{"title":"The Easter Ban in the Merovingian Kingdoms: Ideal and Reality","authors":"G. Halfond","doi":"10.1163/15700674-12340104","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nIn mid-sixth-century Gaul, two episcopal councils issued canons, in 538 and 581/3, respectively, attempting to prohibit interaction between Jews and Christians between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. The canons suggested that Jews, through their obstinate impiety, posed a threat to their Christian neighbors, particularly during that festal season associated with proselytization. While there is not corroborating evidence that the Merovingian-era Easter ban ever was put into effect, it should be understood not simply as an expression of Christian triumphalism, but rather as a sincere effort by the Gallo-Frankish bishops to protect their flocks from the “unbelieving Jews.” In an unintended consequence, the ban assigned far greater power and influence to Gallic Jews than they actually enjoyed.","PeriodicalId":52521,"journal":{"name":"Medieval Encounters","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medieval Encounters","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700674-12340104","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In mid-sixth-century Gaul, two episcopal councils issued canons, in 538 and 581/3, respectively, attempting to prohibit interaction between Jews and Christians between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. The canons suggested that Jews, through their obstinate impiety, posed a threat to their Christian neighbors, particularly during that festal season associated with proselytization. While there is not corroborating evidence that the Merovingian-era Easter ban ever was put into effect, it should be understood not simply as an expression of Christian triumphalism, but rather as a sincere effort by the Gallo-Frankish bishops to protect their flocks from the “unbelieving Jews.” In an unintended consequence, the ban assigned far greater power and influence to Gallic Jews than they actually enjoyed.
期刊介绍:
Medieval Encounters promotes discussion and dialogue accross cultural, linguistic and disciplinary boundaries on the interactions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures during the period from the fourth through to the sixteenth century C.E. Culture is defined in its widest form to include art, all manner of history, languages, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, religion and science. The geographic limits of inquiry will be bounded only by the limits in which the traditions interacted. Confluence, too, will be construed in its widest form to permit exploration of more indirect interactions and influences and to permit examination of important subjects on a comparative basis.