ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses exclusively on medieval Jewish civilization, from the fall of the Roman Empire to about 1492. It presents alphabetically organized entries, written by scholars from around the world, include biographies, countries, events, social history, and religious concepts. Canon law refers to the codification, or more correctly the collection, of decrees of church councils, popes, and so on that set forth the attitude of the medieval church on a variety of topics. The two main collections of medieval canon law were the Decretum of Gratian, ca. 1140, and the Decretals, compiled by Ramon de Penafort in 1234. Medieval halakhists ruled, on the basis of talmudic sources, that the Jewish judiciary (lesser Sanhedrins) could not try capital cases unless the Great Sanhedrin was sitting in its chamber at the Temple. Jewish "religious" culture was thoroughly represented in Castile in the form of numerous biblical commentaries, compendia of Jewish law, responsa, and talmudic commentaries.