Beyond Expulsion: Jews, Christians, and Reformation Strasbourg

Abstract

Beyond Expulsion is a history of Jewish-Christian interactions in early modern Strasbourg, a city from which the Jews had been expelled and banned from residence in the late fourteenth century. This study shows that the Jews who remained in the Alsatian countryside continued to maintain relationships with the city and its residents in the ensuing period. During most of the sixteenth century, Jews entered Strasbourg on a daily basis, where they participated in the city's markets, litigated in its courts, and shared their knowledge of Hebrew and Judaica with Protestant Reformers. By the end of. Beyond expulsion : a paradigm shift -- The superiority of the city of Strasbourg : the city and its reformation -- Without trees, the fire will be extinguished : reinventing Jewish life in the rural sphere -- Shared spaces : social interactions in the countryside -- Creating Jewish space in the Christian city : the Jews and Strasbourg's markets -- As is also apparent in the old chronicles and history books : magisterial laws, confession building, and Reformation era tolerance -- I listened to the account of a Jew : Christian Hebraism in Strasbourg -- Constructing Jewish memory : self-texts, the Reformation, and narratives of Jewish history -- Becoming French : Alsatian Jews in the wake of confession building.