Description
In the summer of 1298, a wave of anti-Jewish violence incited by a German nobleman named Rindfleisch swept through Franconia and the neighboring vicinities. In Würzburg, local burghers joined gangs of murderous knights to massacre nearly 900 Jews. Among the victims was Simeon ben Jacob (R. Shim’on ben R. Ya’akov), a resident of Worms who had come to Würzburg to pay and collect business debts. Following the riots, three witnesses reported that they had seen Simeon’s dead body; and on the basis of these testimonies, the Jewish court in Worms declared Simeon’s wife a widow and granted her permission to remarry, which she soon did.
The testimony of the witnesses, the original court ruling from Worms, the endorsement of the court in Speyer, and three sets of counter-claims written and presented by the representatives of the widow and the heir were preserved in Sefer Zikhron Yehudah, an anthology of responsa collected by R. Yehudah ben Asher of Toledo, son of the famous R. Asher ben Yehiel (known as “Rosh,” c. 1250–1327).
This collection of materials comprises one of the most complete surviving Jewish court files from medieval Ashkenaz, which renders it extremely valuable for understanding the way that judicial institutions functioned there, procedurally and politically. The following passages represent a selection of texts from the aforementioned “dossier” that showcase the creation, use, and preservation of written records in the course of legal proceedings.
Start Date
16-8-2017 12:00 PM
End Date
16-8-2017 1:00 PM
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Social History Commons
Unrecorded Justice: The (Non-)Archival Practices of Medieval Jewish Courts
In the summer of 1298, a wave of anti-Jewish violence incited by a German nobleman named Rindfleisch swept through Franconia and the neighboring vicinities. In Würzburg, local burghers joined gangs of murderous knights to massacre nearly 900 Jews. Among the victims was Simeon ben Jacob (R. Shim’on ben R. Ya’akov), a resident of Worms who had come to Würzburg to pay and collect business debts. Following the riots, three witnesses reported that they had seen Simeon’s dead body; and on the basis of these testimonies, the Jewish court in Worms declared Simeon’s wife a widow and granted her permission to remarry, which she soon did.
The testimony of the witnesses, the original court ruling from Worms, the endorsement of the court in Speyer, and three sets of counter-claims written and presented by the representatives of the widow and the heir were preserved in Sefer Zikhron Yehudah, an anthology of responsa collected by R. Yehudah ben Asher of Toledo, son of the famous R. Asher ben Yehiel (known as “Rosh,” c. 1250–1327).
This collection of materials comprises one of the most complete surviving Jewish court files from medieval Ashkenaz, which renders it extremely valuable for understanding the way that judicial institutions functioned there, procedurally and politically. The following passages represent a selection of texts from the aforementioned “dossier” that showcase the creation, use, and preservation of written records in the course of legal proceedings.
