ABSTRACT
The main economic activity throughout the Jewish Middle Ages was local and regional. Jewish mercantile activities were regulated by halakha and by the laws of their ambient societies, as well as by an interplay of the two, and many contemporary scholars postulate that Christian or Islamic economic law superseded Jewish law in most areas. The economic profile of medieval European Jews was relatively limited. Jewish ownership of agricultural land is attested particularly in the south, mostly related to viniculture, and seems to have been ongoing. Jews were active in salt production, milling, and industries related to textiles, from luxury dye stuff to producing expensive fabrics. Jewish political and economic conditions shared commonalities across geographical regions, even as they exhibited unique characteristics. Many of the standard depictions of medieval Jews turn out, on closer inspection, to be more the product of modern conceptions and imagination than of medieval realities.
