ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses exclusively on medieval Jewish civilization, from the fall of the Roman Empire to about 1492. It includes alphabetically organized entries, written by scholars from around the world, include biographies, countries, events, social history, and religious concepts. Jaime I, king of Aragón-Catalonia (1213–1276), was one of the most important rulers in medieval Spain and one of the most powerful of all medieval kings. The Latin work of Flavius Josephus, Jewish general in the Palestinian war against the Romans and prolific author of a history of that war and a general history of the Jews, as well as other works, was preserved by the Church but almost entirely unknown to the Jews in the Middle Ages. Ha-Levy was well known for his various "Wedding poems", written in honor of actual couples getting married, which were apparently read at the ceremony. Some of these are in honor of famous young scholars.
