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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
The middle decades of the thirteenth century saw a remarkable upsurge in Christian missionizing activity. While efforts to spread the regnant faith by eloquent persuasion had never been totally lacking in medieval Christendom, widespread interest in proselytizing and the creation of effective missionizing techniques are especially prominent during this period. Old and new ecclesiastical institutions channeled their energies towards evangelizing, and some of the most learned and original minds lent their talents.
1 Sec, inter alia, Southern, R. W., Western Views of Islam (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 42–66Google Scholar; Altaner, Berthold, Die Dominikanermissionen des 13. Jahrhunderts (Habelschwerdt, 1924)Google Scholar; Moorman, John, A History of the Franciscan Order (Oxford, 1968), 226–77Google Scholar; Burns, Robert, Christian-Islamic Confrontation in the West: The Thirteenth-Century Dream of Conversion, American Historical Review LXXVI (1971), 1386–1434.Google Scholar For an exchange concerning the seriousness of earlier conversionist impulses, see Cutler, Allan, The First Crusade and the Idea of Conversion, Muslim World LVIII (1968), 57–71Google Scholar and 155–64, and James Waltz, Historical Perspective on “Early Missions” to Muslims: A Response to Allan Cutler, ibid. LXI (1971), 170–86.
2 See Throop, Palmer, Criticism of the Crusade (Amsterdam, 1940)Google Scholar; Runciman, Steven, The Decline of the Crusading Ideal, Sewanee Review LXXIX (1971),. 498–513.Google Scholar
3 For the potential impact of the new rationalism on the Christian view of the Jew, see Funkenstein, Amos, Changes in the Patterns of Christian Anti-Jewish Polemics in the 12th Century (Hebrew), Zion XXXIII (1968), 125–44.Google Scholar
4 Browe, Peter, Die Judenmission im Mittelalter und die Päpste (Rome, 1942Google Scholar; Miscellanea Historiae Pontificae); Baron, Salo, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (2nd ed.; 14 vols.; New York, 1952–1969), IX, 71–94.Google Scholar
5 On Nicholas Donin's destructive campaign against the Jews, see my forthcoming Medieval Jewry in Northern France, ch. IV, and the literature cited there. On Friar Paul, see infra, 451.
6 Grayzel, Solomon, The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century (Rev. ed.; New York, 1966), # 105Google Scholar
7 On Paul's activities in Aragon, see Baer, Yitzhak, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain (2 vols.; Philadelphia, 1961–1966), I, 150–59.Google Scholar On the famous disputation in Barcelona, see idem, Critical Study of the Disputations of R. Yehiel of Paris and of Moses, R. b. Nahman (Hebrew), Tarbiẓ II (1931), 172–87Google Scholar; Roth, Cecil, The Disputation of Barcelona (1263), Harvard Theological Review XLIII (1950), 117–44Google Scholar; COhen, Martin, Reflections on the Text and Context of the Disputation of Barcelona, Hebrew Union College Annual XXXV (1964), 157–92. On Paul's activities in France, see again Medieval Jewry in Northern France, ch. IV.Google Scholar
8 The collection is preserved in ms. 2749 of the Biblioteca Palatina Parma. The fullest discussion of this manuscript, generally called Milḥemet Miẓvah (hereafter M.M.), can be found in Stein, Siegfrid, Jewish-Christian Disputations in Thirteenth-Century Narbonne (London, 1964). I have been able to study this manuscript through the facilities of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem.Google Scholar
9 M.M., 1a-17a and 37b-64a. The term 
, used for the Christian, refers in Biblical literature to a male temple-prostitute. It is often used in medieval Hebrew as a sign of contempt, usually in contrast with 
or truly sacred.
10 M.M., 1a-8a.
11 Ibid., 1b-3b.
12 Ibid., 1b. All translation of Biblical verses will be taken from The New English Bible. For the utilization of Edom as a designation for Christianity, see Cohen, Gerson, Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought, Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Altmann, Alexander (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), 19–48.Google Scholar
13 Ibid., 3a. The Biblical verses are found in Exod. 18:10–12.
14 M.M., 3b.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., 1b. The same basic contention is fundamental to the author's case against Louis IX's anti-usury legislation. He claims that usury from non-Jews is permitted to the Jews by their understanding of Scriptures and that the king has no right to force any other view of the matter upon his Jewish subjects.
17 Ibid.
18 Ezek. 44:9.
19 M.M., 3a.
20 Isa. 54:5.
21 Ibid., 62:5.
22 Hos. 2:7 and 2:4.
23 Ibid., 2:21–22. The translation has been modified slightly.
24 Isa. 54:6–7.
25 M.M., 2b-3a.
26 Ibid., 17a-21b.
27 Ibid., 17a.
28 
. The term 
as an expression of opprobrium has already been encountered.
29 
.
30 Ibid., 17b. The quotation is from Exod. 4:12.
31 The presence of non-Jewish listeners raises the problem of language. It seems most unlikely that a Hebrew sermon could be given under such circumstances. The Jewish preacher probably spoke in the vernacular.
32 M.M., 17a.
33 S. of S. 8:8. The translation has been adapted slightly to fit the preacher's use.
34 M.M., 17b.
35 Ibid., 18a.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., 18b-19a.
38 Jer. 16:19.
39 M.M., 20a.
40 Jer. 16:20. The translation has been modified to show the preacher's special use of the verse.
41 M.M., 20a-20b. The preacher attempts to buttress his interpretation of Jer. 16:20 by noting the same prophet's further condemnation of excessive reliance on mortal man—“A curse on the man who trusts in man and leans for support on human kind” (Jer. 17:5)—and his praise for those who rely only on the divine—“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and rests his confidence upon him” (Jer. 17:7).
42 Jer. 17:8. For the connection see the preceding note.
43 Ps. 1:3.
44 M.M., 20b.
45 Zech. 14:9.
46 ZePh.3:9.
47 M.M., 21b.
48 The text of this disputation has been published a number of times. A critical edition was prepared by Moritz Steinschneider in 1860, based on two earlier printed versions and two manuscripts. Subsequent editions have utilized Steinschneider. We shall cite from Steinschneider, , Vikuaḥ ha-Ramban (Stettin, 1860)Google Scholar, and from Chavel, Chaim, Kitvei Rabbenu Moshe ben Nahman (Rev. ed.; 2 vols.; Jerusalem, 1971), I, 302–20.Google Scholar English translations of the disputation are available in Braude, Morris, Conscience on Trial (New York, 1952), 71–94Google Scholar, and in Rankin, Oliver, Jewish Religious Polemic (Edinburgh, 1956), 178–210.Google Scholar
49 Steinschneider, Vikuaḥ, 5; Chavel, Kitvei, 303.
50 Steinschneider, Vikuaḥ, 5; CHavel, Kitvei, 303. Steinschneider miscopied the Constantinople text, resulting in the strange reading:
(since the king was in Provence and in many places). In fact the Constantinople text and a series of manuscripts all read:
(since he [i.e., Friar Paul] journeyed in Provence and in many places). Cf. Ms. Cambridge, Add. 1224, 12b; Ms. Parma 127, 1b; Ms. Florence 24, 2b; Ms. Paris 334, 234b; Ms. Oxford 2408, 58a; Ms. Jewish Theological Seminary, Coll. Adler 1793, 170a.
51 Steinschneider, Vikuaḥ, 21; Chavel, Kitvei, 319. The Hebrew text records also a brief and courteous rebuttal by R. Moses to the king's claims, as well as to the subsequent remarks of Raymond of Penafort. One of R. Moses' extant sermons, entitled Torat ha-Shem Temimah (The Torah of the Lord is Perfect), has often been connected with this incident—see, e.g., Chavel, Kitvei, 139–40, and Kupfer, Ephraim, The Concluding Portion of Nachmanides' Discourse Torat ha-Shem Temima (Hebrew), Tarbiẓ XL (1971), 65, n. 10. Identification of this lengthy discourse with the rebuttal at Barcelona is, however, highly problematic. The entire question of Nachmanides' responses and Torat ha-Shem Temimah requires further study.Google Scholar
52 This text, as yet unpublished, can be found in Ms. Vatican 271, 1a-17b. For a discussion of the treatise, see Renan, Ernest, Les rabbins français du commencement du quaiorzième siècle (Paris, 1876), 565–70.Google Scholar
53 On Raymond Martini's polemics against the Jews, see Berthier, Andre, Un Maitre orientaliste du XIIIe siècle: Raymond Martin O.P., Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum VI (1936), 267–311Google Scholar; Baer, Yitzhak, The Forged Midrashim of Raymond Martini (Hebrew), Sejer Zikaron le-Asher Gulak ule-Shmuel Klein (Jerusalem, 1942), 28–49Google Scholar; Lieberman, Saul, Historia Judaica V (1943), 87–102Google Scholar; idem, Shki'in (2nd ed.; Jerusalem, 1970)Google Scholar; Bonfil, Reuven, The Nature of Judaism in Raymundus Martini's Pugio Fidei, (Hebrew), Tarbiz XL (1971), 360–75.Google Scholar
54 Berthier, Un Maître orientaliste, 287–93.
55 Raymond Martini, Pugio Fidei (Leipzig, 1687), II ch. 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10.
56 Steinschneider, Vikuaḥ 5; Chavel, Kitvei, 303.
57 Ms. Vatican 271, 8b-9b.
58 Steinschneider, Vikuaḥ, 21; Chavel, Kitvei, 320.
59 Martini, Pugio Fidei, III, sec. 3, ch. 1–5.
60 Baer, A Critical Study, 185. Baer suggests that, on this point, the Latin version is more precise than its Hebrew counterpart.
61 Delisle, Léopold, Notes sur quelques mss. du Musée britannique, Mémoires de la Société de l'Histoire de Paris IV (1877), 189. For the identification of the Dominican preacher as Friar Paul, see Bibliothèque nationale Paris, fonds Dupuy, vol.532, f° 79.Google Scholar
62 Ms. Vatican 271, 16b-17b. For the internal Jewish debate over whether the true messiah would bring about the nullification of Jewish law, see Scholem, Gershom, Redemption through Sin, The Messianic Idea in Judaism (New York, 1971), 78–141.Google Scholar
63 It should be noted that the author of M.M. addresses himself, elsewhere in the work, to the problem of allegorization of the commandments by members of the Jewish community itself. It is possible that his remarks in the sermon are intended against this tendency as well.
64 Supra 452, n. 50.
65 Much of the material in the M.M. was composed precisely during the late 1250's and the early 1260's.
66 See my forthcoming study, Archbishop Guy Fulcodi of Narbonne and His Jews.
67 For papal support of Paul's programs in the mid-1260's, see Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, I, 158–59.
