Jews in East Norse Literature: A Study of Othering in Medieval Denmark and Sweden

Jonathan Adams

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2023

Jews in East Norse Literature

A Study of Othering in Medieval Denmark and Sweden

Jonathan Adams

Volume 4 in the series Religious Minorities in the North

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110775747

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

What did Danes and Swedes in the Middle Ages imagine and write about Jews and Judaism? This book draws on over 100 medieval Danish and Swedish manuscripts and incunabula as well as runic inscriptions and religious art (c. 1200–1515) to answer this question. There were no resident Jews in Scandinavia before the modern period, yet as this book shows ideas and fantasies about them appear to have been widespread and an integral part of life and culture in the medieval North. Volume 1 investigates the possibility of encounters between Scandinavians and Jews, the terminology used to write about Jews, Judaism, and Hebrew, and how Christian writers imagined the Jewish body. The (mis)use of Jews in different texts, especially miracle tales, exempla, sermons, and Passion treaties, is examined to show how writers employed the figure of the Jew to address doubts concerning doctrine and heresy, fears of violence and mass death, and questions of emotions and sexuality. Volume 2 contains diplomatic editions of 54 texts in Old Danish and Swedish together with translations into English that make these sources available to an international audience for the first time and demonstrate how the image of the Jew was created in medieval Scandinavia.

Author / Editor information

Jonathan Adams, Department of Historical Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Reviews

"He [the author] provides his readers with several examples from the last few years that show that the medieval stereotypical anti-Judaic topoi are still, time and time again, being used in creating the other, sometimes in an openly racist manner, sometimes in a more subtle way. Therefore, knowing the history and development of these topoi is of essential importance in today's world and Jonathan Adam's book certainly is a major step forward in this respect concerning Sweden and Denmark. For scholars interested in the preaching and/or Jewish history, it is simply a sine qua non read."

Jussi Hanska (2023) Jews in East Norse Literature: A Study of Othering in Medieval Denmark and Sweden, Medieval Sermon Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13660691.2023.2269068

"Dette imponerende værk udspringer af mange års forskning i antisemitismens historie i Skandinavien […] Det giver et meget komplet billede af synet på jøder i middelalderens Danmark og Sverige indtil 1515, sådan som det kommer til udtryk i både den sekulære og den religiøse litteratur på henholdsvis gammeldansk og -svensk (østnordisk)."
[This impressive work is the result of many years of research on the history of antisemitism in Scandinavia […] It provides a very complete picture of how Jews were viewed in Denmark and Sweden before 1515 as expressed in both secular and religious literature in Old Danish and Old Swedish respectively (East Norse).]

Janus Møller Jensen (2023), Historisk Tidsskrift, 123:1, 252–255.

"I strongly recommend Adams’s masterful two-volume set for those interested in medieval, early modern, modern, or contemporary periods. It is a text filled with priceless gems likely to fascinate scholars and students of Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Holocaust Studies, Postcolonial Studies, as well as Norse Studies. In particular, Adams unpacks antisemitic 'stereotypes . . . in the East Norse material' (I:20), and readers are likely to gain a deeper understanding of the antisemitism introduced by the forms of Christianity that filled the spaces vacated by the cherished Norse gods."

Miriamne Ara Krummel (2023), Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, vol. 18, no. 1, DOI: 10.6017/scjr.v18i1.17241.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	XXI
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	XXIII
Editorial Procedure and Conventions Publicly Available Download PDF	XXV
Medieval Scandinavia and Jews
1 Introduction Christianization and the establishment of Western Christian culture in the North Open Access Download PDF	1
2 Jews in Medieval Denmark and Sweden Jewish–Scandinavian encounters abroad Open Access Download PDF	30
Language
3 Writing about Jews: A Guide to East Norse Terminology Introduction Open Access Download PDF	47
4 The Language of the Jews: Knowledge about Hebrew in Medieval Scandinavia Introduction Open Access Download PDF	95
Identifying “the Jew”
5 The Jewish Body: From Top to Toe The debasement and representation of the Jewish body Open Access Download PDF	129
Killing Christ
6 Modelling Feelings and Behaviours: Jews and the Passion in Sermons and Devotional Literature Jews and the Passion Open Access Download PDF	219
Demonstrating Christian Truth
7 Witnesses of Truth and Doctrine: Miracles, Saints’ Lives, and Exempla Introduction Open Access Download PDF	299
8 Darkness and Light: Miracles, Saints’ Lives, and Exempla Introduction Open Access Download PDF	370
The Jewish Peril: Past, Present, and Future
9 Jews in History: Exemplary Figures, Keepers of Relics, Tormentors of the Christ Child, and Absent Jerusalemites Introduction Open Access Download PDF	437
10 The Jewish Plot to Destroy All Christendom: The Black Death and Well-Poisoning Introduction Open Access Download PDF	486
11 The Jewish Threat to Destroy All Christendom: The Red Jews, Antichrist, and the Apocalypse Introduction Open Access Download PDF	518
Conclusion
12 Conclusion Medieval representations of Jews in Denmark and Sweden Open Access Download PDF	545
VOLUME II: TEXTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 A Jew Converts and Speaks to his Sons from Heaven Open Access Download PDF	557
2 A Jew Predicts St Basil’s Death Open Access Download PDF	563
3 A Pregnant Jewish Woman’s Father Converts Open Access Download PDF	565
4 A Sermon for Good Friday Open Access Download PDF	567
5 A Sermon for Passion Sunday Open Access Download PDF	612
6 Esther Open Access Download PDF	629
7 Jerusalem in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville Open Access Download PDF	644
8 Jesus Raises a Jew from the Dead Open Access Download PDF	667
9 Judith Open Access Download PDF	679
10 Mary of Bethezuba Open Access Download PDF	686
11 Petronia and the Ring Open Access Download PDF	692
12 Sermons for the Feast of the Circumcision Open Access Download PDF	695
13 St Barnabas and the Jews Open Access Download PDF	713
14 St Gamaliel the Elder Speaks to Lucian the Priest Open Access Download PDF	715
15 St James the Great and the Sorcerer Hermogenes Open Access Download PDF	718
16 St James the Great Converts Josiah the Jew Open Access Download PDF	723
17 St James the Just and the Jews of Jerusalem Open Access Download PDF	727
18 St Macarius and the Talking Skull Open Access Download PDF	736
19 St Sylvester and the Disputation with the Twelve Jewish Scholars Open Access Download PDF	741
20 The Antichrist Open Access Download PDF	756
21 The Chains of St Peter Open Access Download PDF	760
22 The Clay Birds Open Access Download PDF	766
23 The Converted Jew and the Devil Open Access Download PDF	773
24 The Disputation and the Miracle Open Access Download PDF	781
25 The Emperor Hadrian Open Access Download PDF	783
26 The Emperor Vespasian and Titus Open Access Download PDF	785
27 The Enclosed Jews Open Access Download PDF	801
28 The Fifteen Places Open Access Download PDF	813
29 The Finding of the Holy Cross Open Access Download PDF	927
30 The Flying Host and the Jew’s Son Open Access Download PDF	938
31 The Helmeted Preface Open Access Download PDF	939
32 The Hermit and the Jewess Open Access Download PDF	951
33 The Host Desecration Open Access Download PDF	956
34 The Jew and the Lightning Strike Open Access Download PDF	959
35 The Jew and the Staff Filled with Gold Open Access Download PDF	960
36 The Jew at the Devils’ Council Open Access Download PDF	964
37 The Jew, the Axe, and St Nicholas Open Access Download PDF	970
38 The Jew, the Fish, and the Host Open Access Download PDF	971
39 The Jew, the Host, the Devil, and the Sieve Open Access Download PDF	973
40 The Jew Who Attacked the Virgin Mary’s Bier Open Access Download PDF	976
41 The Jew Who Stabbed the Icon Open Access Download PDF	980
42 The Jewish Boy in the Oven Open Access Download PDF	983
43 The Jews Who Found and Attacked an Image of Christ Open Access Download PDF	996
44 The Life of Judas Iscariot Open Access Download PDF	1006
45 The Little Jewish Girl Rachel Who Joined a Nunnery Open Access Download PDF	1017
46 The Merchant’s Surety Open Access Download PDF	1035
47 The Pilgrims’ Guide to the Holy Land Open Access Download PDF	1040
48 The Punishment of the Jews Open Access Download PDF	1068
49 The Stoning of St Stephen Open Access Download PDF	1079
50 The Three Young Men in the Oven Open Access Download PDF	1086
51 The Virgin Mary Releases and Converts a Jewish Prisoner Open Access Download PDF	1091
52 Theophilus and the Devil Open Access Download PDF	1093
53 Well poisoning Open Access Download PDF	1097
54 Yael Open Access Download PDF	1109
List of Works Open Access Download PDF	1111
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	1136
Index Open Access Download PDF	1178

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Edition: 2 Volumes
Audience: Historians, theologians, researchers of antisemitism, scholars of Jewish Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 42
- Main content: 1192
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Coloured Illustrations: 50
- Coloured Line drawings: 0
- Tables: 12
Keywords: Middle Ages; Sweden; Denmark; antisemitism; Christian literature; vernacular literature

eBook

Published: December 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110775747

Hardcover

Published: December 5, 2022
ISBN: 9783110775662