The Jews of medieval France : the community of Champagne
A history of the Jews in Champagne in the Middle Ages. They were not directly victimized by the First Crusade of 1096, but were affected by it; the willingness of Rhineland Jews to accept death rather than forced conversion contributed to a general feeling among Jews, including those of Champagne, of superiority to Christians. The Jews of Champagne were not included in the expulsion from France in 1082 because Champagne was politically separate from France. By 1306 Champagne came under the domination of the king of France, and consequently the Jews were expelled that year. States that in the medieval period both Church and state were potential threats to the Jews. The greatest threat existed when both worked together (as in the Third Crusade of 1188). The persecutions and expulsions of the Jews of Champagne are explained as resulting from the actions of rulers, and were not due to groundswells of popular Jew-hatred. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)
Print Book, English, 1994
Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1994