User:Brooke1995/sandbox

Prejudice in Medieval Christian Art

During the Middle Ages, some Christian art was used as an expression of prejudices that were held against other people groups.

Specifically in Medieval Europe, between the 5th and the 15th century, Jews were hated by Christians because they were different both culturally and religiously from them. The Jewish people’s unique economic position as moneylenders, coupled with royal protections that were given to them, created a strained relationship between Jews and Christians. One way this strain manifested itself was through the creation of anti-Semitic art, which served the purpose of discrediting both Jews and their religious beliefs.

This anti-Jewish art can be divided up into three categories: art that focused on physical descriptions, art that featured signs of damnation, and images that depicted Jews as monsters. Physically, Jews were depicted with pointed hats and long beards in Medieval Christian art, as a derogatory symbol and to separate Jews from Christians in a clear manner. Jews were also depicted in scenes that featured signs of damnation. This idea goes back to the false Christian belief that Jews were responsible for the murder of Christ. As a result, some artistic representations featured Jews crucifying Christ. Jews were seen as outsiders in society, due to the fact that they dressed differently and worshipped differently than the Christian majority. These social tensions developed in the belief that Jews were barbarians, and even eventually expanded into the idea that they were monsters. Some art from this time period combined these concepts, morphing the stereotypical Jewish beard and pointed hat imagery with that of monsters, creating art that made the Jew synonymous with a monster. During the Medieval period, some of the racial prejudices against the Jews were disseminated through the creation of anti-Semitic propaganda, spreading anti-Semitism even further into society.

Prejudice in medieval art

During the Middle Ages some Christian art was used as a way to express prejudices and commonly held negative views that were held against other religions and groups of people.

Jewish portrayals in medieval Christian art

Ecclesia and Sinagoga at the Notre Dame Cathedral

In Medieval Europe between the 5th and 15th century many Christians viewed Jews as enemies and outsiders due to a variety of factors. They also tended to hate them for being both culturally and religiously different as well as because of religious teachings that held negative views of Jewish people such as portrayals of the Antichrist as Jewish. The Jewish people's economic position as moneylenders, coupled with royal protections that were given to them, created a strained relationship between Jews and Christians. This strain manifested itself in several ways, one of which was through the creation of antisemitic and anti-Judaism art and propaganda that served the purpose of discrediting both Jews and their religious beliefs as well as spreading these beliefs even further into society. In a March 2015 article the Jerusalem Post wrote that some artwork from this time period, such as the statues of Ecclesia and Sinagoga at the Notre Dame Cathedral, served as an example of the Christian doctrine of supercessionism, where Christianity is portrayed as dominant and triumphant over Judaism. Jewish historian Sara Lipton has argued that some portrayals, such as depictions of Jewish blindness in the presence of Jesus, were meant to serve as a form of self-reflection rather than be explicitly anti-Semitic.

In her 2013 book Saracens, Demons, and Jews, Debra Higgs Strickland argues that negative portrayals of Jews in medieval art can be divided into three categories: art that focused on physical descriptions, art that featured signs of damnation, and images that depicted Jews as monsters. Physical depictions of Jewish people in medieval Christian art were often men with pointed hats and long beards, which was done as a derogatory symbol and to separate Jews from Christians in a clear manner. This portrayal would grow more virulent over time, however Jewish women lacked similar distinctive physical descriptions in high medieval Christian art. Art that depicted Jewish people in scenes that featured signs of damnation is believed to have stemmed from the Christian belief that Jews were responsible for the murder of Christ, which has led to some artistic representations featured Jews crucifying Christ. Jewish people were sometimes seen as outsiders in Christianity dominated societies, which Strickland states developed into the belief that Jews were barbarians, which eventually expanded into the idea that Jewish people were monsters that rejected the "True Faith". Some art from this time period combined these concepts and morphed the stereotypical Jewish beard and pointed hat imagery with that of monsters, creating art that made the Jew synonymous with a monster.