Juif
The Jewish people have been subject to limitless prejudice, racism, and intolerance. They were repeated victims of accusations which were leveled against everyone disliked by the powerful during the Middle Ages.
After Moses died the people seized lands in the eastern Mediterranean under their leader Joshua, and eventually founded the land of Israel. They remained there, sometimes at war and sometimes at peace, until conquered by the Romans.
In the time of Christ the Jews were one of many peoples in the region subject to Roman rule. There were many revolts. The most important was in 135 A.D. when Bar Kochba was ruthlessly crushed by Emperor Hadrian. The Jews were then expelled from their homeland. They settled throughout the empire, and in foreign lands.
In 212, the Jews were granted Roman citizenship, as were the other inhabitants of the Empire. Rather than accepting the implied equality, contemporaries scorned their spiritual separatism, insistence on ritual purity, unusual practices (such as circumcision), and claim to divine exclusivity.
Their status declined as the Empire dissolved. The first Christian emperors degraded the status of Jews to an inferior citizenship, and the Christian church followed suit. Pope Gregory the Great (590 604) considered the Jews to be defenseless foreigners, and demanded that they place themselves under the direct protection of kings. At that time Christians were prohibited from lending money, while secular laws prohibited Jews from owning or holding land. The need for banking and credit forced Jews into these professions, which aggravated non Jews in the way that only the creditor/debtor relationship can.
A major exception to the persecution occurred during the reigns of the Merovingian kings of France, especially in the southern regions called Septimania. Despite official Church policy, the Jews of Septimania were treated with respect and equality by the natives. The Merovingian royalty and Jews married without controversy. Many Jewish names appear in the Merovingian genealogies. Jews held important positions of governrnent. A section of the Salic Laws which were codified during the Merovingian rule has been shown to derive from Judaic Law.
Southern France has been notable for its religious tolerance. The Visigoths, who conquered the region in 419, followed Arian Christianity, a heresy dissenting from with the Roman Church in many ways. Arianism especially held that Jesus was not God, but a man, the same view held by the Jews. The heresy ended in 507 when King Claudas of France seized most of the Goths' land; eventually the Visigoths were converted to the Roman Church. The Jews had a more difficult time with the conquerors. Eventually the area fell under Saracen control when the Moors conquered it. Since Islam respects the prophets of the Old Testament, the Jews again prospered for a while.
Beliefs
The Jewish faith was established by the prophet Abraham, who made a covenant with Jehovah, the One God. Over generations Abraham's people became the Israelites, who learned the Law of God from Jehovah and became the caretakers of the world's first monotheistic religion.History
The Israelites were a nomadic tribe who settled in Egypt, where they were enslaved. They escaped,, and after a period of wandering under the guidance of their leader and law giver, Moses, the Jewish people were given the blessing and burden of being the keepers of the original monotheistic faith.After Moses died the people seized lands in the eastern Mediterranean under their leader Joshua, and eventually founded the land of Israel. They remained there, sometimes at war and sometimes at peace, until conquered by the Romans.
In the time of Christ the Jews were one of many peoples in the region subject to Roman rule. There were many revolts. The most important was in 135 A.D. when Bar Kochba was ruthlessly crushed by Emperor Hadrian. The Jews were then expelled from their homeland. They settled throughout the empire, and in foreign lands.
In 212, the Jews were granted Roman citizenship, as were the other inhabitants of the Empire. Rather than accepting the implied equality, contemporaries scorned their spiritual separatism, insistence on ritual purity, unusual practices (such as circumcision), and claim to divine exclusivity.
Their status declined as the Empire dissolved. The first Christian emperors degraded the status of Jews to an inferior citizenship, and the Christian church followed suit. Pope Gregory the Great (590 604) considered the Jews to be defenseless foreigners, and demanded that they place themselves under the direct protection of kings. At that time Christians were prohibited from lending money, while secular laws prohibited Jews from owning or holding land. The need for banking and credit forced Jews into these professions, which aggravated non Jews in the way that only the creditor/debtor relationship can.
A major exception to the persecution occurred during the reigns of the Merovingian kings of France, especially in the southern regions called Septimania. Despite official Church policy, the Jews of Septimania were treated with respect and equality by the natives. The Merovingian royalty and Jews married without controversy. Many Jewish names appear in the Merovingian genealogies. Jews held important positions of governrnent. A section of the Salic Laws which were codified during the Merovingian rule has been shown to derive from Judaic Law.
Southern France has been notable for its religious tolerance. The Visigoths, who conquered the region in 419, followed Arian Christianity, a heresy dissenting from with the Roman Church in many ways. Arianism especially held that Jesus was not God, but a man, the same view held by the Jews. The heresy ended in 507 when King Claudas of France seized most of the Goths' land; eventually the Visigoths were converted to the Roman Church. The Jews had a more difficult time with the conquerors. Eventually the area fell under Saracen control when the Moors conquered it. Since Islam respects the prophets of the Old Testament, the Jews again prospered for a while.