The ideology of reform and changing ideas concerning Jews in the works of rupert of deutz and hermannus quondam iudeus
In 1965 Lea Dasberg postulated that one result of the Investiture Struggle was that the political and economic status of the Jews began to erode. Jews, as the perceived allies of the emperor, were cast in the role of the enemies of an increasingly assertive Church intent on establishing its freedom from all non-ecclesiastical interference.' This theory has not received widespread acclaim; nonetheless, there is an obvious appeal in the suggestion that one should investigate possible connections between the Gregorian Reform and changing twelfth-century attitudes of Christians to Jews. The religious revival toward the end of the eleventh century, which spilled over into the twelfth century, was marked by the attempt of the reforming popes to disengage the Church from lay authority. In the eyes of popes such as Gregory VII, only a Church unimpeded by temporal encroachment could play its allotted function to create in society iustitia, or justice. And that meant total compliance of all who lived in that society with the life ordained by Jesus Christ.2 Only a universal Church that was properly steered by Rome, through papal legates and bishops who looked to Rome for instruction, could effectively play this role. One side of the Reform movement thus concentrated on the structure which the Church needed in order to Christianize society.
Jewish-Christian disputations and the twelfth-century renaissance
An important aspect of the medieval debate between Christians and Jews was Jewish-Christian disputations. These disputations were either records of real discussions or academic treatises written in...
Gilbert Crispin, Alan of Lille, and Jacob Ben Reuben: A Study in the Transmission of Medieval Polemic
ONE of the most influential medieval polemics against the Jews was Gilbert Crispin's Disputatio Iudaei et Christiani, which was written in the late eleventh century and may reflect a genuine discussion between Crispin and a Jewish disputant.1 However, the dependence of the third book of Alan of Lille's Contra Haereticos2 upon Crispin's disputation has not been widely recognized. Blumenkranz, for example, in discussing the impact of Crispin's work in the twelfth century, noted the resemblance between the Disputatio and the Dialogus inter Christianum et ludeaum ascribed to William of Champeaux,3 but made no mention of the far closer relationship between Crispin and Alan.4 Vasoli, in a special study of the Contra Haereticos, also overlooked the major source of book three.5 Even d'Alverny, who noted the relationship between the two works, did not give a precise indication of its extent. Alan, she writes, "was inspired in large measure by the Disputatio of Gilbert Crispin and reproduced entire passages of this work."6 In fact, just under forty percent of Alan's polemic is copied almost word for word from Crispin or a previous digest of Crispin. The following table indicates the passages which Alan copied: