Reading the Rabbis: Christian Hebraism in the Works of Herbert of Bosham

238 Pages·2013·1.176 MB·English

by  Eva De Visscher

contents i
Reading the Rabbis
ii contents
Commentaria
Sacred Texts and Their Commentaries:
Jewish, Christian and Islamic
Founding Editors
Grover A. Zinn
Michael A. Signer (ob.)
Editors
Frans van Liere
Lesley Smith
E. Ann Matter
Thomas E. Burman
Robert A. Harris
Walid Saleh
VOLUME 5
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/comm
contents iii
Reading the Rabbis
Christian Hebraism in the Works of Herbert of Bosham
By
Eva De Visscher
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2014
iv contents
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Visscher, Eva De.
Reading the rabbis : Christian Hebraism in the works of Herbert of Bosham / by Eva De Visscher.
pages cm. -- (Commentaria, ISSN 1874-8236 ; Volume 5)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-25468-8 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-25573-9 (e-book) 1. Herbert, of
Bosham, active 12th century--Knowledge--Judaism. 2. Christian Hebraists--England--History--12th
century. 3. Christianity and other religions--Relations--Judaism--History--12th century. 4. Judaism--
Relations--Christianity--History--12th century. I. Title.
PR2065.V57 2013
296.092--dc23
2013021640
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ISSN 1874-8236
ISBN 978-90-04-25468-8 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-25573-9 (e-book)
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For my parents, Jacques De Visscher and Kristine Duthoit
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ix
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  xi
Notes on Translations and Transliterations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   xiii
List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  xv

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
1. Herbert of Bosham’s Life and Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
2. Christian Hebraisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
3. The Hebraist Commentaries: The Magna Glosatura and the
Psalterium Cum Commento . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
I.  How Much Hebrew did Herbert Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.  Transliteration of Hebrew Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.  Knowledge of Hebrew Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.  Lexical Changes: The Problems of Literal Translation . . . . . . . 45
II.  Hebrew Learning Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
1.  Jerome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.  Hebrew-Latin Psalters and the Eadwine Psalter . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.  Hebraico-French Glosses—Le‘azim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.  Hebrew-Hebraico-French Glossaries and Proto-dictionaries  74
III. The Use of Rabbinic Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
1. Magister and Litterator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
2.  Rashi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2.  Midrash Tehillim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.  The Talmud/Gamaliel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.  The Targums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.  Menahem ben Saruq and Dunash ibn Labrat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.  Oral Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
IV. Negotiating Christian and Jewish Authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
1.  Paul’s Neutralising Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
2.  Paul as Christianising Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
3.  Paul versus the Litteratores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
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4.  Herbert on the Fence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
V. The Practice of Literal Exegesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
1.  Hebraist, Exegete and Polemicist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
2.  Littera and Peshat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
3. Caro and Spiritus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Appendix 1. Lists of Hebrew and French Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Appendix 2. Plates of London, St Paul s Cathedral Library, MS 2 . . . 203
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is based upon my doctoral dissertation at the University of Leeds
and a post-doctoral project carried out at the University of Oxford. Many
people and several institutions helped it along the way: the Arts and
Humanities Research Board and the British Academy; the University of
Leeds Postgraduate Research Fund; the Royal Historical Society; the E.U.-
funded Historica Judaica project and Oriel College, Oxford. I am grateful
in particular to the following research libraries and their librarians:
Jo Wisdom at the St Paul’s Cathedral Library, and the staff at the Guild-
hall Library and Lambeth Palace Library in London; Joanne Ball at the
Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge; Dr Michael Kaufman at the
Bodleian Library, Dr Piet van Boxel at the Oriental Studies Library, and the
staff at Corpus Christi Library, Oxford. Thank you also to those who offered
accommodation during my research trips on a tight budget: Tom and Jenny
L’Estrange, Alan and Sasha Shaw, and Dr Amanda Power. Great feelings of
appreciation and gratitude go to my doctoral supervisors at Leeds: Dr
William Flynn, Dr James Ginther, Prof. Hugh Pyper, and post-doctoral
mentors at Oxford: Prof. John Barton, and, in particular, Dr Lesley Smith.
I would further like to thank Dr Anna Sapir Abulafia and Prof. Judith
Olszowy-Schlanger, Dr Deborah Goodwin, Dr Frans van Liere and Dr
Robert Harris for their kind and critical advice; Kate Andréo, Dr Kathryne
Beebe, Dr Hilary Brown, Dr Rhiannon Daniels, Jeff Dubberley, Chloe
Griffiths and Dr Elizabeth L’Estrange have been invaluable friends in the
course of writing this book. Most of all I would like to thank my partner
Geert for his unfailing practical and moral support, and his love, and my
daughters Hannah and Clara for the wonderful, sometimes frustrating, but
often much-needed, distraction they provided.
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