Abstracts
Rika Benveniste
(University of Thessaly)
Comparing medieval expulsions
In my presentation I propose a kind of a “pilot” study that is built mainly on three cases: the expulsions of Jews from England, France and Iberia. On the assumption that these expulsions were not acts simply completing a pre-existing exclusion, an inevitable step in a progressive persecution, I would like to consider both the specific, time contingent, explanations and those that unite the expulsions beyond time and place. By bringing on the stage the different experiences of Jewish populations, by de-centering “local” cases and by connecting them to broader contexts, I intend to deal with some of the challenges that have been raised in the literature on comparison in history.
More specifically I will proceed by:
a. Clarifying the related concepts (punishment, exile, spatial exclusion, migration) in their medieval, both Christian and Jewish, context.
b. Examining the historical interpretations that have been offered and the assumptions lying behind the historiographic traditions since the 19th century.
c. Discussing the interpretative models proposed by contemporary comparative studies dealing with the attitudes and the policies towards Jews or other social groups in the Middle Ages.
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