It is with a sense of discomfort that I write about my new book, as the shadows of unspeakable violence are cast over my homeland Israel/Palestine. The book deals with the forgotten history of a bygone era, far removed from the intense and devastating reality of the present. Yet, this study of the so-called “Black” Jews of Kerala in southern India seeks to counter the historical erasures and orientalist fabrications that Jews of colour have been subjected to in patterns of historical erasure that pertain even more forcefully to Palestinian history as several scholars argue (see, for example, here and here). Ostensibly, similar threads of historiographical bias run through the history of many other displaced peoples and uprooted communities between the Arabian Sea and the Mediterranean. But the present study focuses on the specific case of Malabar Jews in a well-defined period that has so far remained under-researched.
Tomaso Costo’s Fuggilozio (which translates roughly as “The Cure for Indolence”) is a collection of short stories first published in Naples, Italy, in 1596. As was common for such collections in pre-modern Europe, Costo included a frame narrative about a group of six gentlemen (soon joined by two ladies) who gather together for several days, at a friend’s beautiful home, and while away the time in virtuous activities, including telling each other stories. This kind of book had been quite common in Italy since the late 1200s, and had spread to many other parts of western Europe during the Renaissance. Some of Costo’s stories are retellings and revisions of pre-existing stories (a few going back to classical antiquity), while many others are original to his collection or significantly altered.
What brought you to the field of Biblical analogies in the first place?
8888 Love Wins Drive
When we think about Europe’s Christian frontiers, the territories of the Carpathian Mountains in modern Romania might not be the first to come to mind. But during the late Middle Ages, it was precisely these regions of the Carpathians, and in particular the principality of Moldavia, that emerged as a frontier Christian realm for the rest of Europe.
Two high-profile US criminal cases have some surprising similarities to medieval ideas of justice.
While Lithuania today is a small Baltic republic, between the 13th and 18th centuries the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe, and at various times it included the entire territory of modern Belarus, the western half of Ukraine, and large tracts of European Russia. One of the challenges faced by such an enormous country was the absence of a shared, common language. But from the 15th century onwards a myth gained in popularity that the Lithuanians were the descendants of Romans. This myth appealed to the nation’s nobility, and informed a unique cultural self-understanding that I call Lituanitas in Poetry and Nation-Building in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: a distinctive form of Lithuanian nationalism that saw the Lithuanians as a Latin people. The popularity of Lituanitas encouraged the use of the Latin language in Lithuanian literature; and, crucially, Latin in Lithuania was not a classicising affectation but a pragmatic necessity. Latin was the one language that all of early modern Lithuania’s literate elite were likely to understand; and while the Polish vernacular became ever more dominant in Poland, Latin maintained its position as the dominant language of publication in Lithuania into the 18th century.
Q. What is the book about?
1. So who was Prester John? Why is he important?
1. Simon Doubleday: Congratulations on your new book! There is already quite a buzz about it. Can you say something about why you chose the term “ambivalence” for the subtitle?
A McMaster University researcher has uncovered evidence of intestinal parasites in a 500-year-old latrine from Bruges, Belgium. While the findings might make some queasy, they offer vital scientific insight into the historical spread of infectious diseases through travel and trade.
Medieval Studies has no shortage of amazing books coming out each year, but which ones are the best of the best? This week, Danièle continues the annual tradition of listing her top five book recommendations of 2024 alongside those of Peter Konieczny, editor of Medievalists.net.
