Restoring a Vernacular Jewish Voice: The Old French Elegy of Troyes

Abstract

Ms. ebr. 322 of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana contains two sister elegies, one in Hebrew and the other in Old French (f. 188V-189V). The latter, written in semi-cursive Ashkenazic Hebrew script, is the bestknown vernacular work produced by medieval French-speaking Jews, as well as one of the most detailed sources available to us regarding the martyrdom of thirteen Jews in Troyes in the spring of 1288. Scarcely a decade has passed since its original publication by Arsene Darmesteter in 1874 that scholars have not praised its realism, pathos, and apparent spontaneity, offered full or partial translations, or called attention to its literary and historical value (in addition to the many works cited below, see, for example, Renan 1877: 475-82, Fleg 1951: 28 1-3, ! Lehrmann 1941: 40-1, Zumthor 1954: 289-90, Holmes 1962: 315, Kukenheim 1963: 97, Rosenberg 1992: 23 [n. 1]). My own engagement with the elegy began when, as a graduate student, I first started exploring the diversity of spellings found in Old French texts written in the Hebrew alphabet (henceforth HebraicoFrench texts). Over time, my engagement with the elegy intensified