Jewish Craftspeople in the Middle Ages : Objects, Sources and Materials / Andreas Lehnertz, Maria Stürzebecher, Simha Goldin, Joseph Isaac Lifshitz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Lehnertz, Andreas, editor.

Stürzebecher, Maria, editor.

Goldin, Simha, editor.

Lifshits, Yosef Yitsḥaḳ, editor.

Series:

Rethinking Diaspora 5

Studia Judaica , 0585-5306 ; 120

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XII, 418 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin Boston De Gruyter, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Andreas Lehnertz , Trier; Maria Stürzebecher , Erfurt; Simha Goldin , Tel Aviv; Joseph Isaac Lifshitz , Jerusalem.

Summary:

The role of Jews in the economic and material culture of medieval Europe has become an important focus of modern Jewish Studies. Scholars have increasingly emphasized the shared or entangled character of Jewish and Christian culture, noting that Jews used many of the same objects as their Christian neighbors. Yet these objects are generally assumed to have been produced primarily by Christian craftspeople organized in guilds. Jewish artisans, however, are also attested in a wide range of sources, although this field has thus far received insufficient scholarly attention. Although evidence for medieval Jewish craftspeople appears relatively scarce in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean regions preserve a broader and richer documentary base. Even so, sources from across medieval Europe reveal Jews working as turners, dyers, window makers, weavers, goldsmiths, armorers, dicers, belt makers, glaziers, playing-card makers, bricklayers, tailors, watchmakers, and mousetrap makers, among many other professions. These references raise important questions concerning the most common occupations pursued by Jews, their clientele, and their relationships with Christian artisans and guild structures. Bringing together an interdisciplinary range of approaches and regional perspectives, this peer-reviewed volume seeks to address these questions and to reassess the place of Jewish craftspeople in medieval European society.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Contributors

1Introduction / Andreas Lehnertz, Maria Stürzebecher, Simha Goldin, Joseph Isaac Lifshitz

Historical Perspectives

89Jewish Craftspeople in the Early Middle Ages (6th-11th Centuries CE) / Danny Grabe

27Of Butchers, Metal Workers, and a Baptized Gunsmith: Tracing Jewish Craftspeople in Christian Sources from Late Medieval Austria / Birgit Wiedl

59Jews in Specialized Craft Activities in Fourteenth-Century Barcelona: The Case of Silk Weavers and Coral Cutters / Anna Rich-Abad

Perspectives from Hebrew Sources and Responsa Literature

8081Jewish Craftspeople in the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Girona Genizah / Esperança Valls-Pujol

101Jewish Parchment Makers, Binders and Tanners in Medieval Germany / Joseph Isaac Lifshitz

113Dyers, Tanners and Silk Artisans: Byzantine Jewish Craftspeople and Medieval Jewish History / Saskia Dönitz

Art Historical Perspectives and Visual Sources

126127The Craft of Hebrew Micrography in Ashkenaz / Rahel Fronda

Archaeological and Material Perspectives156

157Jewish Craftspeople in Medieval Cologne: Traces in the Written and Archaeological Sources / Tanja Potthoff, Michael Wiehen

197A Jewish Bakery in Erfurt? Archaeological and Documentary Evidence Excavation at Hefengasse 1 in Erfurt / Karin Sczech

221Christian Books, Jewish Covers: 'Mudejar' Bookbinding Craft in Medieval Girona and Catalonia / Leor Jacobi

251Who Produced the Hebrew Tombstones of Medieval Germany? A Look at the Material Evidence / Stefanie Fuchs

Jewish Crafts-Case Studies

280281The Art and Craft of Jewish Professional Scribes (Sofrei STaM) and Their Relation to Halakhic Literature in Medieval Ashkenaz / Mark Farnadi-Jerusálmi

303The Cut Leather Bookbinding Technique and Meir Jaffe / Ilana Tahan

323Paola bat Abraham Ha-Sofer and the Jewish Scribal Craft in the Middle Ages / Dagmara Budzioch

343Tracing Jewish Goldsmiths in Medieval Ashkenaz / Andreas Lehnertz, Maria Stürzebecher

Transitioning from the Middle Ages into the Early Modern Period

372373Broadening the Scope: The Unprofessional Jewish Craftsperson from the Middle Ages into the Early Modern Period and Beyond / Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig

399Epilogue

400401Jewish Craftsmen in a Christian Environment: A Commentary / Sabine von Heusinger

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed August 05 2026)

ISBN:

9783110788112