Overview
- Volume II available here: https://www.palgrave.com/9783319341859
- Illuminates how changes in Jewish history change our understanding of European history
- Refutes the narrative of the Jewish moneylender with an in-depth economic study of the Jewish community in medieval Europe
- Offers a novel interpretation of central topics, such as the usury debate, commercial contracts, and moral literature on money and value
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History (CIH)
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Modern History and Medieval Narratives
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Some Facts: Merry Old England
Keywords
About this book
This book challenges a common historical narrative, which portrays medieval Jews as moneylenders who filled an essential economic role in Europe. It traces how and why this narrative was constructed as a philosemitic narrative in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in response to the rise of political antisemitism. This book also documents why it is a myth for medieval Europe, and illuminates how changes in Jewish history change our understanding of European history. Each chapter offers a novel interpretation of central topics, such as the usury debate, commercial contracts, and moral literature on money and value to demonstrate how the revision of Jewish history leads to new insights in European history.
Reviews
“This book stimulates thought and reflection on the nature of the historical thinking and the need for critical thought. Students and researchers embarking on studies of medieval Ashkenazic Jewry or of modern images of the medieval Jewish past would be well advised to read this at an early stage of their work. It is brave, original, and enlightening.” (Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 44 (4), 2018)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Julie Mell is an Assistant Professor of History and North Carolina State University.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Myth of the Medieval Jewish Moneylender
Book Subtitle: Volume I
Authors: Julie L. Mell
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39778-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-39776-8Published: 03 October 2017
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-39778-2Published: 14 October 2017
Series ISSN: 2945-6630
Series E-ISSN: 2945-6649
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIX, 336
Number of Illustrations: 24 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of Medieval Europe, Labor History, Social History