In the late sixteenth century, after the expulsions of the Middle Ages, the Jews of western and central Europe came to enjoy a period of relative stability. This book describes how they set about restoring old communities and creating new centres in the Hapsburg Empire, France, England and the German states. Sephardi Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal, were pioneers in the emergence of Hamburg, Amsterdam, London and Bordeaux as key-points in the Atlantic economy. Tension and friction everywhere accompanied these achievements, both inside the Jewish communities and in their relationship to the Christian world. Rich Jews and poor Jews had conflicting interests and their struggle inside the communities sometimes led to a breakdown of communal discipline. In seventeenth-century Prague, for example, this was on such a scale that the emperors had to intervene to restore harmony. The book ends with the troubled Jewish response to the nineteenth-century world of political freedom, intellectual challenge and anti-semitism.
'One of the most significant Jewish historians since the Second World War. The Making of Western Jewry uses a staggering variety of sources to analyse and to bring to life the workings of Jewish kehillot in Germany, Holland, Italy and Britain. This work will probably be influential for many years and will not only establish his lasting reputation but also encourage other scholars to imitate his demanding but extremely rewarding approach.' - Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, The Independent
'Lionel Kochan is one of Britain's neglected academic treasures...his erudition and linguistic range is staggering. Now he has poured decades of accumulated knowledge into this, his magnum opus...Kochan analyses Jewish society with pitiless clarity... while soaked in an appreciation of Jewish tradition, he has given us an unapologetically modern history of the Jews. ' - David Cesarani, Times Higher Education Supplement
Introduction
Central Europe in Peace and War 1600-1648
'A Little Jerusalem' and 'A Great Jerusalem'
On French Soil
Resettlement in London
At Peace in the Post-War World
Prague and Bohemia: From Recovery to Reduction
Early Decades in Brandenburg-Prussia: The Last Resettlement
Amsterdam, from Turmoil to Decline
In London
Expulsion from Prague (1745-48)
The Old and the New Kehillah
'Jerusalem' in Berlin
On the Eve, in France
The Rabbi and the Emperor
Revolution and War, 1789-1805
Beyond the Rhine and Over the Alps
Another Rabbi, Another Emperor
From Paris to Vienna
Epilogue: 1819
Glossary
Abbreviations
Index
LIONEL KOCHAN was formerly Bearsted Reader in Jewish History at the University of Warwick, UK. In retirement, he became a research associate of Manchester University, a member of Wolfson College, Oxford and senior associate of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and a visiting fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1991-92). One of Britain's leading experts on the history of Central and Eastern Europe, he died on September 25, 2005.
Description
In the late sixteenth century, after the expulsions of the Middle Ages, the Jews of western and central Europe came to enjoy a period of relative stability. This book describes how they set about restoring old communities and creating new centres in the Hapsburg Empire, France, England and the German states. Sephardi Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal, were pioneers in the emergence of Hamburg, Amsterdam, London and Bordeaux as key-points in the Atlantic economy. Tension and friction everywhere accompanied these achievements, both inside the Jewish communities and in their relationship to the Christian world. Rich Jews and poor Jews had conflicting interests and their struggle inside the communities sometimes led to a breakdown of communal discipline. In seventeenth-century Prague, for example, this was on such a scale that the emperors had to intervene to restore harmony. The book ends with the troubled Jewish response to the nineteenth-century world of political freedom, intellectual challenge and anti-semitism.
Reviews
'One of the most significant Jewish historians since the Second World War. The Making of Western Jewry uses a staggering variety of sources to analyse and to bring to life the workings of Jewish kehillot in Germany, Holland, Italy and Britain. This work will probably be influential for many years and will not only establish his lasting reputation but also encourage other scholars to imitate his demanding but extremely rewarding approach.' - Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, The Independent
'Lionel Kochan is one of Britain's neglected academic treasures...his erudition and linguistic range is staggering. Now he has poured decades of accumulated knowledge into this, his magnum opus...Kochan analyses Jewish society with pitiless clarity... while soaked in an appreciation of Jewish tradition, he has given us an unapologetically modern history of the Jews. ' - David Cesarani, Times Higher Education Supplement
Contents
Introduction
Central Europe in Peace and War 1600-1648
'A Little Jerusalem' and 'A Great Jerusalem'
On French Soil
Resettlement in London
At Peace in the Post-War World
Prague and Bohemia: From Recovery to Reduction
Early Decades in Brandenburg-Prussia: The Last Resettlement
Amsterdam, from Turmoil to Decline
In London
Expulsion from Prague (1745-48)
The Old and the New Kehillah
'Jerusalem' in Berlin
On the Eve, in France
The Rabbi and the Emperor
Revolution and War, 1789-1805
Beyond the Rhine and Over the Alps
Another Rabbi, Another Emperor
From Paris to Vienna
Epilogue: 1819
Glossary
Abbreviations
Index
Authors
LIONEL KOCHAN was formerly Bearsted Reader in Jewish History at the University of Warwick, UK. In retirement, he became a research associate of Manchester University, a member of Wolfson College, Oxford and senior associate of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and a visiting fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1991-92). One of Britain's leading experts on the history of Central and Eastern Europe, he died on September 25, 2005.
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