H-France Review Vol. 1 (July 2001), No. 16
William Chester Jordan, Ideology and Royal Power in Medieval
France. Kingship, Crusades and Jews. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing
Ltd, 2001. x+ 276 pp. Preface, notes, and index. $99.95 U.S. (cl). ISBN
0-86078-856-3.
Review by Michael Goodich, University of Haifa.
This Variorum edition of sixteen articles and conference papers by William Chester Jordan focuses on the French monarchy, the Jews, and the Crusades, themes which the author has dealt with in both books and articles during the past twenty-five years. While some of the material has been tangentially covered elsewhere, this collection nevertheless does both medieval historians and specialists in French and Jewish history a valuable service by making these pieces more readily available under one cover. Although some may appear to deal with narrow themes, such as appropriations for public works, liturgical and ceremonial cloths as a reflection of political ideology, or the problems of the meat market in Béziers in the mid-thirteenth century, all have wider implications as illustrations of the manifold roles of the French monarchy in the central and later middle ages. Most of the primary material employed is taken from printed editions of medieval sources, including charters. Nevertheless, some manuscripts are cited from the Archives Nationales and the Bibliothèque Nationale as well as sources from various archives départementales.
Jordan goes beyond the standard Latin sources in order to examine vernacular Crusader poetry, drama, manuscript illuminations, and the minor arts, such as ceremonial cloths, in order to demonstrate the relationship between contemporary royal and ecclesiastical ideology and a variety of more popular media. For example, a study of the iconological themes of the Psalter of Saint-Louis (Paris, BN MS. Lat. 10525) attempts to indicate how the story of the Jewish patriarch Joseph was taken to illustrate features of the life of Louis IX and served as a symbol for the history of Christian salvation. Two articles are devoted to Crusader poetry. Jordan's study of the songs of Thibaud, count Palatine of Champagne, follows Riley-Smith’s argument that love is portrayed as the proper motivation of the Crusader. His study of three anonymous poems related to Louis’ so-called Egyptian Crusade indicates how vernacular poetry may be a useful gauge of royal sentiment. An article on the Latin poem attributed to Petrus Riga on the occasion of the birth of Philip Augustus is interpreted as an encomium to kingship and the peaceful, legitimate transition of power. One fascinating historiographical study traces the image of St. Louis beyond the middle ages, indicating how he became a dynamic symbol largely for monarchists, political rightists, anti-Semites and moral traditionalists, from Pierre Lemoyne in the seventeenth century to Romain Rolland in the twentieth.
The section devoted to the Jewish (more often anti-Jewish) policies of the French monarchy is particularly rich and textured, detailing the ways in which the Jewish population’s fate was tied to changing political, economic and ideological needs. The 1240 trial of the Talmud is shown to be linked to the stereotypical view of the Jews as stubborn, malicious, and perfidious, harboring a special animus toward the Virgin Mary, whose cult flourished in the central Middle Ages. Northern France in the late twelfth century was a particularly influential source of many of the canards hurled against the Jews, which were spread by such popular figures as Gautier de Coincy. The impact of such stereotypes is illustrated on the daily level in a tightly argued social historical examination of the commercial ties between Jew and Christian in the meat market of Béziers in the thirteenth century. The Jews were centrally involved in this trade during a flourishing period of mutually beneficial economic expansion, despite the negative popular and learned view of both butchers and Jews. Ecclesiastical prohibitions could not prevent such activity. In the 1240s, military operations in the region led to depredations, shortages, and criminal activity. This was followed by royal intervention in favor of eliminating Jewish involvement in the retail meat trade.
Several other articles address the shifting sands of royal Jewry policy from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century. Because of their dependence on royal protection, policy toward the Jews was an expression of centralization and the growing assertion of regalian rights in the face of the demands of over fifty barons who claimed authority over the Jews. Limitations on financial and social ties between Jews and Christians served as a means of publicly affirming royal piety, currying popularity, and enriching the state’s coffers from Philip II Augustus through Philip X and beyond. The Jews were increasingly marginalized and placed in a precarious position. The micro-impact of such policies is detailed in a study of the period 1315-1322, when, due to changing circumstances, the Jews moved from being aliens, to temporary sojourners, enemies, and again expellees.
In short, this volume provides a valuable service in bringing together scattered articles by Jordan. A word of praise should further be voiced concerning the author’s elegant and eminently readable prose style. The volume naturally suffers the disadvantages of any such collection of essays: occasional overlapping, the absence of a fixed narrative theme, different citation styles. More extensive citation of contemporary Hebrew sources (for example, how did the Jews themselves feel about the butcher’s profession?) would help to clarify how this persecuted minority reacted to its condition. Nevertheless, these problems are more than compensated for by the provocative contents of this volume.
List of Essays
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Quando fuit natus: interpreting the birth of Philip Augustus
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The Psalter of Saint-Louis (BN MS. Lat 10525): the program of the 78 full-page illustration
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Communal administration in France, 1257-1270: problems discovered and solutions imposed
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The case of Saint Louis
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Liturgical and ceremonial cloths: neglected evidence of medieval political theology
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Saint Louis in French epic and drama
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Cutting the budget: the impact of the crusades on appropriations for public works in France
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Supplying Aigues-Mortes for the Crusade of 1248: the problem of reconstructing trade
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The representation of the Crusades in the songs attributed to Thibaud, Count Palatine of Champagne
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‘Amen!’ Cinq fois ‘Amen!’. Les chansons de la croisade égyptienne de Saint Louis, une source négligée d’opinion royaliste
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Marian devotion and the Talmud trial of 1240
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Problems of the meat market of Béziers 1240-1247: a question of anti-Semitism.
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Princely identity and the Jews in medieval France
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Home again: the Jews in the kingdom of France, 1315-1322
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Jews, regalian rights, and the constitution in medieval France
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The Jews and the transition to papal rule in the Comtat Venaissin
Michael Goodich
University of Haifa
goodich@research.haifa.ac.il
Copyright © 2001 by the Society for French Historical Studies, all rights reserved. The Society for French Historical Studies permits the electronic distribution for nonprofit educational purposes, provided that full and accurate credit is given to the author, the date of publication, and its location on the H-France website. No republication or distribution by print media will be permitted without permission. For any other proposed uses, contact the Editor-in-Chief of H-France.
H-France Review Vol. 1 (July 2001), No. 16
ISSN 1553-9172
