JWST 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Medieval Antisemitism, Making Money, Fourth Council Of The Lateran
Document Summary
In the formative period, jewish communities especially in western europe lived on the dependence of the christian majority. Jewish institutions and jurisdiction were all functioning upon the patterns of those of other communities. The jewish communities lived alongside christian communities rather than as a part of christian society, this has to do with the fact that at the time the. The only way for jews to become a part of christian society was through conversion, for obvious reasons an overwhelming majority at the time were unable and unwilling to convert to christianity and merge with the christian majority. Historians disagree as to what constituted the first jewish community within. Some point to a german town in the 4th century, there is an explicit legal document that mentions a small community but others say it was probably the 6th century when we talk about fully developed communities. They were invited and given permission to live there.
