Book description
In 1341 in Aragon, a Jewish convert to Christianity was sentenced to
death, only to be pulled from the burning stake and into a formal
religious interrogation. His confession was as astonishing to his
inquisitors as his brush with mortality is to us: the condemned man
described a Jewish conspiracy to persuade recent converts to denounce
their newfound Christian faith. His claims were corroborated by
witnesses and became the catalyst for a series of trials that unfolded
over the course of the next twenty months. Between Christian and
Jew closely analyzes these events, which Paola Tartakoff considers
paradigmatic of inquisitorial proceedings against Jews in the period.
The trials also serve as the backbone of her nuanced consideration of
Jewish conversion to Christianity-and the unwelcoming Christian
response to Jewish conversions-during a period that is usually
celebrated as a time of relative interfaith harmony.
The book lays bare the intensity of the mutual hostility between
Christians and Jews in medieval Spain. Tartakoff's research reveals
that the majority of Jewish converts of the period turned to baptism
in order to escape personal difficulties, such as poverty, conflict
with other Jews, or unhappy marriages. They often met with a chilly
reception from their new Christian brethren, making it difficult to
integrate into Christian society. Tartakoff explores Jewish antagonism
toward Christians and Christianity by examining the aims and
techniques of Jews who sought to re-Judaize apostates as well as the
Jewish responses to inquisitorial prosecution during an actual
investigation. Prosecutions such as the 1341 trial were understood by
papal inquisitors to be in defense of Christianity against perceived
Jewish attacks, although Tartakoff shows that Christian fears about
Jewish hostility were often exaggerated. Drawing together the accounts
of Jews, Jewish converts, and inquisitors, this cultural history
offers a broad study of interfaith relations in medieval Iberia.
"An outstanding book and a compelling read, this is the first
thorough account of a trial of Jews by the papal inquisition, under
whose jurisdiction Jews did not normally fall. This is also the first
work to attempt an overview of the phenomenon of Jewish conversion to
Christianity in medieval Spain prior to the watershed of 1391, and
Tartakoff's conclusions regarding the motives for conversion are very
important."-Mark Meyerson, University of Toronto
Paola Tartakoff teaches history and Jewish studies at Rutgers
University.
