Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Viator; Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
30 (1999) 201-230
Keywords:
Jacob ben Judah,
;
Kinot Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Jews
;
Martyrdom Judaism
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Judeo-French language
Abstract:
Discusses two poems by Jacob ben Judah of Lorraine about the martyrdom of Isaac Chatelain and twelve other Jews of Troyes in 1288. On 28 March - Good Friday and the seventh day of Passover - armed Christians ransacked Isaac's home and "discovered" a corpse in the house. Isaac was accused of ritual murder. He and his family, along with eight other Jews, were burned at the stake. The Hebrew and Old French poems are given here with an English translation (pp. 218-230). These elegies are a rare example of a single poet working within two distinct literary traditions. The Hebrew poem contains biblical allusions, assuming that its readers will fill in the references and grasp the nuances; it stresses the role of God over that of history. In contrast, the French poem alludes to the courtly tradition and stresses the martyrs' heroic suffering in this world. Both versions testify to the endurance of Jewish faith as a response to Christian persecution.
Note:
On two poems by Jacob ben Judah of Lorraine, with edition of the texts [the Hebrew one from the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vatican, MS Vat. Ebr. 322, fols 188-189] (pp. 218-230).
DOI:
10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.300835
URL:
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