Middle Ages Research Paper
During the Middle Ages, Jews were seen as the enemy by the Christians; they were thought of as the race that killed Christ. The Jewish people were oppressed during the Middle Ages mostly by Christians. Religion was taken very seriously in the past and for what the Christians believed the Jews were responsible for, they did not like them. Furthermore, the Jews were accused for causing the Black Plague by poisoning the wells. The Black Plague nearly whipped out one third of the world population. The Jews were also “accused of murdering Christian children in order to make matzoh for Passover” (Konop, Muller, & Risley). Moreover, the Jews were forced to live on a filthy island called Ghetto Nuova in Venice. In addition to all the oppressions, Jews were forced to follow many unfair laws. To start off, one regulation was made to force all Jews “to wear distinctive clothing,” (Alan), usually a yellow or a red hat and in some areas, they were required to wear a badge. In the Middle Ages, agriculture was the main way of generating money, and when the Jews were not allowed to own a Christian slave to assist them on their farms, there was no possible way for them to survive. Following, the Jewish were not permitted to take Christian pledges, “Thus, the only occupations available to them were those of artisans, traders, and money lenders,” (Konop, Muller, & Risley). Later in the Middle Ages, the relations between religions changed traumatically. For example, the type of anti-Semitism that existed in England during Shakespeare’s life was not as unreasonable as in the previous centuries. The Jews were now allowed to stay in the main city, even though the community that they were forced to stay in was now was one of “the strongest and wealthiest community in the Ghetto,” (Alan). All in all, sometimes religion and culture can blind us from the truth and some other times, it makes us hateful of others whom beliefs aren’t the same as ours.
Organized marriages have played a big role among different sorts of cultures in history. When we hear the term arranged marriage, we automatically think two parents trying to find a good match for their child. However, the reality of arranged marriages is not that. There are many types of arranged marriages. For example, there is a type that the person getting married can be involved and there is another type where the marriage is not about the couple but the two families.
Jews were also barred from owning land or from holding jobs that they desired and for which they qualified. Even under these constraints, Jews prospered and gained significant values as merchants throughout Europe. During the Middle Age, with the increased spread of Christianity, Jews were looked upon as “allied with Muslims” and many were killed (Carr; Shyovitz). Long before the twentieth century Holocaust, Jews were forced to live in closed communities, known as ghettos, without interacting with the outside world, but under strict regulations from the German authorities (“Ghetto”). Jewish isolation led to a greater increase of their religious background and, therefore, even greater persecution. In the seventeenth century, rulers of the European kingdoms valued the Jews because of their economic status and granted them citizenships. During the eighteenth
Both religions were terrified of the disease, but the Muslims were more accepting of it. Muslims did not blame anybody for the plague, they just accepted it as a type of holy penance and moved on. Christians, on the other hand, blamed the Jews. Many Jews in Europe were forced to convert to Christianity because of the deadly discrimination they were receiving, therefore, leading them to “convert or die”. Even some Jews that converted also died by the hands of Christians. One might think that this discrimination against the Jews during this time was like a miniature holocaust. In Document seven of the D.B.Q., the poem “Burning of the Jews” written in 1348 by Johannes Nohl is a perfect example of what happened to a lot of Jews when they crossed paths with angry
However, the Christians claimed that the Jews were less affected by the black death. The fact that the Jews were less effected by the black death is not because the plague was their fault but it was due to the sanitary practices of the Jewish law. For example, the Jewish law requires one to wash his or hands several times throughout the day. They must wash before they eat, after they leave the bathroom and at least once a week the Jews bathe for Sabbath. In the medieval world one can go about half his lifetime without ever having to wash his hands. This shows how the sanitary conditions for the Jews were always far superior than the general sanitary conditions everyone else followed which explains why the Jews were less effected by the plague. Although all this makes sense to the Christians the fact that the Jews were less affected was very shocking and therefore they blamed
There are many disputes as to when exactly the Jewish people and their roles in medieval civilization became apparent to the Christian and Islam peoples of the time. Various time periods are claimed by various different authors, however in this particular case I have utilized the historical writings of Louis Finkelstein. In one of his many books, we find that his perception of Jews in this time are from about 1000 AD to 1603AD. These dates seem to encompass the entire Middle Ages much better than some of the other speculations made by various other Jewish authors.
Before the nineteenth century anti-Semitism was largely religious, based on the belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. It was expressed later in the Middle Ages by persecutions and expulsions, economic restrictions and personal restrictions. After Jewish emancipation during the enlightenment, or later, religious anti-Semitism was slowly replaced in the nineteenth century by racial prejudice, stemming from the idea of Jews as a distinct race. In Germany theories of Aryan racial superiority and charges of Jewish domination in the economy and politics in addition with other anti-Jewish propaganda led to the rise of anti-Semitism. This growth in anti-Semitic belief led to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and eventual extermination of nearly six million Jews in the holocaust of World War II.
Ultimately strengthening the cultural hatred of the Jewish population, fallacious myths concerning the Jewish culture began circulating and sparking fear among medieval Germany. Jews became the scapegoat of the Black Death, which overwhelmed medieval Germany, killing endless amounts of people. Because of the religious practices of cleanliness for Jews, they did not use public wells and had fewer instances of the Black Death/ Because of the discrepancy of in the number of Black Death infections between the Christian people and the Jews, the Jews individuals were subsequently accused of deliberately poisoning the wells, therefore causing the Black Death, which would result in eventual retaliation by the Christian community (Moore 981). Because of a widespread cultural belief, Jews were often accused of having magical powers which originated from a deal with the devil (Marendy
Jews have been persecuted throughout all of history. A deep seated hatred has existed in many nations against them. Throughout history Jews could not find a resting place for long before they are thrown out of over 80 countries including England, France, Austria and Germany (Ungurean, 2015). Deicide is one of the reasons why Jews are hated. It is said that Jews are the responsible party for the killing of Jesus. The gospels describe Jews delivering Jesus to Roman authorities while demanding that he be crucified and his blood be on their children (Schiffman, n.d.). As a result Jews are held accountable for the death of Jesus and they are hated by many.
Late Medieval Europe was a very different time from what Europe is today. It was a time where social mobility was unthinkable; people lived in fear of their creator, and were always trying to please their creator. In addition, Medieval Europe was an unhealthy and unhygienic state, where sickness and disease was rampant. It was a place where women had little to no rights, and minority groups were frequently falsely accused of many problems that were out of their control. For example, they were blamed for drought, which usually resulted in their unjust persecution because they “angered” God. Overall, Europe was the last place one would want to live unless you were of the nobility. On the other hand, Europe was also a major trading power, engaging
Perhaps for no group of people were ‘the dark ages’ so aptly named as for the Jews. Over the span of one thousand years life changed wildly for the Jewish people and not in a positive way. At the start of the 5th Century the future looked bright but by the 15th century life was engulfed in darkness. This essay will investigate exactly how the legal position of the Jews was able to deteriorate so badly.
Even with the grueling pain that the dark swells and the large tumors brought with them, to the Jews, this pain was the not the worst. The Black Plague was a killer disease from 1348-1351 that spread all throughout Europe. At this time, the Jews were despised in their communities because most of them took the occupation of money-lending. This job was considered unholy and the people of Europe looked down upon the Jews because of it. The Black Plague created a more hostile environment for the Jewry of Europe because of the newly founded flagellants, the Jewish ghettos, and the increased attacks on Jews.
Through previously analysing examples of early Christian anti-Judaism, this chapter provides an insight into the connection between early Christian anti-Judaic attitudes and the Nazi understanding of the Jews. As Ruether contends that Christian anti-Semitism originates from the ‘left hand of Christology’, it will become apparent through analysing Nazi ideology and propaganda how early Christian anti-Judaism is repeated in the Nazi depiction of the Jews. Conversely, it is counter argued by Langmuir that Nazi anti-Semitism differed from early Christian anti-Judaism and therefore was not a continuation of anti-Judaism. He contends that despite the medieval church referring to the Jews as blind to the truth and the symbol of disbelief, medieval authorities did not condone the slaughter of the Jews. Therefore, it can be argued that there is not a direct connection between anti-Judaism and the racial anti-Semitism adopted by the Nazis. In response to Langmuir’s argument, the racial hatred for the Jews expressed by the Nazis, as with any hatred, has to have an origin and a trigger point which generates the feelings of contempt. For example, Christian contempt for Jews originates from the idea that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. Taking this into account, Langmuir’s argument is problematic and this chapter will reveal the repetition of early Christian anti-Judaism in Nazi propaganda. Although the Nazis interpreted the Jews from a racial discriminative standpoint, which was distinct to the early Church Fathers portrayal of the Jews, they used Christian anti-Judaic accusations and stereotypes of Jews to contribute to their portrayal of the Jewish race. This leads to the conclusion that the Nazis were influenced by the...
The Reconquista is commonly recognized as the time when the Christians rulers “retook” the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims. However, the significant impact the Reconquista had on the Jews living in Iberia is often disregarded. How did the standard of living for Jewish communities residing in the Iberian Peninsula shift during Muslim rule in comparison to the Reconquista and Inquisition wherein the Jews were living under Christian rule? According to several sources, Jews were tolerated under Muslim rule as their culture thrived and various cities such as Cordoba, Granada, and Toledo had large as well as prosperous Jewish communities. This changed overtime as by the 1300s, when Christians began to rule most of Spain, prejudice against Jews became prevalent. As the years passed, bigotry began to increase, the outbreak of the Black Death contributed to this discrimination because many individuals blamed the Jews for the plague. Subsequently, this hatred gained momentum in the 1400s whereby the Spanish Inquisition resulted in an abundant number of Jewish victims.
The article begins by introducing general knowledge about arranged marriages in India. First is the proof of commonality. Arranged marriages are so customary that marriages not arranged
Modern arranged marriages are arranged by the child's parents. They choose several possible mates for their child, sometimes with the help of the child (who may indicate which photos, biographic he or she likes). The parents then arrange a meeting with the family of the mate and they will often have short unsupervised meeting (an hour long walk around the neighborhood together for example) (Arrange Marriages). The child will then choose who they w...
Each marriage comes with a different perspective and story, whether it is an arranged marriage or love marriage. Arranged and Love marriages are very similar yet different. Love is the pure feeling of attachment. Arrange marriage is like a blind date in hopes to find love. It could be love at first sight or love after a while so in somewhat way they end up being a love marriage after all because the end result is the same as they get married or find love. In this essay there will be comparison done on love marriage and arrange marriage. Each country has a different perspective on each type of marriage. I will be comparing both marriages in America and India. Love Marriages come with a responsibility of their