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A Year in Jewish and Christian Life
William Chester JordanA vivid portrait of Jewish-Christian life across Europe in 1257
Set in the year 1257, this insightful book offers a vivid portrait of Jewish-Christian relations across medieval Europe through eight interconnected stories. From the streets of Paris and Oxford to the trading centres of Cologne, the frontier town of Cuenca and the troubled landscapes of southern France, it reveals a world shaped by cooperation, conflict, commerce, faith and political ambition. Along the way, powerful figures such as Louis IX of France, Manfred of Sicily and James of Aragon illuminate the wider forces transforming European society. Rather than reducing relations between religious communities to hostility or harmony alone, the book examines the conditions that encouraged both tension and coexistence. Through the experiences of individuals and communities, it offers a nuanced picture of a diverse and deeply interconnected medieval world.
William Chester Jordan is Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Emeritus, at Princeton University. His previous books include From England to France: Felony and Exile in the High Middle Ages (2015) and The Apple of His Eye: Converts from Islam in the Reign of Louis IX (2019).