The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History has been compiled by Joe Hillaby, an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Bristol, who served as President of the Jewish Historical Society of England from 2006 to 2008 and is an acknowledged authority on the English medieval Jewry. In this work, Hillaby and his wife, Caroline have produced an excellent resource on all aspects of Anglo-Jewish history from William the Conqueror’s “transfer” of Jews from Rouen to London in approximately 1075 to Edward I’s expulsion of the Jewish community from the realm in 1290. This book was originally envisaged as part of The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (Rubenstein 2011) (RR 2012/095). However, as the authors mention, “it soon became apparent that the two periods were so disparate as to demand separate volumes”.
A helpful introduction highlights key themes, people and places in English medieval Jewry and is fully crossed-referenced with the main dictionary. There follows a chapter on Statutory and other key documents which are arranged in chronological order, accompanied with extracts from the primary materials and quotes from academic sources to provide context for the documents.
The remainder of the dictionary is arranged in the usual A-Z format and includes topographical, biographical and general entries. These headings are listed in the preliminary pages of the work and this is a useful guide to content. In many subject dictionaries, entries appear to be limited due to lack of space (and perhaps the need to include as many relevant terms as possible). However, here the authors have taken care to provide detailed and full entries which are well-cross-referenced and all have both primary and secondary sources listed. For example, the entry Mikva’ot (pl.): Mikveh, for ritual bath, describes the background to the Jewish ritual bath and significant examples of this in history from the second century BCE. A brief description of European and private Mikva’ot is followed by information and illustrations of two examples found in London and a discussion of the possibility of a Bristol Mikveh. Other examples of general entries include Caricatures, Cemeteries, Herb Gardens, Laving Stones, Pawnbroking, Ritual-Child-Murder Accusations, Tallages and Women.
The topographical entries are among the fullest and for 14 of these a town plan is included, showing areas of Jewish settlement. Subheadings within entries enable quick access to specific information. Leading members of Jewish communities are in many cases listed by the cities and towns in which they were established, with helpful see references from the person’s surname to the relevant town. Genealogies of eight significant Jewish families are documented with reference to the primary sources in which their names are mentioned. The authors have included family trees going back five generations for six of these families. The entry on Families: Size and Relationships includes a table listing 22 Jewish families with 93 sons and 24 daughters, demonstrating, at least for affluent English Jews, large family sizes in comparison with Jews in other parts of Europe.
The dictionary is enhanced with thirty illustrations and photographs. For example, there is a photograph of the bronze Bodleian Bowl, “the most remarkable physical legacy of medieval Anglo-Jewry”. There are also good quality images of medieval Jewish manuscripts, charters and chirographs.
The authors have produced an excellent reference tool which complements The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History and enhances our sources of information on medieval English history. I would highly recommend this work for all university and research libraries with an interest in history and religion.
