Complex Relations between Jews and Christians in Late Medieval German and Other Literature

Abstract

Studying medieval anti-Judaism can easily give one a very negative impression, as Christians always seem to have hated their Jewish neighbors, and always seem to have formulated vehemently xenophobic opinions especially aggravated by the religious conflict that gained such a ferocious intensity in the late Middle Ages. The early Middle Ages appear to have been a time when Jews enjoyed at least a limited level of acceptance, as soon as Christian society began to flourish and achieve a higher degree of cultural and economic sophistication, laying the foundation for the development of cultural and national identity, the scales were severely tipped to the disadvantage of the Leonard Glick points out, just as life began to improve for Christians, it began to worsen for Jews. The result was that Jews were relegated to the role of moneylenders: a misfortune greater than they could have foreseen. Keywords: Christians; Jews; Leonard Glick; medieval German literature