Language:
Italian
Year of publication:
1986
Titel der Quelle:
Studi Medievali
Angaben zur Quelle:
27,2 (1986) 671-730; 28,1 (1987) 205-250
Keywords:
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Charity
;
Jews History
;
Dinei mamonot
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
;
Christianity and antisemitism History To 1500
Abstract:
Contends that attempts to establish the facts about the Jews' economic situation at the end of the Middle Ages have been negatively affected by historiographical prejudice. Confined to ghettos, and to their professional role as moneylenders, the Jews were defined in negative terms as passive and dependent on Christian society. For German and French historiography (e.g. Wilhelm Roscher and Werner Sombart) the "Jewish question" in medieval times coincided with the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The presence of Jews in medieval society between the 8th-12th centuries was justified by their special capacity for finance. In the 13th century, with the transition to capitalism, Christians began to dominate the economy and Jew-hatred was therefore a product of economic competition. In Marxist historiography, too, the "Jewish question" was synonymous with the Jews' economic role. In order to present Jewish economic life without prejudice, analyzes talmudic discussions on marketing and usury.
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