A Thirteenth-Century Polymath Considers the Jews
Paper by William Chester Jordan
Given as part of the University of Oxford Medieval Studies program, on January 21, 2021
Overview: Christian polemics against Judaism and its adherents in the Middle Ages range from mild to dyspeptic. These polemics have come down to us in many sorts of texts, not simply those in the so-called ‘Contra Judaeos’ genre. A huge body of material to which scholars have paid insufficient attention in the discussions on the thirteenth century is the poetic oeuvre of the polymath, John of Garland. The goal of the lecture is to introduce some of the poet’s main themes into the conversation.