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{{Jews and Judaism sidebar |History}}

[[Jewish history]] in the [[Middle Ages]] covers the period from the 5th to the 15th century. During the course of this period, the [[Historical Jewish population comparisons|Jewish population]] gradually shifted from the [[Mediterranean Basin]] to [[Eastern Europe]].

Historically, [[Jews]] are believed to have originated from the [[Israelite]] tribes of the [[Land of Israel]].<ref name="WhoAreTheJews">{{cite web|url=http://ftp.beitberl.ac.il/~bbsite/misc/ezer_anglit/klali/05_123.pdf|title=Who are the Jews?|year=1993|author=Jared Diamond|accessdate=November 8, 2010}} Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12-19.</ref><ref name="pnas.org">{{cite journal|title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/97/12/6769.full|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=97|issue=12|pages=6769–6774|doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997|accessdate=11 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="nytimes-chromosome-study">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/09/science/y-chromosome-bears-witness-to-story-of-the-jewish-diaspora.html|title=Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of the Jewish Diaspora|last=Wade|first=Nicholas|date=9 May 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=10 October 2012}}</ref><ref name="tony-frudakis-book">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=9vXeydpj7VkC&pg=PA383&dq=ashkenazi+jews+middle+eastern+origin+bronze+age#v=onepage&q=ashkenazi%20jews%20middle%20eastern%20origin%20bronze%20age&f=false|title=Molecular photofitting : predicting ancestry and phenotype using DNA|last=Shriver|first=Tony N. Frudakis ; with a chapter 1 introduction by Mark D.|publisher=Elsevier/Academic Press|year=2008|isbn=9780120884926|location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Their first migration to Europe began when large numbers of them moved to Italy, France, and Germany in the early 4th century.<ref name="museenkoeln">{{cite web|url=http://www.museenkoeln.de/archaeologische-zone/default.asp?s=4303#top|title=Already during Roman times, Jews resided in Cologne|work=Archäologische Zone Jüdisches Museum|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=CZKt1Y5cT5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Jews+Among+Pagans+and+Christians+in+the+Roman+Empire#v=snippet&q=AD%20321&f=false|title=The Jews Among Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9781135081881|page=117|author1=Judith Lieu|author2=John North|author3=Tessa Rajak}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juedischesfrankfurtvirtuell.de/en/en_A.php|title=A Jewish beginnings|work=juedischesfrankfurtvirtuell.de|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref> Afterwards, due to various [[pogrom]]s that took place during the early Middle Ages, they fled mostly to Poland and Lithuania, and from there spread over the rest of Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.co.il/books?id=K2DgBdSCQnsC&dq=b+weinryb+the+jews+of+poland+a+socio+economic+history&source=gbs_navlinks_s|title=The Jews of Poland|work=Bernard Dov Weinryb|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/ccr/woodworth/woodworth_Yiddish_Jan2010.pdf|title=Where Did the East European Jews Come From?|last=CHERIE WOODWORTH|publisher=Yale University|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref> These European Jews later came to be known as [[Ashkenazi Jews]].

==From the fall of Rome to the Late Middle Ages (500-1500)==

===Church laws in the Early Middle Ages===

By the 10th century, most of Europe was under the rule of Christian monarchs who made Christianity the official religion of their realms. In the seriously diminished [[Roman Empire|Roman or Byzantine Empire]], Christianity had been [[state church of the Roman Empire|the state church]] since the 380 [[Edict of Thessalonica]]. This, however, left a privileged niche for Jews in the new order. The Church forbade Christians from charging interest to fellow Christians; therefore the only source of loans were non-Christians such as Jews. While this status did not always lead to peaceful conditions for the Jewish people, they were the most compatible{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} non-Christians for the position due to their shared devotion to the same [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic God]] that the Christians worshiped. While many Jews rose to prominence in these times, Judaism was mostly practiced in private to avoid persecution. This period was mostly one of insecurity and brutality against the Jewish people. The descendants of the survivors of this period, the [[Ashkenazi Jews]], still commemorate some of the more memorable tragedies of this period in their liturgy.

Their fate in each particular country depended on the changing political conditions. In Italy (see [[History of the Jews in Italy]]) they experienced difficult days during the wars waged by the [[Heruli]], [[Rugii]], [[Ostrogoths]], and [[Lombards]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} The severe laws of the Roman emperors were, in general, more mildly administered than elsewhere{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}}; the [[Arianism|Arian confession]], of which the Germanic conquerors of Italy were adherents, was characterized by its tolerance.

On the [[Iberian peninsula]], Jews lived under the governments of first the Romans and subsequently the Germanic Visigoths where they at first thrived, being treated much the same as their non-Jewish neighbors{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}}. This status under the Visigoths came to a sudden end after the Visigothic king Reccared embraced Catholicism and his successors attempted to convert their subjects.{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} Many Jews yielded to these forced conversions{{Peacock term|date=February 2016}} in secret hope that the severe measures would be of short duration.{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} But they soon bitterly{{peacock term|date=March 2016}} repented this hasty step; Visigothic legislation insisted with inexorable severity{{peacock term|date=March 2016}} that those who had been baptized by force{{Peacock term|date=February 2016}}{{Lopsided|date=February 2016}} must remain true to the Christian faith.{{Citation needed|date=February 2016}} Consequently, the Jews eagerly welcomed{{Peacock term|date=February 2016}}{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} the Islamic forces when the latter conquered the peninsula in 711 (see [[Islam and Judaism]]).

In other parts of western Europe, Jews who wished to remain true to the faith of their fathers were protected by the Church itself from compulsory conversion. There was no change in this policy even later, when the [[Pope]] called for the support of the [[Carolingians]] in protecting his ideal kingdom with their temporal power. [[Charlemagne]], moreover, was glad to use the Church for the purpose of welding together the loosely connected elements of his kingdom when he transformed part of the old Roman empire into a new Christian one, and united under the imperial crown all the German races at that time firmly settled (see [[History of the Jews in Germany]]). Years after his death, in 843, his empire fell apart, and the rulers of Italy, France, and Germany were more attentive to the Church's desires in the making of laws dealing with the Jews.

===Visigoth rule===
In 610, [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] ruler [[Sisebut]] prohibited Judaism after several anti-Jewish [[edict]]s were ignored, exiling Jews to return to Byzantine Spain under Sisebut's successor. In [[Suintila]], Persian general [[Romizanes]] captured [[Jerusalem]], allowing Jews to run the city. At this time, approximately 150,000 Jews were living in 43 settlements in the [[Land of Israel]]. Although Chintilla decreed that only Catholics were permitted to live in Visigothic Spain, many Jews continued to live there. In 638, the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem took place, and [[Erwig|King Erwig]] oppressed the Jews by making it illegal to practice any Jewish rites and pressing for the conversion or emigration of the remaining Jews.<ref name=jvl-jewish-history>{{cite web|title=Timeline for the History of Judaism - Medieval Period in the West|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/timeline.html|work=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref>

In 691 there was the first account of Jews in [[England]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} and a few years later Jews helped Muslim invaders capture Spain, ending Visigoth's rule and beginning a 150-year period of relative peace, in which they were free to study and practice religion as they wished. In the wake of a narrow military defeat over Muslim forces, [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] of [[Constantinople]] decided his nation's weakness lay in its heterogeneous population and began the forcible conversion of the Jews, as well as the [[New Christians]]. However, some were able to secretly continue their Jewish practices. In 1040, [[Rashi]] was born, and in the wake of the [[Norman conquest of England]], Jews left Normandy to settle in London and other cities such as York, Norwich, Oxford, Bristol and Lincoln, where [[Pope Gregory VII]] prohibited Jews from holding offices in Christendom. Iban Iashufin, the King of the Almoravides, captured Granada<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |title=Granada |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6855-granada |accessdate=August 12, 2012 |year=1906}}</ref> and destroyed the Jewish community, as the survivors fled to [[Kingdom of Toledo|Toledo]].<ref name="weiner">[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sephardim.html Sephardim] by Rebecca Weiner.</ref> In 1095, Henry IV of Germany granted the Jews favorable conditions and issued a charter to the Jews and a decree against forced [[baptism]]. In 1171, after the birth of [[Rambam]], Jews were accused of committing [[ritual murder]] and [[blood libel]] in the town of [[Blois]]. The adult Jews of the city were arrested and most were executed after refusing to convert. In 1210, a group of 300 French and English rabbis made [[aliyah]] and settled in Israel.

===Sicut Judaeis===
{{main|Sicut Judaeis}}
Sicut Judaeis (the "Constitution for the Jews") was the official position of the papacy regarding Jews throughout the Middle Ages and later. The first bill was issued in about 1120 by [[Calixtus II]], intended to protect Jews who suffered during the [[First Crusade]], and was reaffirmed by many popes, even until the 15th century. The bill forbade, besides other things, Christians from forcing Jews to convert, or to harm them, or to take their property, or to disturb the celebration of their festivals, or to interfere with their cemeteries, on pain of excommunication.<ref>[[Herbert Thurston|Thurston, Herbert]] (1912). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14761a.htm "History of Toleration"] in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Accessed 12 July 2013.</ref>

===Tosaphist period===
In the following years, the Church's [[Fourth Lateran Council]] decreed that Jews be differentiated from others by their type of clothing to avoid intercourse between Jews and Christians. Jews were sometimes required to wear a badge or a [[Jewish hat|pointed hat]]. Christian theologians began calling for the slavery of all Jews. In 1229 [[King Henry III of England]] forced Jews to pay half the value of their property in taxes, following burning of the [[Talmud]] in Paris and the [[Tartars]]' capture of Jerusalem.<ref name=SKatz/> During the [[Fatimid]] period, many Jewish officials served in the regime.<ref name=SKatz>{{cite web |url=http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~samuel/presence.html |title=Continuous Jewish Presence in the Holy Land |author=Joseph E. Katz |year=2001 |publisher=EretzYisroel.Org |accessdate=August 12, 2012}}</ref> King Henry III of England ordered Jewish worship in synagogue to be held quietly so that Christians passing by would not have to hear it, giving an order that Jews may not employ Christian nurses or maids, nor may any Jew prevent another from converting to Christianity. A few years later, French King [[Louis IX]] expelled the Jews from France, ending the Tosaphists period. Most Jews went to Germany and further east.<ref name=jvl-jewish-history/>

===Immigration to Germany===
In 1267, the Vienna city council forced Jews to wear the [[Pileum cornutum]] in addition to the badge Jews were forced to wear. Later in the century, a blood libel in Munich resulted in the deaths of 68 Jews, and an additional 180 Jews were burned alive at the synagogue, following another mob in [[Oberwesel]], Germany. In 1290, owing political pressure, English [[King Edward I]] expelled the Jews from England. They were only allowed to take what they could carry and most went to France, paying for their passage only to be robbed and cast overboard by the ship captains.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}} [[Philip IV of France|Philip IV]] ordered all Jews expelled from France, with their property to be sold at public auction, and some 125,000 Jews were forced to leave. Similar to accusations made during the [[Black Plague]], Jews were accused of encouraging [[lepers]] to poison Christian wells in France. An estimated five thousand Jews were killed before the king, [[Philip the Tall]], admitted the Jews were innocent. Then, [[Charles IV of France|Charles IV]] expelled all French Jews without the one-year period he had promised them, as much of Europe blamed the Black Plague on the Jews and tortured them so they would confess that they poisoned the wells. Despite the pleas of innocence of [[Pope Clement VI]], the accusations resulted in the destruction of over 60 large and 150 small Jewish communities.<ref name=jvl-jewish-history/>

In 1348, hundreds of Jews were burned and many were baptized in [[Basel]].<ref>{{cite news|title=This Week in History: The Jews of Basel are burnt|url=http://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/This-Week-in-History-The-Jews-of-Basel-are-burnt|accessdate=21 December 2013|newspaper=Jpost}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE|url=http://www.ffst.hr/_download/repository/The_Black_Death_and_the_Jews_1348.pdf|publisher=www.ffst.hr|accessdate=21 December 2013}}</ref> The city's Christian residents converted the synagogue into a church and destroyed the Jewish cemetery there. Pope Clement VI issued an edict repudiating the libel against Jews, saying that they too were suffering from the Plague. In 1385, [[Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia|German Emperor Wenceslaus]] arrested Jews living in the [[Swabian League]], a group of free cities in Germany, and confiscated their books. Later, he expelled the Jews of Strassburg after a community debate. 1391, [[Ferrand Martinez]], archdeacon of Ecija, began a campaign against Spanish Jewry, killing over 10,000 and destroying the Jewish quarter in Barcelona.<ref>{{cite web|title=MARTINEZ, FERRAND|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10442-martinez-ferrand|work=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]|accessdate=21 December 2013}}</ref> The campaign quickly spread throughout Spain, except for Granada, and destroyed Jewish communities in Valencia and Palma De Majorca. King Pedro I ordered Spain not to harm the remaining Jews and that synagogues not be converted into churches. He then announced his compliance with the Bull of Pope Boniface IX, protecting Jews from baptism. He extended this edict to Spanish Jewish refugees. [[Antipope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]] banned the study of the Talmud in any form, as institutes forced Christian sermons and tried to restrict Jewish life completely, and a few years later Pope Martin V favorably reinstated old privileges of the Jews.<ref>{{cite web|title=Middle East Information Center |url=http://www.middleeastinfo.org/library/chronology_start.htm |accessdate=21 December 2013 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105021303/http://middleeastinfo.org/library/chronology_start.htm |archivedate=5 January 2012 |df= }}</ref> After more Jews were expelled from France, some remained in [[Provence]] until 1500. In 1422, Pope Martin V issued a bull reminding Christians that Christianity was derived from [[Judaism]] and warned the Friars not to incite against the Jews, but the Bull was withdrawn the following year. By the end of the [[15th Century]], the [[Inquisition]] was established in Spain. Around 1500, Jews found relative security and a renewal of prosperity in present-day [[Poland]].<ref name="Cantor">Norman F. Cantor, ''The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era'', Free Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-2688-2}}, p. 28–29</ref>

===The Crusades===
{{main|History of the Jews and the Crusades}}
The trials the Jews periodically endured in the various Christian West kingdoms echoed the catastrophes that occurred during [[Crusades]]. In the [[First Crusade]] (1096) flourishing communities on the Rhine and the Danube were [[German Crusade, 1096|utterly destroyed]]. Furthermore, there were also attacks on the Jews that lived in cities along the Rhine.
Prior to these attacks, many Jews were seen as integral members of society despite religious differences. Many Jews worked in the money lending trade. Their services allowed for societies to function financially. In one case Jewish moneylenders were responsible for financially maintaining a monastery.<ref name="Elukin2007">{{cite book|last=Elukin|first=Jonathan|title=Living Together Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|year=2007|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton}}</ref> Without these loans the monastery would have been unable to survive. However, this fiscal responsibility that the Jews carried might have caused tensions amongst the middle and upper class. These sects of society would not have approved of the power that the Jewish communities held. At this point there were no strictly Jewish communities. Jews were not concentrated in one area, rather their presence was spread over a larger geographical region. Oftentimes a few families lived immersed in a predominantly Christian settlement. The Jewish families were comfortable in this setting and functioned successfully.{{POV statement|date=February 2016}} In some circumstances, Christians both accepted and welcomed the Jews. When violence against the Jewish people began to occur some Christians attempted to protect their fellow neighbors. In the town of Cologne, Jews fled to the homes of their Christian neighbors where they were given shelter.<ref name="Elukin2007" /> Christians discussed the topic of conversion with the Jews. There existed a theory that if the Jews were to convert to Christianity then they would no longer be the target of such violence. There were discussions regarding conversion to Christianity. Religious leaders including Bishops and Archbishops alike tried to spare the Jews from violence. One Archbishop from Mainz went so far as to offer monetary bribes to protect Jewish families.<ref name="Elukin2007" /> These Jews did not want relief from the exile that occurred hundreds of years prior, moreover they saw the towns in which they had immigrated to as their homes. They were well received members of the community. In the [[Second Crusade]] (1147) the Jews in France suffered especially under Louis VII. Philip Augustus treated them with exceptional severity. In his days the [[Third Crusade]] took place (1188); and the preparations for it proved to be momentous for the English Jews. After being the victims of increasing oppression Jews were [[Edict of Expulsion|banished from England in 1290]]; and 365 years passed before they were [[Resettlement of the Jews in England|allowed to settle again]] in the British Isles. The Jews were also subjected to attacks by the [[Shepherds' Crusade (1251)|Shepherds' Crusades of 1251]] and [[Shepherds' Crusade (1320)|1320]].

====Protection attempts by Christians during the First Crusade====

During the First Crusade of 1096, there are documented accounts of Christian attempts to protect Jews from their violent attackers. The first of such attempts was carried out by the archbishop of Mainz, located in the Rhineland of Germany, in response to local Jews who had organized a bribe in return for the archbishop's protection.<ref name="Elukin76-77">Jonathan M. Elukin, ''Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages'' (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2007), 76-77.</ref> Although the archbishop at first accepted the bribe, community leaders persuaded him to protect the Jews' money instead of taking it, while still offering them refuge in his quarters.<ref name="Elukin76-77" /> Ultimately, the archbishop’s rescue attempt was unsuccessful. Crusaders, aided by some townspeople, eventually stormed the archbishop's chamber and slaughtered the Jews hiding there.<ref>Elukin, ''Living Together, Living Apart'', p.78.</ref> However, the fact remains that this was an attempt at Jewish protection by a member of the Christian clergy.

In another instance, the bishop of Trier offered to keep Jews safe from Crusaders in his palace; however, local intimidation eventually forced him to abandon those whom he had previously aided. Because the bishop had no ancestry or allies in Trier, he felt that he could not muster the political power needed to carry out a successful resistance without the support of the townspeople. Instead, he offered the Jews an ultimatum: convert to Christianity or leave the palace. When doing so, he remarked, “You cannot be saved—Your God does not wish to save you now as he did in earlier days.”<ref name="Elukin80">Elukin, ''Living Together, Living Apart'', p. 80.</ref>

In Cologne, Jews were protected by local gentiles after violence had broken out at the beginning of Shavuot, a Jewish holiday. During the two days of Shavuot, one Jewish woman was killed by Crusaders while venturing to the safety of a Christian neighbor's home, where her husband was waiting for her. While the woman's death may be perceived as tragic, the vast majority of Jews in Cologne survived Shavuot because local Christians had reached out and offered their homes as a means of asylum from the Crusaders.<ref name="Elukin81" />

===Jewish-Christian relations===

The relations of Jews and Christians were fraught with tensions about the death of Jesus and the Christian perception of Jewish obstinacy in refusing to accept the only faith the Christians knew in the world. The pressure on Jews to accept Christianity was intense.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Malamat|title=A History of the Jewish People|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kSovzudhFUC&pg=PA413|year=1976|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-39731-6|pages=412–}}</ref> Recent years have seen a debate among historians on the nature of Jewish-Christian relations in medieval Europe. Traditionally, historians focused on the trials Jews had to endure in this period. Christian violence towards Jews was rife, as were ritual murder accusations, expulsions, and extortion. However, recently historians have begun to show evidence of other relationships between Jews and Christians, suggesting Jews were more embedded into Christian society than was previously thought.

Jonathan Elukin is one historian who thinks in this vein, as elucidated in his book ''Living Together, Living Apart''. He shows that during the Crusades, some Jews were hidden and protected from being attacked by Christians. Some Jews worked in Christian villages. There were also several cases of conversion to Judaism as well as interfaith marriages.<ref>{{cite book|last=Elukin|first=Jonathan|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|year=2007|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|page=82}}</ref>

One such case was Jacob ben Sullam, a Christian looking to become a part of Jewish society. He chose to "slaughter [himself]" of his Christian identity in the hope of being accepted as a Jew in the Jewish community.<ref name="Elukin 82">{{cite book|title=Living Together, Living Apart|last=Elukin|page=82}}</ref>

As Christians sought conversion to Judaism, a number of Jews similarly wanted to convert to Christianity. For example, Herman, a Jew who adopted Christianity to the degree that his family worried that he would reject his Jewish heritage completely. Herman’s conversion startled the rabbis and made them fear losing other Jews to Christianity.<ref name="Elukin 84">{{cite book|title=Living Together, Living Apart|last=Elukin|page=84}}</ref>

The close bonds between Jewish and Christian neighbors led to Jewish communities thriving in some Christian cities.<ref name="Elukin 84"/> Jews experienced economic security and prosperity in their communities, even while enduring constant threats of violence.<ref name="Elukin 87">{{cite book|last=Elukin|title=Living Together, Living Apart|page=87}}</ref> Though strict constraints were placed on Jews in the thirteenth century by the French monarchy, Jews continued to experience a stable living situation.<ref name="Elukin 86">{{cite book|last=Elukin|title=Living Together, Living Apart|page=86}}</ref> Although the French monarchy prohibited the creation of Jewish religious centers, friendly relations with Christians enabled them to build a synagogue in Béziers in 1278.<ref name="Elukin 87"/> After being expelled from certain areas in Europe, Jews regularly returned to their old places of residence, if they had previously experienced a prosperous life there.<ref name="Elukin 86"/>

Another such historian is Ivan Marcus. The section of his book ''Cultures of the Jews'', "Jewish-Christian Symbiosis" deals with the relationship between Christians and Ashkenazi Jews. Marcus claims that the time is written off as a time of intolerance against Jews living in Europe.<ref name="Marcus">{{cite book|last1=Biale|first1=David|author2=Ivan G. Marcus|contribution=A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz|title=Cultures of the Jews|date=2006|publisher=Schocken Books|location=New York|isbn=9780805212013|edition=1st}}</ref>{{rp|450}} For Marcus times of persecution were rarities and few and far between.<ref name="Marcus" /> The two communities lived amongst each other and interacted socially on an everyday basis.<ref name="Marcus" /> They interacted at such a personal level both Christian and Jewish leaders thought that the other group would heavily influence their respective faiths.<ref name="Marcus"/>{{rp|450–451}} When persecution did occur however it was only the more drastic measures that stopped the close interactions between the two groups.<ref name="Marcus"/>{{rp|451}} Had the intense violence described in other sources been the standard for living condition of the Askkenazi Jews then they would not have survived the era let alone their culture which is the roots for many Jews today.<ref name="Marcus"/>{{rp|452}}
During times of persecution against the Jews, chronicles show that Christian friends provided some of them aid and shelter. A chronicler tells a story of a Jewish woman who is given food and shelter for two days from a gentile acquaintance during a time of violence against the Jews during Shavuot.<ref name="Elukin81">{{cite book|last=Elukin|first=Jonathan|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|year=2007|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton|page=81}}</ref> This gentile acquaintance is believed to be Christian. Also, the chronicles show that some Christians converted to Judaism during these times. Some converts even sacrificed themselves in order to show their loyalty to the Jewish community.<ref name="Elukin 84"/>

In England, many Jews worked and lived in small, mostly Christian towns.<ref name="Elukin 85">{{cite book|last=Elukin|title=Living Together, Living Apart|page=85}}</ref> Historians interpret this as Jews feeling comfortable living and working in places surrounded by Christians. Another example some historians use to show Jewish attachment to their place in Western Christendom is the Jewish expulsion in France. After they were expelled in 1182, they returned in 1198.<ref name="Elukin 86"/>

Through some of the Christian world, Jews enjoyed privileges at the hands of nobles and even kings that were almost equal to the local Christians. For example, in the [[Kingdom of Aragon]], in 1241, [[James I of Aragon|King James]] of Aragon issued a decree that the Jewish community of Barcelona would be given the right to elect members of the Jewish community to police itself and investigate Jewish criminals and crimes within the Jewish community. Once the elected police force caught a criminal, they were given the right to impose fines (paid to the crown, not the Jewish community), banish them from the Jewish quarter, or even banish them entirely from the city of Barcelona. Further, these elected members were given the authority to judge cases between Jews in a court of law. In 1271, King James issued a similar decree with a sense of increased urgency which suggests that things had become volatile among the Jewish community, or that the perception of the Jewish community was overwhelmingly one of a state of chaos. This second decree also increased the rights of the council to whatever punishments they deem to be "convenient to the community," including any punishments that they deemed fit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1271royalgrant.asp|title=Medieval Sourcebook: Royal Grants to the Jewish Community of Barcelona, 1241-1271|date=November 1998|website=Internet History Sourcebook Project|publisher=fordham.edu|access-date=2 May 2016}}</ref>

Even after multiple expulsions and persecutions, some Jews still returned to their hometowns.<ref name="Elukin 86" /> Once they returned, many prospered. In spite of royal restrictions attempting to limit their success. They built new synagogues.<ref name="Elukin 87" />

These examples are used by some historians to shine a light on a more positive relationship between the two religious groups. These historians believe that these stories of aid, neighborliness, and prosperity are more notable and significant than previously recognized.

However, some historians do not agree with this view of history. Historian Daniel Lasker does not see the relationship of Christians and Jews in the same light. He contends that the expulsions Jews in Spain faced in 1492 were the product of the revolts seen a century earlier in 1391.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lasker|first1=Daniel J.|editor1-last=Eyffinger|editor1-first=Shalem|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|journal=Hebraic Politics Studies|date=2007|volume=2|issue=4|page=474|publisher=Shalem Press}}</ref> Even though the relationship might have been positive, it ended on a negative note.<ref name="Shalem Press">{{cite journal|last1=Lasker|first1=Daniel J.|editor1-last=Eyffinger|editor1-first=Shalem|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|journal=Hebraic Politics Studies|date=2007|volume=2|issue=4|page=477|publisher=Shalem Press}}</ref> The expulsions of the Jews in various regions is that ending, with a wide range of reasons behind them not just religion.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lasker|first1=Daniel J.|editor1-last=Eyffinger|editor1-first=Shalem|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|journal=Hebraic Politics Studies|date=2007|volume=2|issue=4|page=475|publisher=Shalem Press}}</ref> The reason for the Jews returning to regions they were expelled from was not acceptance as to what happened, but a sense of comfort and familiarity.<ref name="Shalem Press"/> While Lasker acknowledges that Jews and Christians as having some positive relationships he does not want to write off the tension of the area.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lasker|first1=Daniel J.|editor1-last=Eyffinger|editor1-first=Shalem|title=Living Together, Living Apart: Rethinking Jewish-Christian Relations in the Middle Ages|journal=Hebraic Politics Studies|date=2007|volume=2|issue=4|page=478|publisher=Shalem Press}}</ref>

===Accusations of ritual murder, blood libel and host desecration===
{{main|Blood libel against Jews|Host desecration}}

Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews were frequently accused of ritual murder and of using human blood (especially, the blood of Christian children) to make matzah. In many cases, these "blood libels" led to the Catholic Church regarding the victims as martyrs. The Catholic Church canonized children in over 20 such cases, including [[Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln]] (d. 1255 and written about in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales") and [[Simon of Trent]] (d. 1475). Although the first known mention of blood libel is found in the writings of [[Apion]] (30-20 B.C.E. to 45 or 48 C.E.), who claimed that the Jews sacrificed Greeks in the [[Temple of Jerusalem]], no other mention is recorded until the 12th century, when blood libels began to proliferate.

One example of Christian hostility towards Jews is the Accusation of Ritual Murder at Blois.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hallo|first=William|title=Heritage: Civilization and the Jews|publisher=Praeger|location=New York|pages=134–37}}</ref> The story follows a Jewish man and a Christian servant watering their horses at the same bend in a river. The Jewish man accidentally scared the Christian’s horse with the white corner of his undershirt and the servant rode away, upset about the frightened beast, and told his master he saw the Jew throw a child in the river. The Christian master, who hated Jews, took this opportunity and had the Jew unlawfully accused of murder. The Christians took the man, along with the Jews who had tried to free him, beating and torturing them in the effort that they would abandon their religion. To no avail, the Jews were burned alive.

In some cases, the authorities spoke against the accusations, for example [[Pope Innocent III]] wrote in 1199:
<blockquote>
No Christian shall do the Jews any personal injury, except in executing the judgments of a judge, or deprive them of their possessions, or change the rights and privileges which they have been accustomed to have. During the celebration of their festivals, no one shall disturb them by beating them with clubs or by throwing stones at them. No one shall compel them to render any services except those which they have been accustomed to render. And to prevent the baseness and avarice of wicked men we forbid anyone to deface or damage their cemeteries or to extort money from them by threatening to exhume the bodies of their dead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Oliver J. |author2=Edgar Holmes McNeal |title=A Source Book for Medieval History |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner's]] |year= 1905 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |pages=212–213 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/inn3-jews.asp }}</ref>
</blockquote>

The charge was circulated that they wished to dishonor the Host, which Roman Catholics believe is the body of [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]].

However, through this desecration and mistreatment of Jews there is evidence through recorded accounts of history that Jews were prosperous despite the religious intolerance imparted upon them {{citation needed|date=August 2017}}. For example, the ownership of horses, which were costly at the time and by means of a trial in front of a jury, regardless of its biased inconsistency.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

===Black Death===
{{main|Black Death#Persecutions}}

When the [[Black Death]] raged through Europe (1346–53), the charge was given that the Jews had poisoned the wells.<ref>[[Jean de Venette]], [[prior]] of a [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] [[convent]] in [[Paris]] in the 14th century, wrote:
<blockquote>
As a result of this theory of infected water and air as the source of the plague the Jews were suddenly and violently charged with infecting wells and water and corrupting the air. The whole world rose up against them cruelly on this account. In Germany and other parts of the world where Jews lived, they were massacred and slaughtered by Christians, and many thousands were burned everywhere, indiscriminately.</blockquote> {{cite book |last=Newhall |first=Richard A. |author2=Jean Birdsall |title=The Chronicle of Jean de Venette |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year= 1953 |location=New York |pages=48–51 |url=http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/plague.html }}</blockquote></ref> The only court of appeal that regarded itself as their appointed protector, according to historical conceptions, was the "Holy Roman Emperor." The emperor, as legal successor to [[Titus]], who had acquired the Jews for his special property through the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of the Temple]] in the year 70, claimed the rights of possession and protection over all the Jews in the former Roman empire.

===Expulsions===

The Jews, who were driven [[Edict of Expulsion|out of England]] in 1290,<ref>{{cite book|author=Robin R. Mundill|title=England's Jewish Solution: Experiment and Expulsion, 1262-1290|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSKLfi_j110C|date=16 May 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52026-3}}</ref> [[History of the Jews in France#Expulsion of 1394|out of France]] in 1394, out of numerous districts of [[History of the Jews in Germany|Germany]], [[History of the Jews in Italy#Expulsion from Naples|Italy]], and the Balkan peninsula{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} between 1200 and 1600, were scattered in all directions, and fled preferably to the new [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] kingdoms, where for the time being other confessions were still tolerated. Most fled to Poland, as it had a [[Statute of Kalisz|reputation for religious tolerance]] unparalleled during this era. This religious tolerance may have also been a byproduct of the fact the Lithuania was the last country in Europe to [[Christianization of Lithuania|become Christianized]]. Here they found a sure refuge under benevolent rulers and [[History of the Jews in Poland before the 18th century|acquired a certain prosperity]], in the enjoyment of which the study of the Talmud was followed with renewed vigor. Together with their faith, they took with them the German language and customs, which they then cultivated in a Slavic environment with unexampled faithfulness for centuries.

==== Spain ====
{{Main|Spanish expulsion}}
As in Slavic countries, so also under Muslim rule the persecuted Jews often found a humane reception, especially from the eighth century onward on the Iberian peninsula. But even as early as the thirteenth century the Arabs could no longer offer a real resistance to the advancing force of Christian kings; and with the fall of political power Arabic culture declined, after having been transmitted to the Occident at about the same period, chiefly through the Jews in the north of Spain and in the south of France. At that time there was no field of learning the Spanish Jews did not cultivate. They studied the secular sciences with the same zeal as the [[Bible]] and [[Talmud]].

But the growing influence of the Church gradually crowded them out of this advantageous position. At first the attempt was made to win them to Christianity through writings and religious disputations; and when these attempts failed they were ever more and more restricted in the exercise of their civil rights. Soon they were obliged to live in separate quarters of the cities and to wear humiliating badges on their clothing. Thereby they were made a prey to the scorn and hatred of their fellow citizens. In 1391, when a fanatical mob killed four thousand Jews in [[Seville]] alone, many in their fright sought refuge in baptism. And although they often continued to observe in secret the laws of their fathers the Inquisition soon rooted out these pretended Christians or [[Marranos]]. Thousands were thrown into prison, tortured, and burned, until a project was formed to sweep all Spain clean of unbelievers. The plan matured when in 1492 the last Moorish fortress fell into the hands of the Christians. Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict banishing all Jews from Spain for acts of, ‘a serious a detestable crime,’ a reference to the [[Blood libel|purported ritual murder]] of the infant [[Holy Child of La Guardia|Christopher of La Guardia]], which was tried in court in 1491, and who was later made into a Saint. Many of the Jews fled to the Balkan peninsula, where a few decades before the Crescent had won a victory over the Cross through the [[Ottoman Turks]]. Sultan Bayazid II of the [[Ottoman Empire]], learning about the [[Alhambra Decree|expulsion of Jews from Spain]], dispatched the [[Ottoman Navy]] to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of [[Thessaloniki|Salonica]] (currently in [[Greece]]) and [[İzmir|Smyrna]] (currently in [[Turkey]]). [[Judeo-Spanish]] also known as Ladino (a form of medieval [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]] influenced by [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]]) was widely spoken some the Jewish communities in Europe since the 15th century.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rozovsky|first=Lorne|title=Will Ladino Rise Again?|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1085545/jewish/Will-Ladino-Rise-Again.htm|work=[[Chabad.org]]|accessdate=7 December 2013}}</ref>

==Renaissance==
===Italy===
Italian dukes in the Renaissance era accorded protections to resident Jewish communities for a range of political or economic reasons. However, the local authorities rigorously attempted to impose Jewish badges. Franciscan friars exerted pressure on the dukes to enforce the wearing of yellow badges by Jews which the dukes resisted.<ref>{{cite book|author=Flora Cassen|title=Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRwsDwAAQBAJ|date=31 July 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-81302-7|page=50|quote=For a variety of reasons (usually financial and political) Italian dukes often protected the Jews, while local authorities, often resistant to ducal power, regularly tried to impose the Jewish badge. Franciscan friars, who enjoyed great popularity at the time, especially with impoverished populations, pressured the dukes and local authorities to make the Jews wear a yellow badge. Throughout the fifteenth century, however, the Jews, by means of frequent and increasing payments, could usually rely on the Visconti and Sforzas to safeguard them against increasingly frequent and loud calls for them to be forced to wear a yellow badge.}}</ref> Taxation records reveal a great quantity of Jewish contribution to the duchy's finances. The Jewish tax contribution in the state budget was 0.2 percent in 1460. By 1480 this had increased to 1 percent. In 1482 6 percent of the extraordinary tax came from the Jewish communities. This evidence indicates the wealth of the Jewish population and also indicates a possible population boom.<ref>{{cite book|author=Flora Cassen|title=Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRwsDwAAQBAJ|date=31 July 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-81302-7|page=50|quote=Taxation records, evidencing Jewish contribution to the duchy's finances, suggest that Jewish population was growing or becoming wealthier, or both. In 1460 the Jews' tax contribution accounted for 0.2 percent of the state's budget; by 1480 it was 1 percent. In addition, in 1482 the Jews paid 6 percent of the state's extraordinary revenue.}}</ref> However, Jews lost their support on the eve of the Italian wars from Eudovica Sforza.<ref>{{cite book|author=Flora Cassen|title=Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRwsDwAAQBAJ|date=31 July 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-81302-7|page=50|quote=But Ludovico Sforza (Il Moro), duke from 1481 to 1499, on the eve of the Italian Wars, withdrew his support for the Jews.}}</ref>

===Spain===
There was no progress towards inter faith harmony in fifteenth century Spain.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=240|quote=Indeed, it was not. Neither Jew nor Christian ventured any enlightened opinions about the religion of the other; neither made any astonishing gestures of goodwill toward the other.}}</ref> Mark Meyerson notes the silence of fifteenth century records on the Jewish-Christian relations in Morvedre.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=240|quote=The silence of the records concerning fifteenth century Morvedre is just as, if not more, striking than anything that was said or done. These records tell us nothing about vicious anti-Judaism, nothing about frequent or systematic harassment of the Jewish community, nothing about Christian mob violence against Jews or even common interpersonal; violence between individual Christians and Jews. The records, in other words, tell us nothing about the kinds of behavior we might expect to find during the decades preceding the expulsion.}}</ref> In that town Jews constituted a quarter of the urban population and had a significant contribution to the area's economy.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=240|quote=In regard to the history of Morvodre - or Sagunto - the demographic and economic facts speak eloquently: the Jews comprised more than one-quarter of the town's population, municipality and aljama were fiscally interdependent; the Jews had an integral role in the local and regional economy.}}</ref> The Jewish situation varied across Spain. The Jewish quarter of Cervera was sacked by Catalan troops and they warned Jews in Tarrega of the same fate. These events set off the emigration of affluent ''converso'' households from Barcelona. The situation was less severe for Jews and ''conversos'' in Aragon. In the kingom of Aragon the strong Jewish ties to the monarchy, in the form of political support revenue supplies and assistance, ensured their relatively safer position.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=244|quote=Catalan troops sacked the Jewish quarter of Cervera and threatened to do the same in Tarrega. Fearing rebel aggression, affluent converso families fled from Barcelona. In the kingdom of Aragon Jews and conversos encountered fewer difficulties of this sort, in part because Aragonese opposition to the Trastamaras was less fierce...In fact, Zaragoza, the capital and home of the largest Jewish community, offered Juan II much assistance during the Catalan civil war. Valencians, as has been noted, cooperated for the most part with Alfonso IV and Juan II, and provided both kings with substantial revenue. The Jews and conversos of the kingdom were therefore not put in a dangerous situation by virtue of their ties to the monarchy.}}</ref> The introduction of credit mechanisms by the Jews in Morvedre facilitated the Jewish revival in the region and granted the Jews dominance in the kingdom's credit markets.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=244|quote=...the Jews' revival in Morvedre was facilitated and their relations with Christians ameliorated by a third key factor. This was the introduction of new credit mechanisms - the censal and violari- and the rise of the purchasers of these annuities, the censalistas, to a position of dominance in the kingdom's credit markets, a position the Jews had occupied until the later fourteenth century.}}</ref> The Jewish community as a whole generally functioned with economic success.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=244|quote=Well-to-do Jews diversified their investments and the Jewish community as a whole engaged in a wider range of economic activities, often, as has been seen, with considerable success. Even though Jews still loaned small amounts to farmers and artisans, Jewish usury-now illegal but in fact disguised-ceased to be a subject about which bishops and friars fulminated and Christian debtors protested.}}</ref> The Jewish economic activity was diversified not only in the kingdom of Valencia but also in the kingdom of Aragon. Jews continued lending sums to non-Jews and Jewish usury was no longer contested in public, and religious relations remained stable and unmarred by violent activity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark D. Meyerson|title=A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buo9DwAAQBAJ|date=24 January 2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14659-1|page=244-245|quote=Jewish usury, a perennial source of tension between Christian and Jew in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was no longer one in the kingdom of Valencia in the fifteenth century. The kingdom of Aragon saw similar developments. There too municipalities and Jewish aljamas, such as those of Zaragoza and Huesca, were in debt to censalistas. There too Jewish economic activity was highly diversified. There too relations between Christians and Jews were stable, unmarked by outbreaks of violence. There too, although Jews still loaned small sums to Christians and Muslims, "Jewish usury" ceased to be a major topic of public discussion.}}</ref>

===France===
Jews enjoyed a time of prosperity until the end of the fifteenth century in Provence. There were no significant legal distinctions between the citizenship rights of Jews and Christians under the statutes of Marseilles. Jews were officially given same citizenship rights in Saint-Remy-de-Provence in 1345 and by 1467 in Tarascon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Esther Benbassa|title=The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_00s10twe4C&pg=PA25|date=2 July 2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-2314-5|pages=25–|quote=In Provence, too, until the end of the fifteenth century, the Jews enjoyed relatively favorable conditions. Whereas, in the kingdom, a policy of Jewish exclusion was pursued under Saint Louis, the statutes of Marseilles enacted in 1257 made no juridical distinction between them and Christians, both coming under the category of 'citizen' (Civis Massilie). And by the end of the fifteenth century, the legal condition of the Jews, despite a whole series of arrangements signaling their inferiority, was still not fundamentally different there than that of their fellow Christian citizens. They were recognised to have the same status in Saint-Remy-de-Provence in 1345, and in Tarascon in 1467.}}</ref> Comtat Venaissin and Avignon, both being papal principalities, witnessed an era of peace for the Jewish communities who were established there without expulsions being a part of their lives.<ref>{{cite book|author=Esther Benbassa|title=The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_00s10twe4C&pg=PA25|date=2 July 2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-2314-5|pages=25–|quote=A relative peace reigned also in the Comtat Venaissin and in Avignon for the Jewish communities that had reestablished themselves there. These regions being papal possessions (from 1274 and 1348, respectively), expulsion was not the order of the day.}}</ref> The Jews of Provence received official protection but this was because of Jewish usefulness for the royalty. This did not, however, preclude anti-Jewish events which precipitated voluntary Jewish departures.<ref>{{cite book|author=Esther Benbassa|title=The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_00s10twe4C&pg=PA25|date=2 July 2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-2314-5|pages=25–|quote=During the reign of the 'good king Rene' d'Ajou, between 1434 and 1480, the Jews of Provence benefited from protection, dictated by royal decisions in domestic and foreign policy. In this context, once again, the Jews' usefulness served the sovereign's purposes. Nonetheless, anti-Jewish disturbances were common throughout the fifteenth century, followed by movements of voluntary exodus.}}</ref> Once Provence was annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1481, the flourishing Jewish residents found themselves expelled by 1498.<ref>{{cite book|author=Esther Benbassa|title=The Jews of France: A History from Antiquity to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_00s10twe4C&pg=PA25|date=2 July 2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-2314-5|pages=25–|quote=Provence, which had formerly brought together flourishing Jewish communities, was annexed to the kingdom of France in 1481. The expulsion of the Jews was finally announced in 1498.}}</ref>

==Enlightenment==
According to most scholars, the Middle Ages ended around 1500-1550, giving way to the [[Early Modern era|Early Modern Era]], c. 1550-1789. The [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] appeared at the end of the Early Modern Era, and was characterized by a set of values and ideas that completely opposed the previous Medieval age. It stressed logic and the importance of thinking for oneself, instead of blindly following tradition or prejudice — a huge boon for the Jews. The Enlightened Monarch was an important product of the era; he or she strove to create a cultured, modern state populated by effective subjects, and often began the journey to this state by improving the living conditions of the poor and minorities, which included Jews in most countries. The monarchs tried to include their Jewish subjects in mainstream society, reducing restrictions and passing more general laws that applied to all, regardless of religion.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Modern Judaism: An Oxford Guide|last=Dubin|first=Lois C.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=|location=Oxford|pages=30, 31, 33, 37}}</ref>

A Jewish Enlightenment occurred alongside the broader European one, originally appearing at the end of the eighteenth century. Known as [[Haskalah]], it would re-emerge in the 1820s and lasted for the better part of the century. A form of "critical rationalism"<ref name=":0" /> inspired by the European Enlightenment, Haskalah focused on reform in two specific areas: stimulating an internal rebirth of culture, and better preparing and training Jews to exist in a christocentric world. It did not force its adherents to sacrifice one identity for the other, allowing them to simultaneously be Jewish and emulate their Gentile contemporaries. One of the most important effects of the Enlightenment was [[Jewish emancipation|emancipation for Jews]]. Beginning in [[Napoleonic France]] after the Revolution-which was directly inspired by the Enlightenment-Jews received full rights and became equal citizens. This trend spread eastward across the continent, lasting until 1917, when Russian Jews were finally emancipated during the first [[Russian Revolution]].<ref name=":0" />

==See also==
*[[Medieval antisemitism]]
*[[Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula]]
*[[History of the Jews in England (1066–1200)]]
*[[History of the Jews under Muslim Rule]]
*[[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire]]
*[[History of the Jews in Poland before the 18th century]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=520&letter=E|article=Europe|author=[[Richard Gottheil]], [[M. Brann]] and [[Joseph Jacobs]]}}

==External links==
* [http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=4705&CFID=24311765&CFTOKEN=78583395 Church And The Jews In The Middle Ages]
* [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Ancient_and_Medieval_History/632-1650.shtml Medieval Jewish History - Jews living under Islamic and Christian rule]

{{Jewish history}}
{{Jews and Judaism}}

[[Category:Medieval Jewish history]]

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