to be punished with death. As, however, Edward knew his people, he added that the accused were to receive punishment only if convicted by the evidence of honest, impartial witnesses of the transgression. In order to lead the Jews on to blasphemous acts, the Dominicans devised an infamous trick. They besought the king to permit them to preach to the Jews for the purpose of converting them. They knew that one or other of them would be transported by zeal for his religion, and would make use of an offensive expression. Edward granted them this permission at the request of the prior (1280), and warned the Jews to listen to the sermons of the Dominicans patiently, without turbulence, contradiction, or blasphemy. To promote their conversion, the king even sacrificed money. The extraordinary law, that the Jews who went over to Christianity were to forfeit their property to the treasury, Edward partly abrogated, and decreed that they might retain a half. He moreover ordered the erection of a house for converts of the Jewish race, and endowed it with a revenue, which, however, flowed mainly into the pockets of the overseer. A scholastic philosopher of that time suggested another means for the conversion of the Jews. The celebrated Franciscan monk, Duns Scotus (professor at Oxford, afterwards in Paris and Cologne), who had nurtured his mind with the thoughts of the Jewish philosopher Gebirol, held that it was the duty of the king, if he wished to show Christian zeal, to tear Jewish children away from their parents, and cause them to be educated in the Christian faith. Still more, it was perfectly justifiable to force the parents themselves, by all sorts of threats, to submit to baptism. How much respect the Jews entertained for the Christianity of the worldly-minded and rapacious popes, ferocious princes, and sensual monks, is shown by a peculiar incident. A Jewess complained to the king that her own and her husband's enemies had defamed her by calling her a convert, and she entreated him to secure her redress for this insult. Whilst the queen-mother, Eleanor, was exerting herself at the instance of the Dominicans to inflame the king and the people against the Jews, the queen, also named Eleanor, bestowed her favor on them. She prayed the king to confer the vacant chief rabbinate of the English congregation on her favorite Hagin (Chayim) Denlacres. The king granted her prayer, and installed Hagin as chief rabbi, with all the powers and privileges which his predecessors had enjoyed (15th May, 1281).

When the king settled the chief rabbinate of England on Hagin and his heirs, he had no thought of expelling the Jews from his kingdom. Gradually, however, the fanatical party and his mother gained more influence over him, and disturbed his clear perceptions. This party in England, probably the Dominicans, appeared before the newly-elected pope, Honorius IV, lodging the serious accusations against the Jews, that they not only held friendly intercourse with Christians, but that they encouraged the return of baptized Jews to Judaism, invited Christians on Sabbaths and festivals to the synagogue, made them bend the knee before the Torah, and enticed them to adopt Jewish customs. The pope accordingly sent a missive to the archbishop of York and his legate, bidding them employ every means to put a stop to this improper conduct. On the 16th of April, 1287, a Church assembly was held in Exeter, which renewed all the hateful canonical resolutions against the Jews. A fortnight later (2nd May) the king for the second time ordered the arrest of all English Jews with their wives and children, an act for which no cause can be assigned. Nor did he release them until he received a large ransom. Three years later, in 1290, Edward, instigated by his mother, issued an edict on his own authority, without the consent of Parliament, that all the Jews of England were to be banished from the country. They were given till the first of November to change their goods into money. Any Jew found on English soil after that date was to be hanged. But they had to restore all pledges of Christian debtors to their owners before that time. Edward was mild enough strongly to impress upon his officials not to molest the Jews on their departure, and he warned the sailing-masters at the five ports not to insult them. Although their respite lasted till the 1st of November, the 16,511 Jews of England left the country by the 9th of October. The real estate which they had not succeeded in selling, escheated to the king. In spite of the king's orders, the expelled Jews were exposed to all sorts of ill-treatment. One captain, who was employed to convey several families down the Thames to the sea, ran the ship against a sandbank, and made them disembark until the rising of the tide. When the tide began to return, he re-embarked, and his sailors went aboard, sailed away, and called out scornfully to the despairing Jews, "Cry unto Moses, who led your ancestors safely through the Red Sea, to bring you to dry land." The unhappy people perished in the waves. This affair came to the ears of the judges, and the ringleaders were hanged as murderers. How many similar incidents may have occurred and remained unpunished! The Jews of Gascony, which at that time belonged to England, were also expelled. The banished Jews directed their steps to France, the nearest refuge. There they were at first received by Philip IV, le Bel. But soon after the king and the Parliament together decreed that the Jews who had been driven out of England and Gascony were to leave French territory by the middle of Lent. Once more were they compelled to set out on their pilgrimage; some of them went to Germany, the others probably to northern Spain.

As if an evil destiny were pursuing the sons of Jacob, like a shadow, never leaving them for a moment, the short spell of fortune enjoyed through Saad-Addaula by the Jews of Asia soon turned to destruction. The physician of the Grand Khan of Persia had drawn attention to the fraudulent conduct of the finance officials; for which service he had been appointed commissary, and sent to Bagdad to investigate the condition of the revenue, and to bring the fraudulent administrators to account (end of 1288). Saad-Addaula succeeded in restoring the revenues to such order, that he was able to remit to the Grand Khan Argun considerable sums, which he had not expected. Argun, who loved gold, was delighted with his Jewish commissary, and distinguished him by all possible marks of honor. As Saad-Addaula acted disinterestedly, and was concerned only for the good of his master, he was able continually to put larger sums of money into the treasury, and thus won for himself ever more favor from this great khan. Ultimately Argun appointed him minister of finance for the whole Iranian (Persian) empire, and conferred on him the honorable title of Saad-Addaula, "Support of the Empire" (summer, 1288). He was ordered to employ only Jews and Christians in offices, as the khan disliked Mahometans on account of their rebellious attitude. It was natural that Saad-Addaula should employ his relatives, for he could best depend upon their zeal to assist him in his difficult office. Through the fidelity with which Saad-Addaula served his master, he won so much confidence, that nearly all state affairs went through his hands, and he had the authority to make decisions without referring the points to the great khan. Probably through his instrumentality and advice Argun established diplomatic connections with Europe, and even with the pope. Through the help of the Europeans, the Mahometans were to be driven out of Asia Minor, particularly out of Palestine. The pope, however, flattered himself that Argun would become a member of the Catholic Church.

The Jewish minister, indeed, deserved the high favor with which Argun honored him. Where hitherto there had prevailed license and abuse of power in the empire, he introduced law and order. The military captains were forbidden to interfere with the administration of justice, the legal tribunals were admonished to protect the weak and the innocent. As the Mongols had no judicial code, Saad-Addaula put the Mahometan laws into force, as far as they bore upon the civil and penal administration of justice. The peaceful population blessed him for the security of life and property for which they were indebted to him. Saad-Addaula also patronized learning, settled handsome annuities upon learned men and poets, and encouraged them in their literary undertakings. In consequence he was extolled and praised by men of letters in prose and verse.

The Eastern Jews felt themselves happy and exalted through the elevation of their co-religionist to the highest post of the empire. From the most remote countries there flowed a stream of Jews to the Persian Khanate, to bask in the favor of the Jewish minister. They unanimously said, "God has elevated this man in the latter days as a Lord of Redemption and to sustain our hope." Neo-Hebraic poetry, which had arisen in the East, but had sunk into jarring discord, or become altogether silent, appears to have recovered in order to proclaim his glory.

Saad-Addaula, however, had aroused many powerful enemies through his resolute administration and his love of justice and order. The Mahometans, who were shut out of every office, beheld, with deep vexation, that Jews and Christians, whom they were accustomed to despise as infidel dogs, were in possession of the government. They were, moreover, urged on by their priests and learned men to a most violent hatred of the Jewish statesman, to whom they imputed their humiliation. They accordingly spread the report that Saad-Addaula was contemplating the establishment of a new religion, and the proclamation of the great khan as the religious lawgiver and prophet. To excite their bigotry still more, they reported that Saad-Addaula had completed preparations for an expedition to Mecca, to transform the hallowed abode of the Kaaba into an idolatrous temple and to compel the Mahometans once more to become heathens. The order of the Ishmaelite murderers, the Assassins, which was organized for the purpose of putting to death actual or supposed enemies of Islam, immediately made arrangements clandestinely to remove Saad-Addaula and his relatives. But their plot was betrayed, and it was frustrated by him.

The Jewish minister had many opponents even among the Mongols. The military captains were incensed against him, because he had laid a restraint upon their license. A conspiracy was hatched also in Mongol circles. It was given out that he had commissioned a Jew, Neglib-Eddin, to proceed to Khorasan and put to death two hundred of the most distinguished Mongols; and that his relative, Shem-Addaula, had received instructions to remove many priests and chiefs of the city. Unfortunately, Argun fell seriously ill (November, 1290), and his sickness was a signal for the discontented to make a conspiracy against Saad-Addaula and his adherents. The minister, in vain, exerted himself to secure the recovery of the Khan, for he saw that the latter's death meant his own. He even sent a messenger secretly to Argun's son to ensure his speedy return to the court, in order that he might seize the crown immediately after his father's death. When they received intimation of these precautionary measures, the Mongol magnates, who observed that Argun's end was near, pushed the accomplishment of their conspiracy. They executed Saad-Addaula (March, 1291), and slew all Argun's favorites. Argun died seven days later. The conspirators thereupon despatched messengers to all provinces, ordered Saad-Addaula's relatives to be thrown into chains, their property to be confiscated, and their wives and children to be sold as slaves. The Mahometan population also fell upon the Jews in every city of the empire, to wreak their vengeance upon them for the degradation which they had suffered from the Mongols. In Bagdad there were numerous encounters between armed bodies of Mahometans and Jews, and on both sides many were killed and wounded.

Two months later the great Jewish community of St. Jean d'Acre (Accho), which shortly before had been put into a state of tumult by Solomon Petit, was completely blotted out. The Egyptian sultan, Almalek Alashraf, undertook a campaign to drive the last of the crusaders out of Palestine and Syria. He besieged the fortified city of Accho for more than a month, and then took it by storm (18th May, 1291). Not only all the Christians, but many Jews who happened to be in the city were executed. Others were cast into prison, and among them Isaac of Accho, a zealous but unintellectual Kabbalist, whose candor forced him, much against his will, to expose the halo of divinity, with which the Kabbala had surrounded itself, as mere mummery.

END OF VOL. III.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Translation by Solomon Solis Cohen, to whom thanks are due for the translation of most of the poetic passages in this volume.--[ED.]

[2] Translation by Emma Lazarus.--[ED.]

[3] Translation by Emma Lazarus.--[ED.]

[4] Meïr means light-bearer or luminary.--[ED.]

INDEX.

Aaron of York, chief rabbi of England, 588.

Aaron ben Joseph the Elder, Karaite, 607.

Aaron ben Meshullam, adherent of Maimonides, 524.

Aaron Halevi, 621.

Abassid caliphs, civil war of, 145 f. persecute the Jews, 145.

Abdallah Ibn-Sabâ, Jewish partisan of Ali, 90.

Abdallah Ibn-Salâm, relation of, to Mahomet, 73.

Abdallah Ibn-Ubey, ally of the Jews in Arabia, 77.

Abdel-latif, opinion of, on Maimonides, 488.

Abdul Malik, 110.

Abdulmumen, bigotry of, 451. persecutes the Jews in Africa, 358.

Abdul-Rahman III, inaugurates the classical period of Moslem culture in Spain, 214. and Chasdaï, 216 ff.

Abelé Zion. See Mourners of Zion.

Abodah (liturgy of the Day of Atonement), of José bar José, 114 f. of Simon ben Caipha, 115. connected with the Apostle Peter, 115.

Abrabanels, descent of, 43.

Abraham of Aragon, oculist, 583.

Abraham ben Chasdaï of Barcelona, champion of Maimonides, 544. poet, 560.

Abraham ben David of Posquières (Rabed II), 399. death of, 490. opposition of, to Maimonides, 490.

Abraham, son of Maimonides, 493, 495. attitude of, in the Maimunist controversy, 525 f. "War for God" (Milchamoth), 545.

Abraham Ibn-Ezra. See Ibn-Ezra.

Abu-Amran Moses, founder of a Karaite sect, 157 f.

Abu-Ayub, poet and court physician, 312.

Abu-Bekr, repelled by the Jews, 82.

Abu-Fadhl Chasdaï, Jewish vizir and poet in Saragossa, 280.

Abu-Isa, opposition of, to the Talmud, 128.

Abu-Jafar Almansur, 129 f.

Abu-Jafar Ibn-Aljezzar, Mahometan physician, 181.

Abu-Kariba, Arabian king converted to Judaism, 62 f.

Abulafia, Meïr, opponent of Maimonides, 524 f., 537 f.

Abulmeni. See Abraham, son of Maimonides.

Abu-Mansur, head of the Jewish community in Egypt, 340 f.

Abu-Sahal Ali, Jewish scholar, 146.

Abu-Yussuf Almansur, imposes the Jew-badge, 511.

Abuzurj-Mihir, counselor of Hormisdas IV, 7.

Accho, Jewish community of, blotted out, 650. nest of the Kabbalists, 626.

Achunaï. See Chananya.

Acrostichs, 115.

Aden, warlike Jews of, 436.

Adher-Baijan, low condition of the Jews of, 430.

Adonim. See Dunash ben Labrat.

Africa, northern, Jews of: great men of, 248. oppressed and persecuted, 357 ff., 451 f.

Agada, interpretation of, 495, 523, 527, 533, 535, 549, 552, 599, 619, 622. used by Christians against the Jews, 598, 622.

Agadic discourses in the service, 116.

Agadic method of interpretation of the Bible, 152, 408, 529, 561, 608 f.

Agobard, bishop of Lyons, contest of, with the Jews, 164-8.

Ahunai, 4.

Akbara, Jewish congregation of, 429.

Akbarites, Karaite sect, 157 f.

Albalia, Isaac ben Baruch, 282 ff. descent of, 282. head of the Jews in Seville, 283 f.

Albergeloni, Isaac ben Reuben, Talmudist and poet, 284.

Albigenses, 390, 394. crusade against, 501 f. relation of, to the Jews, 501.

Aleppo, captured by the Mongols, 606.

Alexander III, pope, friendly to the Jews, 421.

Alexandria, Jewish congregation of, 444.

Alfadhel, vizir of Saladin, relation of, to Maimonides, 472 ff.

Alfassi, Isaac ben Jacob, 285 f., 315 ff. character of, 315. death of, 309. disciples, 314. education of, 285. "Halachoth," 286.

Alfonso II of Aragon, 387.

Alfonso II (the Noble) of Castile, censured by Innocent III for protecting the Jews, 499. persecutes the Jews, 507.

Alfonso III of Portugal, favors the Jews, 618.

Alfonso VI, conquers Toledo, 294 f. diplomacy of, 291. employs Jews on diplomatic missions, 291. tolerance of, 292.

Alfonso VIII, admits Jews to high positions, 384.

Alfonso X (the Wise), admits Jews to official positions, 592 f. code of, 595. imposes degrading restrictions upon the Jews, 594-6. imprisons the Jews of Castile, 616. rebellion of his son against, 616.

Alfonso Raimundez, emperor of Castile, favorable to the Jews, 361.

Alghazali, mystic philosopher, 357.

Alhakem, caliph of Spain, death of, 239. library of, 237.

Ali, cousin of Mahomet, 82. supported by the Jews, 90.

Ali Halevi, principal of the Talmudic school of Bagdad, 429.

Alice of Montmorency, persecutes the Jews of Toulouse, 514.

Alides, contest of, with Ommiyyades, 92.

Alkuti, Jewish philosopher, 267.

Allegorical interpretation, adopted by Mahometans, 147.

Almalek Alashraf, captures Accho, 650.

Almamun, caliph, 147. appealed to in internal disputes by Jews and Christians, 155. flourishing condition of his caliphate, 146.

Almansur, regent of Andalusia, 239 ff.

Almohades, 358. conquer Andalusia, 360. fanaticism of, 359. ravage Castile, 361.

Almoravides, exterminated, 357. invade Spain, 296, 311 ff.

Almovachides. See Almohades.

Al-Mutadhil, caliph, favorable to the Jews, 183.

Al-Mutavakkil, renews Omar's laws, 176 f.

Amadia, scene of a false Messiah, 431.

Amolo, bishop of Lyons, hostility of, to the Jews, 170 f.

Amshel Oppenheimer, creditor of Rudolph of Habsburg, 634.

Amulets, 153.

Anan ben David, founder of Karaism, 128-35. See also Karaism. contest of, for the exilarchate, 129 f. death of, 135. emigrates to Palestine, 130. excommunicated, 134. hostility of, to the Talmud, 129 f. imprisoned, 129. interpretation, his, of the Bible, 131, 133. memorial prayers for, 135. mental capacity of, 135. recognizes Mahomet as prophet, 134. view of, on Jesus, 133. want of poetical and historical sense in, 133. works of, 131.

Ananites. See Karaites.

Anatoli, Jacob, Maimunist, 629. in favor with Frederick II, 566.

Andalusia, culture of, 234 ff. fall of the princes of, 296. flourishing condition of the Jews of, 234 ff. persecution of the Jews of, by the Almohades, 361.

Andreas, king of Hungary, excommunicated for his indulgence to non-Christians, 521.

Anthropomorphism and anthropomorphists, among Jews, 152, 528, 552. among Mahometans, 148 f.

Antioch, Jews of, murdered, 10 f. uprise of the Jews against the Christians, 18.

Apostates, 122, 441 f., 572.

Aquitania, sufferings of the Jews of, from the crusaders, 570.

Arab conquest of Persia, 10.

Arabia, Jews of, 53-85. attitude of, to the Talmud, 58, 119 f. become thoroughly Arabic, 56 f. condition of, 53, 56. congregations of, 436. conquered by the Arabians, 67 f. customs of, 57. difference between those of the north and those of the south, 56 f. divisions among, 57, 77, 80. empire of, 51. intercourse of, with Palestine, 59. inspire Mahomet, 71. king of, 12. language of, 111. leaders of Arabian tribes, 53. recover their importance, 71. relations to the Arabians, 57, 67 f. teachers of the Arabic nation, 54, 58 f. traditions as to their original settlements, 54. tribes of, 55.

Arabian king converted to Judaism, 62 f.

Arabic calligraphy, 255.

Arabic language, 111. adopted by the Jews of Spain, 110 f.

Arabic tribe converted to Christianity, 56.

Arabs, acquire the art of writing from the Jews, 58. converted to Judaism, 56, 61 f. descent of, 60. teachers of the Jews, 224.

Aragon, Jews of, 497 f. compelled to support a Christian missionary, 602. exempted from wearing the badge, 515. favorable condition of, 387. miserable condition of, 596-605.

Areobindus, minister of Justinian, 15.

Argun, Grand Khan of the Mongols, 646 f. death of, 649. favorable to the Jews, 638.

Arianists, toleration of, 26, 44 f.

Aristotle, influence of, 448. works of, translated, 566 f.

Arnold, bishop of Cologne, protects the Jews, 352.

Arnold of Brescia, 370.

Arnold of Citeaux, fanatical monk, 502, 507.

"Aruch," 290, 421.

Ashkaba (prayer for the dead), 101.

Asia, degeneration of the Jews of, 440 ff. under the Abbassides, 437.

Asia Minor, Jewish communities of, 123 f.

Asma, Arabian poetess, 76.

Assassins, 648.

Atel. See Itil.

Atonement Day, liturgy of, 113 ff.

Atzbaha. See Elesbaa.

Aus, Arabic tribe partly converted to Judaism, 61.

Austrasia, Jews of, 40.

Austria, favorable condition of the Jews of, 516 f., 567 f.

Averroës, 566.

Avignon, council of, prohibits the Jews from working on Sunday, 504.

Avitus, bishop of Arverna, inaugurates a persecution of the Jews in the Frankish empire, 38 f.

Azriel, Kabbalist, 548.

Baalbek, captured by the Mongols, 606.

Babylonia, supplanted by Spain as center of Judaism, 210, 228.

Babylonia, Jews of: independent tribe of, 433 f. organization and officials of, 96-100. prosperous condition of, 428. side with Ali, 90. support the Arab conquerors, 89.

Bacharach (Germany), massacre of the Jews of, 636.

Bachiel Ibn-Alkonstantini, physician to King Jayme of Portugal and Maimunist, 536 f.

Bachya Ibn-Pakuda, moral philosopher, 271-3.

Baden (Germany), Jews of, blood-accusation against, and massacre of, 564.

Badis, king of the Berbers, bloody design of, 276 f.

Bagdad, Jews of, 156, 428. center of science, 146. congregation of, on the side of Maimonides, 633. Talmudic school of, 429, 438 f.

Bahram Tshubin, Persian general, 8 f. dethrones Hormisdas IV, 8.

Balanyiar, capital of the Chazars, 139.

Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, fanaticism of, against the Jews, 410.

Barcelona, center of northern Spain, 387. prominent Jews of, 387 f.

Basilius, emperor, arranges disputations between Jews and Christians, 175 f.

Beaucaire (Belcaire), Jewish congregation of, 400.

Bedaresi, Abraham, 579.

Bedr, battle of, 76.

Bela IV of Hungary, favorable to the Jews, 613.

Belisarius, 4. conquers the Vandals, 26. subjects Italy, 31 f.

Ben-Asher, Massoret, 207. poet, 223.

Benedict of York, maltreated, 411, 413.

Bene Mikra. See Karaism.

Benjamin of Canterbury, 409.

Benjamin of Tiberias, leader of a Jewish uprise in Palestine, 19, 22.

Benjamin of Tudela, traveler and historian, 388 f.

Benjamin Nahavendi, Karaite and founder of the Makariyites, 149 f.

Ben-Naphtali, 207.

Benu-Bachdal, 55.

Benu-Kainukaa, 55.

Benu-Kinanah, Arabic tribe converted to Judaism, 61.

Benu-Kuraiza, 55. massacred by Mahomet, 80 f.

Benu-Nadhir, 55. driven out by Mahomet, 78 f.

Benveniste, Don Isaac, physician to the king of Aragon, 508. work of, in behalf of the Jews, 513.

Benveniste, Sheshet, diplomatist and poet, 388, 524 f.

Berachya ben Natronaï Nakdan (Crispia), writer of fables, 560.

Berbers, kingdom of, 256 ff.

Bernard of Clairvaux and the second crusade, 349. intercedes in behalf of the Jews, 353.

Béziers, council of, prohibits the Jews from practising medicine among Christians, 582. inhabitants of, massacred by the crusaders, 502. Jews of, hold offices, 394 f. Palm Sunday riots in, against the Jews, 394 f.

Bible, attacks against, 199. Christian exposition of, 288. Massoretic text of, 207. oldest copy of, in Spain, 387. study of, among Jews, 111 f., 118.

Black Jews in India, 436.

Blois, persecution of the Jews of, 378-81.

Blood-accusation, 402, 418, 499, 564, 595. causes frequent massacres of the Jews in France and Germany, 583. first appearance of, 378-81. in England, 591, 643. officially contradicted by Innocent IV, 584, 635.

Bodo (Puoto), bishop, converted to Judaism, 168 f.

Bohemia, Jews of, 305. during the crusades, 305, 356. plundered, 307. Talmudic center, 420 f.

Bologna, Jews of, expelled, 421.

Bonastruc de Porta. See Nachmani.

"Book of the Pious," 408.

Boppard (Germany), massacre of the Jews of, 637, 639.

Boso, king of Burgundy, presents the Jews as a gift to the church, 175.

Bostanaï, exilarch, 10. descendants of, 91. marries a daughter of Chosru, 89. recognized by the Mahometans, 89.

Bray, massacre of the Jews of, 404.

Bribery in the Church, 578, 584, 591.

Buda, synod of, excludes the Jews from Christian society, 614.

Bulan, king of the Chazars, 139.

Burgundy, Jews of, oppressed, 37.

Byzantine empire, Jews of, 10-23. communities of, 424-7. culture of, 425 f. occupations of, 175. oppression of, 122, 425.

Cabades. See Kobad.

Cæsarea, betrayed to the Arabs, 87. riot of Jews and Samaritans against the Christians, 17.

Cairo, Jewish congregation of, 444.

Caliphate, condition of Jews under, 176 f., 183.

Cambridge, Jews expelled from, 641.

Cameos among Jews, 153.

Carenton, massacre of Jews of, 355.

Carlovingians, feeble rule of, 241.

Cassiodorus, minister of Theodoric, 30. invectives of, against the Jews, 31.

Castile, civil war of, 363.

Castile, Jews of, 361 ff., 592-6, 615-17. admitted to honors, 293, 384, 593. congregations of, 617. oppressed by Alfonso X, 616. favorable condition of, 361 ff. fight of, against the Almohades, 386 f. first persecution of, 507.

Catalonia, Jews of, 389.

Censorship of the Talmud, 602 f.

Ceremonial laws explained, 484 f., 523, 553.

Ceylon, Jews of, enjoy liberty, 436.

Chagan, title of the king of the Chazars, 138.

Chaibar (Arabia), 55. Jews of, defeated by Mahomet, 81-3. Jews of, driven out by Omar, 85. Jews of, warlike, 437.

Chaldean Christians support the Arabs, 89.

Chanan of Iskia, principal of Pumbeditha, 9.

Chananel of Kairuan, 248 ff.

Chananya (Achunaï), exilarch, 129, 137.

Chananya, principal of Sora, 10.

Chaninaï, exilarch, 10.

Chaninaï, principal of Pumbeditha, 10.

Chaninaï Kahana ben Huna, Gaon of Sora, 137.

Chanoch, head of the Jews of Andalusia, 229 f., 236. contest of, with Ibn-Abitur, 229, 238. death of, 241.

Chariot-races occasions of bloodshed, 11, 17.

Charlemagne, elevates the position of the Jews in Europe, 141 f. embassy of, to Haroun Alrashid, 143. imposes an oath on the Jews, 144. regenerator of Europe, 141 f.

Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, 628.

Charles the Bald protects the Jews against the clergy, 172.

Charles the Simple grants Jewish property to the church, 175.

Chasdaï, exilarch, 92.

Chasdaï, Ibn-Shaprut, 215-30. ambassador, 218 f. character of, 215. correspondence of, with the Jewish king of the Chazars, 219 ff. death of, 230. deliverer of his people, 217. descent of, 215. gives Jewish history a European character, 216. in the service of Abdul-Rahman III, 216. patron of learning, 223, 234. promotes the study of the Talmud, 227. representative of a Judæo-European culture, 188. statesman, 187.

Chayuj, father of Hebrew philology, 237, 255.

Chazanuth, 118.

Chazaria, 138.

Chazars, 123 ff., 327 f. army of, 221. embrace Judaism, 138-41. hospitality of, to Jews, 123 f. Jewish kingdom of, 219 ff. motive of conversion of, 139 f. origin of, 138. original religion of, 139. tolerance of, 141. wars of, 138.

Chazraj, Arabic tribe partly converted to Judaism, 61.

Cherem. See Excommunication.

Chess, invention of, 7.

Childebert I of Paris, intolerance of, 37.

Children, introduction of, to the Law, 572.

Chilperic, forces Jews to baptism, 39.

Chindaswinth, king of the Visigoths, tolerance of, 101 f.

Chintila, king of the Visigoths, forces the Jews to emigrate, 51 f.

Chiskiya, last Gaon of Pumbeditha, executed, 254.

Chivi Albalchi, first rationalist and critic, 199.

"Chobath Halebaboth," 271.

Chosroes Nushirvan imposes a poll-tax upon Jews and Christians, 5.

Chosru II, attacks the Roman possessions, 19. favorable to the Jews, 9.

"Chozari," origin of, 327 f.

Christian emperors curtail the political rights of the Jews, 27.

Christian slaves, possession of, forbidden to Jews, 28, 33, 46, 48.

Christians and Mahometans, treatment of Jews compared, 347, 426, 506.

Christianity, hostility of, to Judaism, 34. in western Europe at first tolerant against the Jews, 24, 34. of the 11th century, 301.

Christianity, Islam and Judaism compared, 328, 332 ff.

Chumrata, 97.

"Church of the Mother of God" in Constantinople originally a synagogue, 26.

Church, rigor of, against Jews and heretics, 496 ff., 503 f.

Church and synagogue, attitude of, to science compared, 187 f.

Chushiel, Rosh of Kairuan, 208 ff.

Cidellus, Jewish diplomatist in the service of Alfonso VI, 292.

Clement III, 306.

Clement IV, hostile to the Jews, 605. orders confiscation of the Talmud, 602.

Clergy, hatred of, against the Jews, 24-6, 172, 241 f., 349 f., 611. ignorance of, 26.

Clotaire II, bigotry of, 40.

Clovis, 36 f.

Cologne, Jews of: during the crusades, 303 f. privileges of, 41. when settled in, 41.

Commons massacre the Jews of London, 591.

Communism in Persia, 2 f.

Confession of faith, Jewish (Shema), forbidden, 15.

Conrad III, German emperor, protects the Jews, 351 f., 416.

Constantine VIII sends an embassy to Spain, 218.

Constantinople, Jews of, 26.

"Constitutio Judæorum," 497.

Controversies, between Jews and Christians, 105, 576, 598, 622. between Jews and Mahometans, 111, 119.

Conversions, forced, of Jews to Christianity, 38 f., 48 f., 123, 176, 246, 300, 570. prohibited by Gregory X, 635.

Conversions, forced, to Islam, 359 f., 451, 461.

Conversions to Judaism, 21, 61, 409, 440, 445, 516, 640 f.

Converts, Jewish, to Christianity, treatment of, 49 ff., 308 f.

Cordova, center of Judaism, 228 f. contention in, for the rabbinate, 229 f., 238 ff. seat of a Talmudic school, 210.

"Covenant of Omar," 87, 120, 145, 176 f.

Council (of the Church. See also under the individual cities): Lateran, 400, 421, 498. Lateran, the Fourth, 509-12. of Avignon, 504. of Béziers, 582. of Buda, 614. of Exeter, 645. of Illiberis, 43. of Mâcon, 39. of Meaux, 171. of Nice, 25. of Orleans, 37. of Oxford, 516. of Paris, 40. of Toledo, 49, 102. of Vannes, 36. of Vienna, 611 f.

Crimea, emigration of Chazars to, 222. emigration of Karaites to, 435.

Crispia, 560.

Crusade, the first, 297. effect of, on the intellectual condition of the Jews in Germany, 309. in Jerusalem, 308.

Crusade, the second, 349-57. in France, 349-51, 355. in Germany, 351 f.

Crusade, the third, 405 ff.

Crusade against the Albigenses, 501 f.

Crusaders, brutalities of, 412-15, 497, 507, 570.

Crusades in France, 299. in Germany, 300 ff. voluntary death of Jews during, 300, 302 f., 305.

Cyril expels the Jews from Alexandria, 23.

"Dagger of Faith," 622.

Dagobert, decree of, against the Jews, 40.

Damascus, captured by the Mongols, 606.

Daniel, the prophet, superstition about the grave of, 435.

Daniel, the exilarch, 438.

Daniel ben Saadiah, opponent of Maimonides, 525 f.

Dante, 628.

David, grandson of Maimonides, 627. and Solomon ben Adret, 620 f. defends his grandfather, 632.

David ben Daniel, exilarch and defender of Maimonides, 632.

David ben Judah, exilarch, 155 f.

David ben Saul, opponent of Maimonides, 529.

David ben Zaccaï, exilarch, 186. conflict of, with Saadiah Gaon, 195 f.

David Abudarham, 617.

David Alrui, false Messiah, 430-33.

Dayan (judge), functions of, 98.

Dei Mansi, family of, 421.

Demons, belief in, 525, 528, 534.

Dhu-Nowas. See Zorah Yussuf.

Diniz, king of Portugal, favorable to the Jews, 618.

Disputations between Jews and Christians, 576, 601 ff. See also under Controversies.

Divorce, law of, changed, 92. reform of, by Gershom, 244. synodical decisions concerning, 378.

Dominicans, fanaticism of, 519, 591, 613, 641. entrusted with the Inquisition, 542. part taken by, in the disputation of Barcelona, 600 ff. preachers, 545. rivalry of, with the Franciscans, 641.

Don Judah ben Moses Cohen, physician to Alfonso X, 593.

Don Meïr de Malea, treasurer of Alfonso X, 593.

Don Pedro II, king of Aragon, 497 f.

Don Sancho, son of Alfonso X, king of Castile, 616. and Don Zag, 616. rebellion of, against his father, 616. regulates the Jew-tax, 617.

Don Zag, Isaac, treasurer of Alfonso X, 593. and the "Tables of Alfonso," 594. executed, 615.

Donnolo, Sabbataï, head of Jewish science in Italy, 212-14. relation of, to Nilus the younger, 213 f.

Dossa, son of Saadiah Gaon, 202. and Chasdaï, 217.

Dudaï, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 129.

Dunash ben Labrat, creator of the artistic form of Jewish poetry, and one of the founders of Judæo-Spanish culture, 215. career and character, 226. first employs meter in Hebrew poetry, 223. polemic of, against Menachem and Saadiah, 226.

Dunash ben Tamim, physician, 181, 211. correspondence of, with Chasdaï, 211, 217.

Duns Scotus, recommends forced conversion of the Jews, 644.

East, the, loses the leadership of Judaism, 207 f. scepticism in, 199.

Easter, Jewish, celebration of, forbidden before the Christian, 13.

Eastertide, during, Jews forbidden to appear in the streets, 37, 39, 171, 510, 518, 582, 595, 635.

Eberard, Magister Judæorum, 161, 164.

Edward I, Jews treated by, 640-6. Jews expelled by, 645. justice of, to Jews, 640, 643. proselytizing zeal of, 644.

Egica, king of the Visigoths, imposes restrictions on the Jews, 107 f.

Egilbert, bishop of Treves, inhumanity of, against the Jews, 300.

Egypt, becomes a center of Judaism, 445. Talmudic schools of, 210.

Egypt, Jews of, 23, 443-5. low state of culture of, 444 f. prosperous condition of, under Saladin, 461.

Elchanan, Tossafist and martyr, 404.

Eldad, traveler, 182.

Eleanor, mother of Edward I, enmity of, against the Jews, 641, 645.

Eleazar ben Kalir, poetan, 116. characteristics of his style, 117, 245.

Elesbaa, king of Ethiopia, destroys the Jewish kingdom of Arabia, 66 f.

Elias of London, chief rabbi of England, 588. deposed, 591.

"Emunoth we-Deoth," 197 f.

England, Jews of, 409-16, 587-92, 640-6. accusations against, 642 f. act of parliament concerning, 642. authority and functions of the chief rabbi of, 588. blood-accusation against, 591. converts to Judaism in, 409. degradation of, 516. enemies of, 504 f. expelled, 643, 645. impoverished, 592. imprisoned, 645. parliament of, 589. occasion of the first persecution of, 410. oppressions of, 641. statute of Judaism for, 642.

"En-Sof," 550.

Ephraim ben Jacob of Bonn, Talmudist and poet, 419.

Erwig, king of the Visigoths, edict of, against the Jews and Jewish converts, 106 f.

Eugenius III, repudiates the debts to the Jews in the second crusade, 349.

Europe, becomes the chief seat of Judaism, 383. Judaism of, compared with that of the East, 160.

Excommunication, as inflicted by Church and Synagogue, 99, 151, 177, 528. degrees of, 99. employment of, in the Middle Ages, 528.

Exeter, council of, 645.

Exilarch (Prince of the Captivity), authority of, lessened by the Karaite disturbances, 137. ceremonies of installation of, 94 f. functions of, 89 f., 428 f. last, 201. under Mahometan rule, 89 f.

Exilarchate, contest for, 155, 439. corruption of, 194. decline of, 177, 183 ff. dependent on the Gaonate, 137. disputes of, with the Gaonate, 184-6. divested of its official character, 177. elective, 137. extinction of, 202. in the 12th century, 439. revival of, 428.

Ezekiel, the prophet, grave of, resort of pilgrims, 440 f.

Ezra, the scribe, grave of, resort of pilgrims, 441.

Ezra, Kabbalist, 548.

Fables in Neo-Hebraic, 560 f.

Farraj Ibn-Solomon, physician to Charles of Anjou, 628.

Fathers of the Church put a chasm between Christianity and Judaism, 144.

Fatimide caliphate, 210. fall of, 461. fanaticism of, 212.

Fatimides persecute the Jews, 247 ff.

Ferdinand III of Castile, fanaticism of, 519.

Ferdinand the Catholic, 383.

Ferdinand the Holy, 592.

Ferrara, favorable condition of the Jews in, 628.

Firuz, persecutes the Jews, 1.

Firuz-Shabur (place), 8, 90. academy of, 9.

Fosse, war of the, 80.

Fostat, residence of Maimonides, 457.

France, home of Talmudic lore, 289, 344 ff.

France, Jews of, 34 ff. expelled, 402, 585. impoverished, 586 f. massacre of, 583. intellectual condition of, 281, 345. prosperity of, 443. settlement of, 34 ff. under the last Carlovingians and the first Capets, 241 f.

France, northern, Jews of, 400-9. beginning of misfortunes of, 400. driven out, 405. money extorted from, 407. lose freedom of motion, 406. treated as chattels, 407.

France, southern, Jews of, 390 ff. prosperity of, 489. sufferings of, during the Albigensian crusade, 501 f.

Franciscans, fanaticism of, 519.

Frankish empire, Jews of, clerical hatred against, 164 ff., 171 ff. favorable condition of, 141 ff., 161-70. privileges of, 161.

Frederick I (the Valiant) of Austria, favorable to the Jews, 567 f. statute of, for the protection of the Jews, 568.

Frederick II, German emperor, 565-9. confines the Jews to a ghetto, 567. draws Jewish scholars to his court, 565. edict of, against the Jews of Austria, 569. enmity of, against the Jews, 567 ff. in feud with Gregory IX, 567, 580. scepticism of, 567.

Frederick Barbarossa, makes free Jews "servi cameræ," 416 f. protects the Jews, 418.

Fulko de Neuilly, preaches against the Jews, 405.

Galen, 473.

Gaon and Exilarch, positions of, compared, 93.

Gaonate (see also under Geonim): decay of, 231-4. extinction of, 253 f. origin of, 90. relations of, to the Exilarchate, 90, 137 f.

Gaonic period, study of the Talmud in the, 128.

Gascony, Jews of, expelled, 646.

Gebirol, Solomon Ibn-, 265-80. childhood of, 265. death of, 280 f. driven out from Saragossa, 268. facility of muse of, 265, 267. friend of Yekutiel Ibn-Hassan, 266. Jewish Plato, 265. legend about death of, 281. melancholy of, 265 f. philosophy of, 267, 269-71. philosophy of, among Christians, 644. poetical forms of, 301. protected by Samuel Nagrela, 268. versatility of, 267. works of, translated, 503.

Gelasius, pope, attitude of, to the Jews, 29.

Gelimer, king of the Vandals, 26 f.

Geonim, 126. authority and influence of, 118 f. epoch of, 90 f. literary activity of, 178 ff.

German emperor, protector of the Jews, 356 f.

German nations, character of, 416.

German princes, protect the Jews, 416.

Germany, Jews of, 40 f., 144, 416-20, 634-40. blood-accusation against, 635 f. compelled to be tradesmen, 242 f. culture of, 243, 281, 357, 419. emigration of, 637. favorable condition of, before the crusades, 297. first persecution of, 245. hostility against, 419. massacre of, 418, 583, 611, 636. opposition of, to Maimonides, 624 f. oppressions of, 580. rights of, 417 f. Talmudic study of, 419. under Frederick II, 516 f. under Rudolph of Habsburg, 634-40. under the Saxon emperors, 242 f.

Gerona, home of the Kabbala, 556.

Gershom ben Jehuda, 243-5. decrees of, 244 f. first commentator of the Talmud, 244. in Mayence, 243. son of, embraces Christianity, 246.

Ghetto, 567.

Ghuzz, Turkish hordes, 434.

G'ikatilia, poet, 237, 290.

Giza, principal of Sora, 4 ff.

Granada, entirely inhabited by Jews, 256, 261. envy against Jews of, 275 ff. massacre of Jews of, 279.

"Great Assembly," 95.

Greece, Jews of, 27.

Greek translation of the Bible, reading of, in the synagogue, 13-15.

Gregory I (the Great), 46 f. proselytizing of, 33 f. protects Jewish rights, 33. toleration of, towards Jews, 25.

Gregory VII, intolerance of, 293.

Gregory IX, condemns the Talmud, 574 f. confirms the constitution of Innocent III, 564. enmity of, against the Jews, 519 ff. establishes the Inquisition, 542.

Gregory X, prohibits the compulsory conversion of Jews, 635.

Gregory of Tours, 39.

Gudeo, papal legate, 611.

Guelphs and Ghibellines, 611.

"Guide of the Perplexed," 477 ff. influence of, in Italy, 629. translated into Latin, 542 f.

Hadrian, pope, unfriendly to the Jews, 142.

Haggaï. See Robert de Redingge.

Hagin Denlacres, chief rabbi of England, 644.

Haï ben David, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 183.

Haï, son of Sherira, 234.

Haï Gaon, 250-3. character of, 250. compared with Saadiah, 250. death of, 253. friendly relations of, to the Christian patriarch, 250. influence of, 252. learning of, 250. opinion of, on mysticism, 251 f. systematic methods of, 251.

Hakim, caliph of Egypt, 247 f.

Hamadan, Jewish congregation of, 434.

Hariri of Basra, Arabian poet, 318.

Harith Ibn-Abu Shammir, treachery of, 68.

Haroun Alrashid, embassy of Charlemagne to, 143. re-enacts Omar's laws, 145.

Head-dress imposed on Jews, 612.

Hebrew language, cultivation of, among Jews, 111 f. among Christians, 579, 622.

Hebrew philology, 225, 561.

Hejira, 73.

Henry II of England, 409.

Henry III of England, treatment of Jews by, 570 f., 587 ff., 591.

Henry II, emperor of Germany, persecutes the Jews, 245 f.

Henry IV, emperor of Germany, 418. favorable to the Jews, 293, 298, 306, 308, 416. permits converts to return to their faith, 306.

Henry I, archbishop of Mayence, protects the Jews, 352.

Heraclius, emperor, 19 ff. forbids the Jews to enter Jerusalem, 23. protects the Jews, 23, 47.

Hibat-Allah, apostate to Islam, 442.

Hilderic, rebels against Wamba, 104 f.

Hillel of Verona, founder of the scientific method among the Italian Jews, 629. admirer of Maimonides, 629. proposes a rabbinical synod to compose the Maimunist controversy, 631.

Hinkmar of Rheims, hostile to the Jews, 171 f.

Honorius III, pope, attitude of, towards the Jews, 513, 515.

Hormisdas IV, 7 ff. compared to Nero, 8. dethroned and assassinated, 8. persecutes Christians and Jews, 8.

Hugh Capet, 242.

Hujej Ibn-Achtab, leader of the Benu-Nadhir against Mahomet, 78.

Hulagu, founder of the Mongol kingdom in Persia, 638.

Hungary invaded by the Mongols, 613.

Hungary, Jews of, 613-15, 520 f., 613. commercial activity of, 613. condition of, 520 f. decrees of the synod of Buda against, 614. fanaticism kindled against, by the Dominicans and Franciscans, 614. Jew-badge of, 614.

Huns, 9, 138. re-instate Kobad, 2.

Huna, exilarch and father of Mar-Zutra II, 3.

Hunaï, Gaon of Sora, 92.

Ibn-Abbas, Judah, poet, 318.

Ibn-Abbas, Samuel, apostate to Islam, 442.

Ibn-Abitur, 229. contest of, with Chanoch, 229 f., 238. poetry of, 236 f.

Ibn-Alfachar, Abraham, distinguished at the court of Alfonso VIII, 384 f. opponent of Maimonides, 541.

Ibn-Alfayumi, Jacob, Talmudist of Yemen, 436, 462.

Ibn-Aljami, Nagid of Egypt, 443.

Ibn-Alruchi. See David Alrui.

Ibn-Balam, Jehuda, grammarian, 290.

Ibn-Chasdaï, Samuel ben Abraham, 388.

Ibn-Daud, 43.

Ibn-Daud, Abraham, religious philosopher, 363-5. as historian, 365 f. dies a martyr, 386. "Seder ha-Kabbalah," 366.

Ibn-Ezra, Abraham, 366-75. as astronomer and astrologer, 368, 371. character of, 366 f. commentary of, on the Pentateuch, 371, 373. death of, 374 f. exegete, 368, 370. in France, 373. in Italy, 369, 423. in London, 373. marks the end of the original element in the Spanish school, 381. philosopher, 373. poetry of, 367. rationalism of, 372. restlessness of, 368, 370. "Sabbath Epistle" of, 373 f. travels of, 369. versatility of, 366. wit of, 368.

Ibn Ezra, brothers of, 318-21.

Ibn-Ezra, Jehuda, 361-3. head of the Jews of Castile, 362. in favor with Alfonso Raimundez, 361. persecutes the Karaites, 362 f. protector of the Jews, 361 f.

Ibn-Ezra, Moses, 310, 314. career of, 319 f. compared with Gebirol, 319. philosophical writings of, 320. poems of, 320 f.

Ibn-Giat, Isaac ben Jehuda, poet, 284, 318.

Ibn-Janach, creator of Hebrew syntax, 261, 263. first rational Bible critic, 263. opposed by Abraham Ibn-Ezra, 371. philosophical writings of, 264.

Ibn-Jau, Jacob, head of the Jews of Andalusia, 238 ff.

Ibn-Malka, Jehuda, at the court of Frederick II, 565 f.

Ibn-Migash, Meïr, disciple and successor of Alfassi, 315 f. disciples and descendants of, 317. in Toledo, 362.

Ibn Moïsha and Maimonides, 456, 474.

Ibn-Sahal, Joseph ben Jacob, rabbi of Cordova and poet, 314.

Ibn-Sahula, writer of fables, 560.

Ibn-Sakbel, Solomon, poet, 318.

Ibn-Sakni, Jacob, 284 f. awakens interest in Talmudic studies in Babylonia, 429.

Ibn-Sarjadu, Aaron, principal of Pumbeditha, 202.

Ibn-Shalbib, Amram ben Isaac, councillor to Alfonso VI, 292, 295. killed, 295.

Ibn-Tibbon, family of, 397 f. as physicians, 582.

Ibn-Tibbon, Judah ben Saul, translator, 397 f. characteristics of his translations, 398. pedantry of, 397.

Ibn-Tibbon, translator and physician, 582.

Ibn-Tibbon, Samuel ben Judah, translator and writer, 398. correspondence of, with Maimonides, 490. unproductiveness of, 566.

Ibn-Tumart, Abdallah, founder of the sect of the Almovachides, 357 f.

Ibn-Zadik, rabbi of Cordova and religio-philosophical writer, 314.

Illiberis, council of, prohibits the friendly intercourse between Jews and Christians, 44.

Illyria, settlement of Jews in, 27.

Image worship in the Church, conflict caused by, 122.

Immanuel Romi, poet, 630.

Immortality, teachings of the Kabbala on, 554.

Imrulkais Ibn Hojr, Arabian poet, 68.

India, Jews of, 435 f.

Innocent III, 383, 496-504. as president of the Fourth Lateran Council, 509-12. brings about a change of sentiment towards the Jews, 507 f. causes the deepest misery to the Jews, 513. censures princes for their protection of the Jews, 498 ff. characteristic of, 405, 496. death of, 513. degrades the Jews, 563. ruthless hostility of, to the Jews, 496-501. tyranny of, 496.

Innocent IV, allows the keeping of the Talmud, 579. contradicts the blood-accusation, 584, 596.

Inquisition established, 542.

Intermarriage between Jews and Christians, 44.

Irak, Jews of, 89.

Isaac, accompanies the embassy of Charlemagne to Haroun Alrashid, 143.

Isaac of Accho, Kabbalist, executed, 650.

Isaac the Blind, supposed originator of the Kabbala, 547.

Isaac ben Eliakim, rabbi of Würzburg and martyr, 354.

Isaac ben Jacob Halaban of Prague, Tossafist, 421.

Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil, 587.

Isaac ben Mordecai, physician to the pope, 628.

Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre (Ri), head of the school of Rameru and Tossafist, 403 f., 406.

Isaac, son of Abraham Ibn-Ezra, embraces Islam, 442.

Isaac the Younger (Rizba), 408.

Isaac Sanjari and Bulan, 140.

Isaacs, the five, 282 ff.

Isavites, 125.

Ishmael, founder of the Akbarite sect, 157.

Isidore of Seville, 49. polemics of, against Judaism, 50 f.

Islam (see also Mahomet): benefits of the dominion of, to Judaism, 85, 89. conquests of, 86 ff., 109 ff. divisions of, 90. hostility of, to Judaism, 84. influence of, on Jewish history and Judaism, 71. intolerance of, 87. referred to in an apocalypse, 88 f. restrictions imposed by, on Jews and Christians, 87 f. truths of, a victory of Judaism, 72.

Islam and Christianity in their treatment of the Jews compared, 88.

Islamic theology, 146 ff.

Ispahan, Jewish congregation of, 434.

Ispahanites. See Isavites.

Israeli, Isaac ben Suleiman, writer and physician to Ubaid-Allah, 180 f., 192, 211.

Italy becomes a province of the Byzantine empire, 32. under the Lombards, 33. under Ostrogothic rule, 28-32.

Italy, Jews of, 27 f. communities of, 27, 424. favorable condition of, 421-3. ignorance of, 290, 369, 421-3. Maimunist controversy among, 628. mental awakening of, 628 f. resistance of, to Belisarius, 31 f. settlement of, 27. Talmudic schools of, 212. under the Lombards, 33. under the Ostrogoths, 28-32. under the Papacy, 628.

Itil (Atel), kingdom of the Chazars, 138.

Jacob of Orleans, head of the school in London, 409. kills himself, 411.

Jacob ben Natronaï, Gaon of Sora, 184 ff.

Jacob ben Nissim, 211, 232 ff.

Jacob ben Samuel, pupil of Saadiah, 204.

Jacob ben Sheshet Gerundi, Kabbalist, 556.

Jacob Tam, 375-81. character of, 376. commentary of, to the Talmud, 376. death of, 381. descendant of Rashi, 375. maltreated by the crusaders, 355. poetry of, 376. Tossafist, 343, 345, 375.

Jannai, poetan, introduces rhymes into Neo-Hebraic poetry, 116.

Jayme, king of Aragon, treatment of the Jews by, 536.

Jean d'Acre. See Accho.

Jehuda ben Abbas of Haleb, poet, 426.

Jehuda ben Sabbatai, poet, 559.

Jehuda Alcharisi, poet and translator, 559.

Jehuda Hadassi, Karaite controversionist, 362.

Jehuda ben Samuel Halevi, 310, 313, 315, 318, 321-43. career of, 322 f. character of, 321 f. "Chozari" of, 327 f. compared with the author of Job, 327. disciple of Alfassi, 322. end of life of, 342 f. erudition of, 321 f. evidences of Judaism by, 332 ff. limits of philosophy set by, 331. love poems of, 323. national religious spirit of poetry of, 325 f. philosopher, 326. physician, 323 f. pilgrimage of, to Palestine, 338-42. power of description of, 325. prince of poets, 321 f. Songs of Zion of, 337 f. subject matter of poetry of, 324 f. view of, on poets and poetry, 324 f. view of, on the suffering and position of Israel, 335 f.

Jephet Ibn-Ali Halevi, Karaite champion, 205 f.

Jerusalem, Jews of, 506. during the crusades, 308. expelled, 427. Talmudic studies of, 249.

Jesus the son of Pantheras, 577.

Jew-badge, 511-13, 564, 595. in England, 642. in France, 612. in Hungary, 614.

"Jew-roaster," 611.

Jew-tax, 281, 510, 517, 588 f., 617, 642.

Jewish children taken away from their parents, 514, 570.

Jewish communities between Worms and Mayence, 41.

Jewish diplomatists, 291 f., 294.

Jewish-Himyarite empire, 51.

Jewish history, general survey of, 382 ff., 446 f., 494 f., 563 ff., 610 ff. scientific epoch of, 187 ff.

Jewish king of Arabia, 12.

Jewish kingdom in Arabia, 62-7.

Jewish question, at Councils, 25.

Jewish soldiers, 4.

Jews (see also under the different countries): buy protection by money, 570 f. compelled to trade, 418. decay of learning and poetry of, in the post-Maimunic time, 558-62. degradation of, 563 f. excluded from offices of honor, 502, 510, 513, 515, 521, 567, 569, 635. forbidden to enter Jerusalem, 23. in service of Christian princes, 282, 291 f., 294, 312, 361 f., 384. kill themselves to escape baptism, 404, 411, 415. money extorted from them, 584 f., 589 ff., 634. persecuted everywhere, 347 ff. representatives of the commerce of the world, 142, 162. render scientific literature accessible to Arabs and Christians, 111, 565. scepticism among, 199. "servi cameræ," 356 f. slaveholders, 29. suffering of, in the calamities of the Roman empire, 27 f. theological controversies among, 148 ff. treated as property, 417. under Christian and Mahometan rule compared, 347 f., 426. warlike, 4, 19, 384, 433, 436.

Joan, pope, 169.

Joceus, first chief rabbi of England, 588.

Joceus, of York, 413.

John Lackland, 416. barbarities of, towards the Jews, 504 f. death of, 516.

Jonah ben Abraham Gerundi, opponent of Maimonides, 529. repentance of his fanaticism towards Maimonides, 580. works of, 580.

Jonathan Cohen of Lünel, 397. emigrates to Palestine, 505.

José bar José Hayathom, Neo-Hebraic poet, 114 f.

Joseph Amarkala Halevi, prince of an independent Jewish tribe in Arabia, 433.

Joseph bar Abba, mystic and principal of Pumbeditha, 154.

Joseph ben Chasdaï, poet, 273.

Joseph ben Chiya, principal of Pumbeditha, 155.

"Joseph ben Gorion," 180.

Joseph ben Sabara, poet, 559.

Joseph ben Satia, principal of Sora, 202.

Joseph Ezobi, poet, 561.

Joseph Ibn-Aknin, favorite disciple of Maimonides, 477 f., 526.

Joseph Ibn-Shoshan, distinguished at the court of Alfonso VIII, 384.

Joseph Kara, Tossafist and exegete, 345 f.

Josephus' writings in favor with Christians, 162.

"Josippon," 180.

Judæo-Spanish culture, founders of, 215.

Judah, minister of finance in Portugal, 618.

Judah of Melun, disputation of, with Nicholas Donin, 577 f.

Judah the Blind, Gaon of Sora, 129. Talmudic compendium of, 136.

Judah Judghan, founder of a sect, 149 f.

Judah Sir Leon ben Isaac of Paris, 408. disciples of, 409.

Judaism: d philosophy, 327 ff., 455, 467, 478, 487, 522 f. assumes a European character, 188. compared with Christianity and Islam, 328 f., 332 f., 393, 463. conversions to, 21, 640 f. divisions of, 494 ff., 522 ff., 557 f. religious duties of, 365. venerated by Christians, 162.

Judghanites, 150.

Judith, empress, friendly to Judaism, 162.

Julian, king of the Samaritans, 16.

Julian, metropolitan of Toledo, 107.

Justin I, severe towards the Jews, 10.

Justin II, 26. oppresses the Samaritans, 17 f.

Justinian, 12-17. anti-Jewish laws of, 12 f. closes the schools of philosophy in Greece, 7. forbids the Confession of Faith (Shema), 15. interferes in matters of conscience, 12 ff. ordinances of, for the service of the synagogue, 14 f. severity of, towards the Samaritans, 13, 16.

Kaab, leader of the Benu-Kuraiza against Mahomet, 80 f.

Kaaba, 60, 72, 453.

Kabbala, 547-57. origin of, 535, 547. part played by, in the religious controversies, 623, 626, 631. principles of, 550-55. teachings of, on the coming of the Messiah, 555. teachings of, on the importance of prayer, 553. teachings of, on the life after death, 554. teachings of, on the signification of the ceremonial laws, 553. transplanted to Palestine, 607. what favored rise of, 549.

Kabbalists, desecrate Maimonides' grave, 631.

Kachtanites and Ishmaelites, 61.

"Kadish," 95.

Kafnaï, exilarch, 10.

Kainukaa, driven out from Arabia by Mahomet, 76 f.

Kairuan, center of Judaism and science, 146, 210. school of, 248 ff.

Kaliri. See Eleazar ben Kalir.

Kalonymos, learned Jew, 143.

Kalonymos, Italian Jew in the retinue of Otto II, 243.

Kalonymos ben Todros, head of the congregation of Narbonne, 392.

Kameoth. See Cameos.

Kamus, fortress in Chaibar, 82.

Karaism, 127-37. alterations made by, 131. causes discord in the Talmudic schools, 155 ff. character of, 133. divisions of, 136, 157. effect of, on the authority of the exilarch, 137. emphasizes freedom of inquiry, 157. explanation of name of, 130. gives impetus to the study of the Bible, 133, 136. inconsistencies of, 131, 133, 159, 443. increases the religious duties, 131. instability of, 133. marriage laws of, 132, 158 f. principal dogma of, 157. regulations of, about festivals, 131, 158 f. spread of, 182, 207.

Karaites: asceticism of, 181 f., 204, 437. controversies of, with the Rabbanites, 134, 182, 203, 362 f. cultivate Biblical philology and exegesis, 180 f., 204, 206. in Cairo, 444. in Crimea, 435. in Palestine, 607. narrow-mindedness of, 206. polemical writings of, 191. productive in Biblical literature, 136. proselytism of, 203. rigorous observance of the Sabbath, 132. severity and gloominess of religious life of, 132 f. superficiality of, 204, 206.

Khiva, Jews of, 435.

Khozars. See Chazars.

Kimchi, family of, 392.

Kimchi, David (Radak), grammarian and exegete, 394. excommunicated, 531. teacher of Hebrew to the Jews and Christians of Europe, 393. view of, on the Talmud, 531. zealous Maimunist, 530 f., 540 f.

Kimchi, Joseph ben Isaac, introduces Jewish-Spanish culture into southern France, 392. writings of, 392 f.

Kimchi, Moses, 393.

Kinanah Ibn-Rabia, leader of the Chaibarites against Mahomet, 82.

Kobad, 1-5. death of, 5. dethroned, 2. institutes a religious persecution, 1. re-instated, 2. supports Mazdak, 2.

Kohen-Zedek, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 183-200. ambitiousness of, 192, 194. conflict of, with the exilarch, 184 f.

Koran, introduction of, 147. on the position of women, 92. relation of, to Bible and Talmud, 72.

Kovad. See Kobad.

Ladislaus IV of Hungary, bigotry of, 615.

Landfried, ambassador of Charlemagne to Haroun Alrashid, 143.

Lateran Council, anti-Jewish decrees of, 400, 421 f., 498.

Lateran Council, the Fourth, 509-12.

Law, knowledge of, valued, 113.

Leo the Isaurian, why he protected the Jews, 122 f.

Leo the Philosopher, intolerant towards the Jews, 176.

Leon, teacher of Gershom, 243.

Leon (Leontini), founder of the scientific study of the Talmud in France, 242.

Letter of Sherira, 232 f.

Letter-carrying, regulations about, by Gershom, 244 f.

Liturgy and liturgical poetry, 113 ff., 132, 178, 236, 245, 260, 282, 320, 367, 376, 419.

London, Jews of: cruelties against, 643. massacre of, 591. persecution of, 410 f.

Louis II orders the Jews out of Italy, 174.

Louis VI, favorable to the Jews, 343.

Louis VII, as crusader, 349. favorable to the Jews, 343, 400.

Louis IX (the Saint): Jews expelled by, 585. Jews hated by, 519, 570. orders of, concerning the Jew-badge, 612. persecutes the Talmud, 578, 586. proselytizing of, 570.

Louis the Pious, 161. favorable to the Jews, 161 ff.

Lünel, Jewish congregation of, 396. letter of Maimonides to, 492.

Lynn, Jews of, massacred, 411 f.

Macedonia, settlement of Jews in, 27.

Machir, learned Jew, sent by Haroun Alrashid to Charlemagne, 143.

Machuza, capital of the Jewish state in Babylonia, 4. taken by Mebodes, 9.

Mâcon, council of, degrades the Jews, 39.

"Madda," 468, 523. proscribed, 529.

Magharyites. See Makariyites.

"Magister Judæorum," 161.

Mahdi, 358.

Mahomet, 71-84. breaks with the Jews, 75 f. character of revelations of, 71. chief opponents of, on the Jewish side, 74. concessions of, to Judaism, 73. confession of faith of, 71. corruption of teachings of, 72. death of, 84. enters in alliance with Jewish tribes, 73. first doctrines of, 71. relation of, to Judaism, 71. revelation of, against the Jews, 78. supported by the Jews in the propagation of the Koran, 73. teachings of, 72. wars of, against the Jews, 76-84. why the Jews objected to, 74.

Mahomet Alemin, 145.

Mahomet Almuktafi, caliph, re-instates the exilarch, 428.

Mahomet Alnasir, attacks Spain, 506 f.

Mahometans, divisions among, 147 f. philosophy and theology of, 146 f. revival of science among, 145 ff. scepticism among, 199. treatment of the Jews by, 88, 176.

Maimonides, Moses ben Maimun (see also Maimunist controversy), 446-93, 522-45. aim of, 450, 522. articles of faith of, 459 f. attitude of, to the Aristotelian philosophy, 478. attitude of, to the Karaites, 465, 475. averse to poetry, 449. birth of, 447. brothers of, 457. character of, 449 f. commentary of, on the Mishna, 458-61. conception of Judaism of, 456, 459, 522. condemned in Accho, 631. controversy about the system of, 522 ff. correspondence of, with Samuel Ibn-Tibbon, 490 f. court physician of Saladin, 472 f., 489. death of, 492 f. descendants of, 493. descent of, 447. doctrine of, on immortality and resurrection, 476, 478 f., 523 f. education of, 447 f. effects of death of, on Judaism, 494 f. effects of teachings of, on Judaism in southern France, 526. epitaphs on the grave of, 493, 631. ethical philosophy of, 533. explanation of the ceremonial laws by, 484 f., 523. fame of, 471, 489 ff. feigns Islam, 451 f. first to develop a Jewish system of belief, 459. funeral of, 493. "Guide of the Perplexed of," 477. "Iggeret Teman" of, 462-4. in Palestine, 457. Mahometan opinion of, 488. medical learning of, 473, 489. mental organization of, 448, 458, 467. "Mishne-Torah" of, 466-70. non-Jewish elements in the system of, 487, 522 f., 526. opponents of, 471 f., 475, 490, 522 ff. physician, 458, 491. religio-philosophical system of, 478 ff., 522. settles in Cairo, 457. supreme head of the Jews of Egypt, 474. view of, on feigned apostasy and martyrdom, 453-6. view of, on miracles, 483, 523. view of, on persecution and suffering of Israel, 463. view of, on prophecy, 482, 523. view of, on tradition, 459, 469 f. wanderings of, 447 f., 451, 456 f. works of, burnt, 543. writings of, 451 f., 458, 462, 466, 477, 488.

Maimun, father of Maimonides, 317.

Maimun Asha, Arabian poet, 70.

Maimuni. See Maimonides.

Maimunist controversy, 522-45, 623-34. abated, 580. Dominicans appealed to in, 542 f. evil consequences of, 546 f. excommunication employed in, 529, 632. in the East, 525 f. in Germany, 623-7. in Italy, 628. in southern Europe, 526 ff. part taken in, by the Kabbala, 631 f.

Makariyites, Karaite sect, 151.

Malka bar Acha, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 137.

Maor, 389.

Mar-Aaron, 157.

Mar-Abraham ben Sherira, principal of Pumbeditha, 154 f.

Mar-Amram ben Sheshna, Gaon of Sora and compiler of a liturgical order of prayers, 178.

Mar bar Huna, principal of Sora, 10.

Mar-Chanina, grandfather of Mar-Zutra II, 3. executed, 4.

Mar-Isaac, murdered, 3.

Mar-Isaac, first Gaon of Sora, 90, 92.

Mar-Raba, 92.

Mar-Ukba, exilarch, 184 f.

Mar-Yanka. See Natronaï.

Mar-Zemach I, first of the literary Geonim of Pumbeditha, 178. author of an Aruch, 179.

Mar-Zutra, posthumous son of Mar-Zutra II, 4. teacher at Tiberias, 12.

Mar-Zutra II, exilarch, 3. executed, 4. king of a Jewish state, 4. leader of a Jewish insurrection, 3 f.

Marhab, Jewish hero in Chaibar, 82.

Mari bar Mar, principal of Pumbeditha, 9.

Massora, development and importance of, 112. in Germany, 244.

Massorets, 207.

Matthew Paris, chronicler, 591.

Mauritius, Byzantine emperor, 18. resists Chosru, 9.

Mayence, blood accusation and massacre of Jews of, 636. during the crusades, 302 f. rabbinical synod in, 517. school of, 247.

Mazdak, reformer of Magianism and communist, 1 f.

Meaux, Council of, passes anti-Jewish decrees, 171 f.

Mebodes, Persian general, massacres the Jews of Machuza, 9.

Mecca, 60. Jews not allowed to dwell in, 436.

Medicine, practice of, by Jews among Christians, forbidden, 581 f.

Medina, becomes the lawgiver for millions, 86. Jews not allowed to dwell in, 436.

Meïr of Rameru, Tossafist, 345.

Meïr of Rothenburg, 579. corpse of, ransomed, 640. dies in prison, 640. eccentric piety of, 625, leader of Jewish emigrants from Germany, 637-40.

"Men of Faith," 153.

Menachem ben Saruk, first grammarian and one of the founders of Judæo-Spanish culture, 215. controversy of, with Dunash, 226 f. death of, 227. disciples of, 227. relation of, to Chasdaï, 224, 226. works of, 224 f.

Menahem ben Solomon. See David Alrui.

Merovingian kings, bigotry of, 39 f. narrow-mindedness of, 143.

Merv, center of science, 146.

Meshullam ben Jacob, head of Lünel, 396.

Messer-Jawaih of Bassorah, Jewish physician, 111.

Messiahs, false, 120, 124, 149, 331-3, 462.

Messianic hopes, 298, 313, 360, 606, 637.

Metatoron, 88, 153.

Metempsychosis, 547, 554.

Meters, first employed in Neo-Hebraic poetry, 223.

Meturgeman in the schools, 438.

Michael ben Kaleb of Thebes, Jewish poet, 426.

Michael Scotus, astrologer of Frederick II, 566 f.

Mishna, commentary on, by Maimonides, 458 ff. origin of, discussed, 233. translated into Arabic, 237.

"Mishne-Torah" of Maimonides, 466 ff.

Moawiyah, contest of, with Ali, 90.

Modestus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, fanaticism of, 22.

Mongols, 646 ff. establish a kingdom in Persia, 637. invade Europe, 580 f. invade Hungary, 613. Jewish soldiers among, 581. ravages of, in Palestine, 606.

Montanists persecuted by Leo the Isaurian, 122 f.

Montpellier, flourishing condition of the Jewish congregation of, 395. seat of a medical college, 583.

Mordecai ben Joseph of Avignon, 612.

"Moreh Nebuchim." See "Guide of the Perplexed."

Moses the Lawgiver, distinguished character of his prophetic faculty, 483 f. supposed synagogue of, 445.

Moses of Baalbek, founder of a Karaite sect, 158.

Moses of Coucy, 576. itinerant preacher, 545 f. Tossafist and Maimunist, 539. work of, on the Law, 586.

Moses ben Chanoch, one of the founders of Judæo-Spanish culture, 208, 215. death of, 229. functions of, 228 f. relation of, to Chasdaï, 228. spreads Talmudic studies in Spain, 208 f.

Moses ben Chasdaï, fanatic opponent of Maimonides, 624 f.

Moses ben Jehuda Cohen, rabbi of Safet, 633.

Moses ben Maimun. See Maimonides.

Moses ben Nachman. See Nachmani.

Moses, son of Kalonymos, 143.

Mosul, Jewish congregation of, 429 f.

"Mourners of Zion," 182, 437.

Mozarabs, 215.

Munich, Jews of, massacred, 636 f.

Musa, founder of the Akbarite sect, 157.

Mushka, fanatical Judghanite, 150.

Mutazilists (Mahometan rationalists), 147, 150.

Muza Ibn-Nosair, governor of Africa, 109.

Mysticism (see also Kabbala), 153 f., 251, 535. in France, 160. in Italy, 160.

Nachmani, 530-57, 598-609. character of, 531. commentary of, to the Bible, 607. death of, 608. disputation of, with Pablo Christiani, 598-601. erudition of, 532. exiled, 604 f. hostile to Ibn-Ezra, 534, 608. influence of, 609. in Palestine, 605-7. method of exegesis of, 562, 608. opponent of Maimonides, 608. part taken by, in the Maimunist controversy, 530-6. physician, 532. religious system of, 533-5. reverence of, for rabbinical tradition, 531, 557. Talmudic works of, 532. view of, on Agada, 599. votary of the Kabbala, 535, 556.

Nachshon ben Zadok, Gaon of Sora, 179.

Nagid, Egyptian exilarch, 443.

Nagrela, Joseph, son of Samuel, vizir and Nagid in Granada, 274. indiscretion of, 275. killed, 278.

Nagrela, Samuel, head of the Jews of Andalusia, 254-65. career of, 255. characteristics of, 254 f. compiles a methodology of the Talmud, 259. death of, 274. diplomatist, 257. friend of Gebirol, 268, 274. philosopher, 261. poet, 259 f. supports learning, 260. vizir, 256. writings of, 259 f.

Nakdan, 560.

Naples, favorable condition of the Jews of, 422.

Narbonne, 45. principal Jewish congregation of southern France, 392-4. Talmudic school of, 143, 242.

Nathan ben Isaac Kohen, 208, 242.

Nathan ben Yechiel of Rome, author of the Aruch, 290, 421.

Natronaï II, Gaon of Sora, 178.

Natronaï ben Chasdaï, 137.

Natronaï ben Nehemiah, principal of Pumbeditha, 121 f.

Nazareth, inhabited by Jews, 12.

Neapolis (Shechem), capital of the Samaritans, 12.

Nechunya ben ha-Kana, Kabbalistic manuscript attributed to him, 556.

Neo-Hebraic poetry, 112, 317 f. artistic form of, 223. compared with that of the Bible, 113. decline of, 558 f. didactic element of, 113. effect of, on the divine service, 117 f. introduction of rhyme into, 116. last poets of, 559 f. liturgical character of, 113. meters employed in, 223. subject matter of, 113.

Nestorian Christians, persecuted by the Sassanian princes, 89.

Nevers, Count, favorable to the Jews, 500.

New Misr. See Cairo.

New Nineveh, Jews of, ignorant, 430.

New Year celebrated for two days, 428. liturgy of, 113 ff.

Nice, Council of, 25.

Nicholas III, 594.

Nicholas Donin, apostate, 572-8. accuses the Talmud, 573. disputation of, 576-8. instigates a persecution of the Jews, 573.

Nilus the Younger, Abbot of Rossana, relations of, to Donnolo, 213.

Nissi Naharvani, reconciles the Exilarchate and Gaonate, 186.

Nissim of Kairuan, 248 ff.

Northampton, blood-accusation of, 643.

Norwich, Jews of, massacred, 412.

Nureddin, attacks the Christians in Asia, 349.

Oath imposed on the Jews by Charlemagne, 144.

Obadiah, Jewish king of the Chazars, 140 f.

Obaiah Abu-Isa ben Ishah, pseudo-precursor of the Messiah and leader of a rebellion, 124 f.

Oberwesel (Germany), Jews of, massacred, 637, 639.

Odo, bishop of Paris, forbids intercourse between Jews and Christians, 407.

Offices of honor, Jews excluded from, 502, 510, 513, 515, 521, 567, 569, 635.

Omar, bestows rewards on Jews and Christians, 89. captures Jerusalem, 87. "covenant" of, 87, 145. death of, 90. fanaticism of, 84 f. repelled by the Jews, 82. restrictions imposed by, on Jews and Christians, 87 f.

Omar II, bigotry of, 120.

Ommiyyades and Alides, 92, 100. caliphs of, 110. empire of, broken up into small principalities, 255 f. last, 125.

Opposition in history, its mission, 127.

Orleans, Council of, enacts severe measures against the Jews, 37.

Osius, bishop of Cordova, 44.

Othman, killed, 90.

Oxford, Council of, passes hostile resolutions against the Jews, 516.

Pablo Christiani, apostate, 597 ff. denounces the Talmud, 602. disputation of, with Nachmani, 597 ff. inspires action against the Jews, 612.

Pachda, exilarch, 3.

Palestine: captured by the Mongols, 606. condition of Jews of, 10, 427. conquest of, by the Arabs, promoted by Jews and Samaritans, 87. emigration of Jews to, 505 f. Jewish communities of, 427. Jewish congregations of, take up the cause of Maimonides, 633. Jews forbidden to build synagogues in, 10. Jews of, take up arms against Heraclius, 83. possessed by Christians, 11 f. subordinates itself to Babylonia, 100. under Christian rule, 341, 427.

Paltoi ben Abayi, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 177.

Parchon, Solomon ben Abraham, 423.

Paris, Council of, passes anti-Jewish measures, 40. Talmudic academy of, 586. Talmudic academy of, closed, 403.

Parliament, Jewish, in Worcester, 589.

Parnesé-ha-Keneset, 99.

Paul of Tarsus, 72.

Pauline Christianity, what it effected in Judaism, 127.

Pentateuch, system of reading of, in the synagogue, 444.

Persecutions of the Jews, influence of, on their mental condition, 512 f. spread of, 563.

Persia, captured by the Arabs, 86. communism of, 1 ff. Mongol kingdom, 637.

Persia, Jews of, 1-10. establish a small state, 4. persecuted, 2-4, 8, 89. rebel against Zendiks, 2 f.

Petachya, traveler, 421, 440.

Peter of Amiens, 297.

Peter of Clugny, rouses the crusaders against the Jews, 349 f.

Peter the Apostle and the Abodah, 115.

Philip III of France, bigotry of, 613.

Philip Augustus, extorts money from Jews and expels them, 402. massacres Jews, 404. receives Jews, 405 f., 498.

Physicians, Jewish, 583.

Philo's writings in favor with Christians, 162.

Phocas, treatment of the Jews by, 18.

"Pileum cornutum," 612.

Pilgrimages to graves, adopted by Jews, 440, 445.

Pinehas Ibn-Azura, Jewish opponent of Mahomet, 74, 76.

"Pirke Aboth," explained by Maimonides, 459.

"Piyutim," 117.

"Placitum Judæorum," 103.

Poetanic compositions, 114.

Poetanists, 114 ff.

Poetry, among the Arabs, 214. among the Spanish Jews, 58, 68 ff., 317. Neo-Hebraic. See Neo-Hebraic poetry. liturgic. See Liturgy.

Poitou, Jews of, persecuted, 573.

Poland, Jews of, take part in Talmudic learning, 421. commercial activity of, 613.

Polygamy among Jews, 244, 378.

Popes, toleration of, towards the Jews, 25, 29, 33. protect the Jews, 421.

Portugal, favorable condition of the Jews of, 617 f.

Posquières, Jewish congregation of, 399.

Prelates, moral condition of, 281.

Prince of the Captivity. See Exilarch.

Prophecy and prophets, 482 ff.

Proselytizing zeal of the Church, 25 f.

Provence, Jews of: culture of, 391. favorable condition of, 389 ff. Jew-badge of, 612 f. political relations of, 390.

Pumbeditha, school of, 92 f. center of Judaism in Babylonia, 183. closed, 8. contest about the office of the principal of, 154. extinction of, 254. independent of the exilarchate, 177. influence of, 160. position of the principal of, 94 ff. revenues of, 97 f. rises to importance, 202. under Haï Gaon, 225.

Purple manufactured by Jews, 425.

Pyrenean peninsula, condition of the Jews of, compared with that of those in other European countries, 618 f.

Rabaï of Rob, 5.

Rabba ben Ami, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 178.

Rabbanites, 134.

Rabbinical epochs in Spain, 273, 282.

Rabbinical synods, 376, 378, 517.

Rabbis and Christian prelates compared, 287.

Rabed II, 399.

Rambam. See Maimonides.

Ramban. See Nachmani.

Rameru, center of Talmudic studies, 403. Jewish congregation of, during the second crusade, 355.

Ramon Berengar IV, 387.

Rashba. See Solomon ben Adret.

Rashbam. See Samuel ben Meïr.

Rashi, 286-9. career of, 286. character of, 287. commentary of, on Talmud and Bible, characterized, 288. death of, 309 f. descendants of, 289, 345. descent of, 286. elucidates the Talmud, 288. grammatical erudition of, 289. liberal attitude of, toward compulsory converts, 308 f. Rabbi of Troyes, 287. works of disciples of, 444.

Rationalism in the East, 199.

Ratisbon, Jews of, during the crusades, 305. privileges of, 635.

Raymond de Penyaforte, Dominican General, fanaticism of, 519 f., 597, 601 f. arranges a religious disputation, 598. persecutes Nachmani, 604. proselytizing of, 621.

Raymund Martin, anti-Jewish writings of, 622.

Raymund Roger of Béziers, defeated by the crusaders, 502 f.

Raymund V of Toulouse, favors the Jews, 399.

Raymund VI of Toulouse, compelled by Innocent III to depose Jewish officers, 501 f. favors the Jews, 400.

Raymund VII of Toulouse, favors the Jews, 513 f.

Reccared oppresses the Jews, 46 f. edict of intolerance of, 34.

Receswinth, king of the Visigoths, persecutes the secret Jews, 102, 104.

Rechabites, 55.

Refraction of light, first noted, 146.

Resh Kalla or Rosh, 210 f.

Resh Galutha. See Exilarch.

Revival of science among the Arabs, 146. part taken in, by Jews, 146.

Rhabanus Maurus taught by Jews, 162 f.

Rhine district, origin of Jews of, 40 f.

Ri, 403.

Riba, Tossafist, 345.

Riban, Tossafist, 345.

Richard the Lion-hearted, first persecution of the Jews in England occurs at coronation of, 410 f. protects the Jews, 411. truce of, with Saladin, 405.

Rizba, 408.

Robert de Redingge, Dominican, converted to Judaism, 640 f.

Roderic, last of the Visigothic kings, 109.

Roger II, favorable to the Jews, 422 f.

"Rokeach," 517.

Roman empire, suffering of the Jews during calamities of, 27 f.

Rudolph, monk, instigates the people against the Jews during the second crusade, 351.

Rudolph of Habsburg, treatment of the Jews by, 634-40. extorts money from the Jews, 634. injustice of, to the Jews of Mayence, 636. prohibits Jewish emigration from Germany, 639. protects Jews, 635.

Rüdiger, bishop of Speyer, favorable to the Jews, 297 f.

Rurik, 222.

Russia, Jews of, take part in Talmudic studies, 421.

Russians, war of, with the Chazars, 221.

Ruta al Jahud, 42.

Ruthard, archbishop of Mayence, treachery of, against the Jews, 303.

Saad-Addaula, Jewish physician to Argun, Grand Khan of the Mongols, 638. minister of finance, 646 f. encourages learning, 648. executed, 649.

Saadiah Gaon, 187-202. career of, 188. combats rationalism, 199. conflict of, with the exilarch, 195 f. death of, 202. defends Judaism against Christianity and Islam, 199. deposed from the Gaonate, 196. "Emunoth we-Deoth," 197 f. endeavors to reconcile reason with Talmud and Bible, 190. excommunicated, 195. founder of scientific Judaism, 188, 197. Gaon of Sora, 193. idea of, of God, 189 f. inaugurates a new epoch of Jewish history, 187. magnanimity of, 201. personality of, 188. polemics of, against the Karaites, 189 ff. polemics of, against the Massora, 207. re-instated into the Gaonate, 200 f. retires to Bagdad, 196. translates the Bible into Arabic, 189 f. works of, 189 f., 192, 196 f.

Sabbataï ben Solomon of Rome, 630.

Sabureans (Saburaï), 6 f.

Safet, Jewish congregation of, takes the side of Maimonides, 633.

Safia, Jewess, captured by Mahomet, 83.

Sahal of Taberistan, Jewish physician and mathematician, 146.

Sahal, Abulsari, Karaite zealot, 203 f.

Saladin, conquers Egypt, 461. favorable to the Jews, 461. resists the Christians, 405. tolerance of, 474.

Salvatierra, Jewish community of, destroyed, 507.

Samaritans, 12 f. communities of, 427. help the Arabs to conquer Palestine, 87. insurrections of, 13, 16. massacre Christians, 16 f.

Samarkand, Jews of, 435.

Samson ben Abraham of Sens, 408. emigrates to Palestine, 505. narrowness of, 524. opponent of Maimonides, 505.

Samuel of Chateau-Thierry, 576.

Samuel ben Abraham Saporta, defender of Maimonides, 539, 543.

Samuel ben Ali Halevi, rabbi of Bagdad, 438 f. head of the opposition to Maimonides, 472, 475 ff., 525.

Samuel ben Chofni, last Gaon of Sora, 253.

Samuel ben Meïr, Tossafist and exegete, 345 f.

Samuel ben Solomon Sir Morel, Tossafist, 586.

Samuel Cohen ben David, head of the Talmudic school of Bagdad, 633.

Samuel Halevi, scientist at the court of Alfonso X and inventor of a water-clock, 594.

Samuel Ibn-Adiya, Jewish Arabian poet and chief, 68 ff. fidelity of, 69. poems of, 70.

Samuel Tam, Tossafist, 345.

Sar Shalom, head of the Jewish congregation of Ispahan, 434.

Saragossa, capital of Aragon, 387.

Saul, son of Anan, leader of the Karaites, 136.

Scepticism in the East, 199.

Schism in the Church, 614.

Scientific epoch in Jewish history, beginning of, 187 ff.

Seal of the exilarch, 89 f.

"Sechel ha-Poel," 480.

Secret Jews, control exercised over, 104, 107. treatment of, 101 ff.

"Seder ha-Kabbalah," 366.

"Sefiroth" (in the Kabbala), 551.

Semuna, principal of Pumbeditha, 56.

Serachya ben Isaac, 630.

Serachya Halevi Gerundi, 389.

Serene, false Messiah and leader of a movement against the Talmud, 120 f.

"Servi cameræ," 516, 520. original signification of, 356 f. legend about the origin of, 417. when the Jews were turned into, 416.

Sens, Jewish community of, 499.

Seville becomes the center of Jewish Spain, 284.

Shechem. See Neapolis.

"Shema," forbidden, 15.

Shemaria ben Elchanan, 208.

Shem-Tob of Tortosa, physician and writer on medicine, 582 f.

Shem-Tob Falaquera publishes a vindication of the "Guide of the Perplexed," 634.

Sherira, Gaon of Pumbeditha, 231-4. character of, 232. death of, 234. descent of, 232. imprisoned, 234. letter of, 232 f.

Shiites, 150.

Sicily, Jews of, 569. favorable condition of, 422.

"Siddur Rab Amram," 178.

Sigismund, ambassador of Charlemagne to Haroun Alrashid, 143.

Sigismund, king of Burgundy, oppresses the Jews, 37.

Silk manufacture by Jews, 425.

Simcha Cohen, martyr of Worms, 302.

Simon of Cairo, author of the "Halachoth Gedoloth," 179.

Simon ben Caipha, Neo-Hebraic poet, 115.

Simon ben Isaac ben Abun, poet, 245 f.

Simon bar Yochaï, connected with mysticism, 606. foretells the rise of Islam, 88 f.

Simon de Montfort, 508 f. leader of the crusade against the Albigenses, 502. persecutes the Jews of Toulouse, 513, 515.

Sinjar, Seljuk Sultan, encounter of, with the Jews, 434 f.

Sinzig, Jews of, burnt alive, 611.

Sisebut, 173. fanaticism of, 40. persecutes the Jews, 47 ff.

Sisenard, king of the Visigoths, persecutes the secret Jews, 49 ff.

Slave trade of the Jews, 28 f., 40, 142, 229, 305.

Solomon, exilarch, 128, 428.

Solomon of Tarascon, 612.

Solomon ben Abraham of Montpellier, opponent of Maimonides, 527 f., 536 f. invokes the Dominicans against the Maimunists, 542 f.

Solomon ben Abraham ben Adret, 609, 618-23. and David Maimuni, 620 f. attitude of, to Kabbala and philosophy, 619. character of, 619. converses with Christian theologians, 623. fame of, 620 f. polemical writings of, against Christianity and Islam, 623. standard-bearer of Judaism, 621.

Solomon ben Yerucham, Karaite champion, 206. opponent of Saadiah Gaon, 191.

Solomon Ibn-Gebirol. See Gebirol.

Solomon Petit, Kabbalist and fanatical anti-Maimunist, 626. in Accho, 627, 630 f.

Sophronius, bishop of Jerusalem, surrenders to Omar, 87.

Sora, academy of, 4 f., 92 f. closed, 8, 202. contest for the Gaonate, 156 f. decline of, 183, 202. extinction of, 253. position of principal of, 93 ff. regains its reputation, 186. regeneration of, under Saadiah Gaon, 193. revenues of, 97 f. strife with Pumbeditha, 183 ff.

Spain, Christian, 34, 43 f., 291, 361, 507, 592, 615, 618. Mahometan, 109 ff., 214 ff., 313 ff.

Spain, Jews of: admitted to high offices, 234 f., 256 ff., 312 f., 383 f. attain the highest development, 383 f. characteristics of, 235 f. center of Judaism, 42, 210, 228 f., 254, 618. confer names upon localities, 42. culture of, 234 f. enjoy toleration, 44 f. faithful to their religion, 236. first persecution of, 278, 281. first rabbinical epoch of, 273. founders of culture of, 215. friendly intercourse of, with Christians, 43 f. importance of history of, 41. impoverished, 121. intermarriage of, with Christians, 44. nobility of, 43, 235 f. partisans, 317. persecuted, 360. prosperity of, 214, 229. rabbis of, characterized, 609. second rabbinical epoch of, 288. settlement of, 34 f., 42 f. support the Mahometan conquest, 109.

Speyer, Jews of, during the crusades, 301. privileges of, 297 f.

Stamford, Jews of, maltreated, 412.

Stephanus, governor of Palestine, killed by the Samaritans, 16 f.

Stephen, king of England, protects the Jews during the second crusade, 356.

Stephen Langton, enemy of the Jews, 516.

St. Gilles, Jewish congregation of, 399.

Sunna (Mahometan tradition), 110.

Superstition among Jews and Christians, 546.

Susa (Tuster), Jewish congregation of, 434 f.

Süsskind (Süzkint) of Trimberg, Jewish German poet, 420.

Suwailin, plots against Mahomet, 84.

Sviatislaw, conquers the kingdom of the Chazars, 222.

Swintila, king of the Visigoths, dethroned, 49. tolerant to the Jews, 49.

"Synhedrion, the great and the smaller," 96.

Synods of the Church. See Councils of the Church.

Synods, rabbinical, 376, 377 f., 517.

Syrian Christians render scientific literature accessible to the Arabs, 111.

"Tables of Alfonso," 594.

"Tachkemoni," 318. of Alcharisi, 559.

Talmud: attitude of the Arabic Jews toward, 119 f. causes suffering to the Jews, 573 f. committed to writing, 6. confiscated and burnt, 579. degeneracy of study of, 128. effect of condemnation of, by the Church, 579. movement against, 124, 127 ff. persecuted, 573-9. put on trial in Aragon, 602. stagnation of the development of, 5. study of, becomes the center of Jewish life, 571 f. subjected to censorship, 602 f. supplants the Bible, 128, 317.

Talmud, Babylonian, authority of, 118 f. Jerusalem, studied, 249.

Talmud, copies of, transferred from Sora to Spain, 203.

Talmudic Judaism abandoned by a part of the Jews, 120-2.

Talmudic lexicography, 179.

Talmudic schools: aim of, 6. closed, 8. lack of creative power of, 5 f. literary activity of, 180. of Cordova, 210. of Egypt, 210. of Kairuan, 248 f. of Narbonne, 143, 242. of Paris, 586. of Tiberias, 12.

Talmudic studies: in Bohemia 420 f. in France, 344 ff., 408. in Germany, 419. in Italy, 421. in Spain, 227 ff., 282.

Talmudic teachers have to flee, 4, 8.

Tarik, the Mahometan conqueror of Spain, 109.

Tax, Jewish. See Jew-tax and Tithe.

Ten, importance of the number in the Kabbala, 552.

"The History of the Maccabees," 180.

Theobald, Count of Chartres, part taken by, in the first blood accusation, 379 f.

Theodatus, supported by the Jews, 31.

Theodoric, attitude of, towards the Jews, 29 f.

Theodosius II, 26. laws of, against the Jews, 10, 28 f., 171.

Thomas à Becket, kindles fanaticism against the Jews, 409.

Tiberias, Jews of, driven out by Omar, 87. school of, 12.

Tiberius, emperor, 18.

Tiflisites, Karaite sect, 158.

Tithe, paid by Jews, 499, 516, 518, 582.

Toledo, 384. center of Jewish learning, 361. confession signed by the Jews of, 103 f. conquered by Alfonso VI, 294 f. Council of, passes decrees against secret Jews, 49 ff., 102. culture of the Jews of, 386. delivered by the Jews to the Mahometans, 109. Jewish congregation of, at the head of Spain, 537. number of Jews in, 384. riot against the Jews of, 386. Talmudic school of, 362.

Torah, distinguishing character of, 484 f.

Tossafists, 344-6, 403 f., 408, 470. last, 587. method of, 344. one-sidedness of, 529.

"Tossafoth," old, 404.

Toulouse, Jews of, 399 f. indignities suffered by, 174.

Tovey on the Jews, 642.

Treves during the crusades, 300.

Troyes, rabbinical synod of, 378.

Tudela, Jews of, obtain equal rights with the Christians, 388.

Tuster. See Susa.

Ubaid-Allah Ibn-Suleiman, vizir, favors the Jews, 183. founder of the Fatimide dynasty, 180 f.

Unitarians among Mahometans, 358.

Usury of Jews and Christians, 399, 401, 510, 571, 642.

Vandals conquered by Belisarius, 26.

Vannes, Council of, forbids the clergy to attend Jewish banquets, 36.

Venantius Fortunatus, 39.

Vessels of the Temple transported from Carthage to Constantinople and Jerusalem, 26 f.

Vienna, Council of, degrades the Jews, 611 f. Jews of, excluded from offices, 635.

Visigoths: constitution of, 47. treatment of Jews by, 44 f., 101.

Vizirs, Jewish, 256 ff., 274, 280, 312.

Vowel-points, introduction of, 7, 112, 207.

Wadil-Kora (Arabia), Jews of, 55 f. driven out by Omar, 85.

Walid I, 110.

Walter, archbishop of Sens, intercedes in behalf of the Jews and the Talmud, 578.

Walter von der Vogelweide, 420.

Wamba, king of the Visigoths, deposed, 104-6.

Waraka Ibn-Naufal and Mahomet, 71.

Wecelinus, convert to Judaism, 245 f.

Werner, archbishop of Mayence, protects the Jews, 636.

William II, of Sicily, favorable to the Jews, 422 f.

William the Conqueror, imposes restrictions on the Jews, 294.

Wimpfen, ransoms the body of Meïr of Rothenburg, 640.

Witiga, king of the Visigoths, 109.

Wolfram of Eschenbach, 420.

Worms, during the crusades, 301. Jews of, favored by Henry IV, 293.

Wratislaw, ruler of Bohemia, extorts money from the Jews, 307 f.

Würzburg, Jewish martyrs of, 354.

Xeres, battle of, 109.

Yathrib (Medina), seat of Jewish learning, 59.

Yechiel of Paris, disputation of, with Nicholas Donin, 576 f., 598 f. emigrates to Palestine, 587. head of the Talmudic school of Paris, 586.

Yechiel ben Abraham, financier of pope Alexander III, 421.

"Yekum Purkan," 95.

Yekutiel Ibn-Hassan, head of the Jews in Saragossa, 266. friend of Gebirol, 266. killed, 266.

Yemen, benevolence of the Jews of, 436. Maimonides' letter to, 462-4.

Yezid I, 110.

Yishaï ben Chiskiyah, exilarch of Damascus, defends Maimonides, 627, 632.

Yizchaki ben Yasus, Biblical critic, 273.

Yizchaki Solomon. See Rashi.

Yom Tob of Joigny, 414.

York, Jews of, exterminated, 413-16.

Zaccaï ben Achunaï, exilarch, 137.

Zainab, Jewess, captured by Mahomet, 83 f.

Zedekiah, Jewish physician to Charles the Bald, 170.

Zendik, 2.

Zenki, father of Nureddin, 429.

Zeno, emperor, hatred of, against the Jews, 10 f.

Ziadeth-Allah, Aghlabite prince, 180.

Zorah Yussuf, Jewish king in Arabia, 64. intolerance of, 65.

Transcriber's Notes:

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Inconsistent use of small-caps and Proper caps in names unchanged.

Inconsistent use of periods after Regnal numbers not changed.

Footnotes moved from bottoms of pages to the end of the text, just before the Index.

The Index was not checked for correct page references.

Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.

Pages v, 231: Chapter summaries refer to "Samuel bar Chofni," but all occurrences in the body of the text and in the Index are to "Samuel ben Chofni".

Page 146: "His son Abu-Sahal Ali (835-853)" date range seems to be too short.

Page 648: Missing closing quotation mark added after 'and to sustain our hope.'

Page 654: Alphabetization sequence error corrected.

Page 664: "Judaism: d philosophy" was printed that way in the original.

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