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Anti-Semitism in Medieval England: Some Problems and Questions Regarding Histories of Religious Conflict
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Bale's talk provided an overall historical framework and a case study depicting a Jew in a medieval English story. |
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On the 31st of October, Dr Anthony Bale of Birkbeck College, London, presented a lunch-hour seminar entitled Anti-Semitism in Medieval England: Some Problems and Questions Regarding Histories of Religious Conflict. The talk provided an overview of Bale’s overall historical framework and a case study depicting a Jew in a medieval English story.
Bale began his talk by explaining his interest in the way that Judaism was described and constructed by medieval English people, and how it has affected the Jewish experience in England. Bale’s particular research focuses on the period between 1350 and 1500, a period that reveals a unique and interesting aspect of religious conflict.
Bale said that there is a widely held belief that anti-Semitism or anti-Muslim discourse inevitably leads to real violence, directed at people and politics – an approach that sees verbal violence as a precursor to real violence. Bale, however, suggests that there is evidence from medieval England that shows that this is not always necessarily the case.
He quoted German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt who stated, “that the Jews are the source of anti-Semitism is a malicious and stupid insight of anti-Semites.” Despite this stance, Bale said, Arendt takes it for granted that the Jews are the target of anti-Semitism. Exploring this concept further, Bale explained what he believes the target of anti-Semitism might be, using examples from medieval England.
The English Jewish community, Bale explained, arrived in 1066 with the Normans. “The language of the Jewish community was French, they identified with French and German culture and their intellectual basis was in France, not England.” The Jewish community at this time numbered a few hundred or a few thousand, and played a regular role in English urban life. In 1189, however, at Richard I’s coronation, members of the Jewish community were attacked, marking the beginning of a downturn of the Jewish community in England. By 1290 all Jews had been expelled from England, the first time that they had been expelled from a particular territory in an efficient and complete way.
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The audience consisted of AKU-ISMC faculty and students, and guests of the Institute. |
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“England,” Bale explained, “offers a unique scenario because between 1290 and the 17th century – a period of just over 400 years – there are no Jews. England goes from having a Jewish community to a total absence of Jews.” Despite the disappearance of the Jewish community in England, Judaism remained an important feature of medieval art, culture, literature and music. In fact, Bale said, an absence of a Jewish community actually led to a proliferation of images of Judaism – often highly violent and what we would now consider to be anti-Semitic.
Bale introduced an example of Judaism appearing in a 14th century story, exploring the implications of anti-Semitic depictions of Jews in a community where none existed. “This story, which circulates from the 14th century, tells of a Jew in Tewkesbury who fell into the latrine on a Saturday but would not permit himself to be extracted, out of reverence for his Sabbath ... on the following day the Count of Gloucester, Richard of Clair, would not permit him to be extracted on the Sunday, his Sabbath.”
Bale explained that this story appeared everywhere in medieval England, and across Europe. The story, Bale said, obviously does not represent a clear altercation or witnessed event between a Jew and a Christian, but rewrites Old Testament convictions related to the Sabbath – looking at Jewish injunctions about working on the Sabbath through a Christian lens. Bale explained that this story of the Jew at Tewkesbury is a Christian judgement of a perceived faulty Jewish characteristic of literalism – that Jews take the biblical law literally rather than the spirit of the law as Christians do.
Despite this, Bale explained, the story actually reflects the closeness of the Jew and Christian – succinctly expressing that they both speak in the same tongue and respond to the same logic. “The joke, it seems, is at the expense of both parties … and rather than separating Christian and Jew, it represents closeness and similarity between them and an identical impulse.” The striking point about this story, Bale explained, is the fact that while the reader is given no details as to what the Jew is doing in the latrine or who he is, we are given the identity of the Christian – indicating that his judgement marks him out as a good Christian.
Bale sees the story of the Jew of Tewkesbury as an explanation of doctrine and death, law and sacrifice and martyrdom. In this way, Bale said, the story asks the question – should one give one’s life for one’s faith? The Jew in this story, according to Bale, is actually a kind of Christian – a projection that enables Christian writers to face their own controversies, and project them onto foreign bodies.
By not labelling the story of the Jew of Tewkesbury anti-Semitic, Bale hopes to enable readers to derive meaning from the story within its own historical context. In classifying this kind of story as anti-Semitic, Bale said, we are passing judgement and initiating an intellectual relationship with others who, at the time, may not have known seen the story in the same way.
Bale expressed his interest in this kind of text as a fantasy that talks about conflict and debate. “This is a stimulus for the Christian imagination – the Jews as an historical community are quickly lost. This text says nothing about Judaism or the Jewish experience. We should remember that this Jew is not really Jewish at all – saving one’s own or another’s life doesn’t defile the Sabbath.”
All texts from this post-expulsion medieval era, Bale explained, are united by a fundamental concern of religion, used to forge a sense of belonging. The Jews were nowhere to be found in medieval England, and yet the Jew was everywhere.
Bale noted that anti-Semitism is, in his view, a redundant category for this type of material and to label it so is to misunderstand or misuse the idea. The Jew’s action in this story, Bale argues, is actually enabling and familiar, and the Jew within such a text is well known, intimate and companionable. In conclusion, Bale stated that the most useful response to this kind of text is to attempt to comprehend how useful these things were and what they might have meant in their various meanings rather than labelling them as anti-Semitic or offensive.
External Links*
Online Resources**
- To listen to a recording (wma) of the seminar, please click here
- To download a full transcript the seminar please click here
* Links to sites does not imply endorsement of the contents of those sites.
** This recording and transcript is the property of Aga Khan University (International) in the United Kingdom. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, or otherwise use this recording in any way except for your own educational or personal non-commercial use. The views expressed by the speakers are their own personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute.
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