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Last edited by Open Library Bot
April 24, 2010 | History
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A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain
Published
July 6, 2004
by
Princeton University Press
in
Princeton, New Jersey, USA,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK
.
Written in English.
About the Book
This book significantly revises the conventional view that the Jewish experience in medieval Spain--over the century before the expulsion of 1492--was one of despair, persecution, and decline. Focusing on the town of Morvedre in the kingdom of Valencia, Mark Meyerson shows how and why Morvedre's Jewish community revived and flourished in the wake of the horrible violence of 1291. Drawing on a wide array of archival documentation, including Spanish Inquisition records, he argues that Morvedre saw a Jewish "renaissance."
Meyerson shows how the favorable policies of kings and of town government yielded the Jewish community's demographic expansion and prosperity. Of crucial importance were new measures that ceased the oppressive taxation of hte Jews and minimized their role as moneylenders. The results included a reversal of the credit relationship between Jews and Christians, a marked amelioration of Christian attitudes toward Jews, and greater economic diversification on the part of Jews.
Representing a major contribution to debates over the Inquisition's origins and the expulsion of the Jews, the book also offers the first extended analysis of Jewish-converso relations at the local level, showing that Morvedre's Jews expressed their piety by assisting Valencia's conversos. Comparing Valencia with other regions of Spain and with the city-states of Renaissance Italy, it makes clear why this kingdom and the town of Morvedre were so ripe for a Jewish revival in the fifteenth century.
--From book jacket.
First Sentence
FOR JEWISH COMMUNITIES throughout Castile and the Crown of Aragon the quarter century between 1391 and 1461 was a period of heightened persecution.
Table of Contents
| Figures and Maps, ix | ||
| Acknowledgments, xi | ||
| Note on Names and Money, xiii | ||
| Abbreviations, xv | ||
| Introduction, 1 | ||
| Chapter One: On the Edge of Desolation, 22 | ||
| Chapter Two: Revival in the Shadow of Valencia, 65 | ||
| Chapter Three: Wine, Money, and Mobility, 109 | ||
| Chapter Four: Jews and Muslims, 143 | ||
| Chapter Five: The Politics of Plenty, 157 | ||
| Chapter Six: Converts and Kinsfolk, 184 | ||
| Chapter Seven: Chill Wind from Castile, 225 | ||
| Concluding Remarks, 240 | ||
| Glossary, 247 | ||
| Bibliography, 249 | ||
| Index, 263 |
Edition Notes
Series |
Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World |
Classifications
Dewey Decimal Class |
946'.004924-dc21 |
Library of Congress |
DS135.S7M485 2004 |
The Physical Object
Format |
Hardcover |
Number of pages |
272 |
Dimensions |
9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches |
Weight |
1.5 pounds |
Read
No readable version available.
Borrow
Physical copy, local WorldCat
History Created April 29, 2008 · 7 revisions
| April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
| April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
| April 14, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Linked existing covers to the edition. |
| December 14, 2009 | Edited by WorkBot | link works |
| April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Inital record created, from an amazon.com record. |