1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454777003321

Autore

Chazan Robert

Titolo

God, humanity, and history [[electronic resource] ] : the Hebrew First Crusade narratives / / Robert Chazan

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA, : University of California Press, c2000

ISBN

0-520-92395-2

1-59734-637-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (284 p.)

Disciplina

943/.004924

Soggetti

Jews - Germany - History - 1096-1147

Jews - Persecutions - Germany - History

Jewish martyrs - Germany - Biography

Crusades - First, 1096-1099

Electronic books.

Germany Ethnic relations Sources

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-262) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Prologue: The Time-Bound and the Timeless in Medieval Ashkenazic Narrative -- 1. The Hebrew First Crusade Narratives -- 2. The Mainz Anonymous: Structure, Authorship, Dating, and Objectives -- 3. The Solomon bar Simson Chronicle: The Editorial Prologue and Epilogue -- 4. The Solomon bar Simson Chronicle: The Speyer-Worms-Mainz Unit -- 5. The Solomon bar Simson Chronicle: The Trier and Cologne Units -- 6. The Eliezer bar Nathan Chronicle -- 7. The Hebrew First Crusade Narratives: Time-Bound Objectives -- 8. The Historicity of the Hebrew Narratives -- 9. The Hebrew First Crusade Narratives: The Timeless -- 10. God, Humanity, and History -- 11. Comparative Dimensions: The 1096 Narratives and Classical Jewish Tradition -- 12. Comparative Dimensions: The 1096 Narratives and Their Medieval Setting -- Epilogue -- Appendix: The Hebrew First Crusade Narratives: Prior Studies on Relationships and Dating -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Although closely focused on the remarkable Hebrew First-Crusade



narratives, Robert Chazan's new interpretation of these texts is anything but narrow, as his title, God, Humanity, and History, strongly suggests. The three surviving Hebrew accounts of the crusaders' devastating assaults on Rhineland Jewish communities during the spring of 1096 have been examined at length, but only now can we appreciate the extent to which they represent their turbulent times. After a close analysis of the texts themselves, Chazan addresses the objectives of the three narratives. He compares these accounts with earlier Jewish history writing and with contemporary crusade historiography. It is in their disjuncture with past forms of Jewish historical narration and their amazing parallels with Latin crusade narratives that the Hebrew narratives are most revealing. We see how they reflect the embeddedness of early Ashkenazic Jewry in the vibrant atmosphere of late-eleventh- and early-twelfth-century northern Europe.