Figuring Racism in Medieval Christianity

313 Pages·2018·28.324 MB·English

by  M. Lindsay Kaplan

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Figuring Racism in Medieval
Christianity
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Figuring Racism
in Medieval
Christianity
z
M. LINDSAY KAPLAN
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1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
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Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© M. Lindsay Kaplan 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress
ISBN 978– 0– 19– 067824– 1
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
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This book is dedicated to my mother, Anne Wingfield Kaplan, and
in memory of my other “mothers” Emma Burnside Willis, Doris
Bryce Ingram, and Frieda Grunfeld Eisen, whose love, courage,
and integrity inspire all I do.
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םידבע םהל תיהמ םירצמ ץראמ םכתא יתאצוה רשא םכיקלא יי ינא
(גי:וכ ארקיו)
I am HaShem your G- d, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves.
(Leviticus 26:13)
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Theology, Inferiority, Racism 1
1. Servitus Judaeorum: Biblical Figures, Canon Law, and the
Construction of Hereditary Inferiority 19
2. The Mark of Cain and Embodying Inferiority 57
3. Making Darkness Visible: The Colors of Subjection in Medieval
English Psalter Illuminations 81
4. Jewish Ham: Developing a Discourse of Hereditary Inferiority 103
5. Cain, Ham, and Ishmael: The African Travels of Perpetual
Servitude 135
Coda 167
Notes 169
References 245
Index 273
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ix
Illustrations
4.1 Page from the Glossa Ordinaria that includes
the text of Genesis 9:24– 29 and accompanying
commentaries. 114
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, Clm 14132,
Genesis et Exodus cum glossa ordinaria fol 40v,
urn: nbn:de:bvb:12- bsb00034372- 2.
4.2 The Jews veil and beat Jesus. 119
© The British Library Board. MS Sloane 346 fol. 5r.
4.3 The Jews spit upon Hur, the husband of Miriam. 120
© The British Library Board. MS Sloane 346 fol. 5v.
4.4 Ham mocks the nudity of the sleeping Noah
while Shem and Japhet hide their eyes. 121
© The British Library Board. MS Sloane 346 fol. 6r.
4.5 The Philistines deride and blind Samson. 122
© The British Library Board. MS Sloane 346 fol. 6v.
4.6 Rotulus representing the genealogy of Jesus;
detail showing offspring of Cham (Ham). 127
bpk Bildagentur / Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin / Art
Resource, NY Ms.lat.fol.141 Rotulus.
4.7 Ham mocks Noah, upper right hand- image, as
figure for Jews mocking Jesus, middle right-
hand image. Richard Day’s Christian prayers and
meditations (1569), RB 60973, fol. diir. 129
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.