Hebrew and Jewish Book Culture in Medieval and Early Modern England – Bodleian Libraries

Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (OCHJS and Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford) and Dr César Merchán-Hamann (OCHJS and Bodleian Library)

This talk will highlight two instances of the intellectual production of Jewish scholars and their close collaboration with Christian scholars in England in past centuries. The first concerns the diverse cultural activities of the medieval Anglo-Jewish community before their expulsion in 1290, including the production of dictionaries and commentaries, some of which employed Anglo-Norman glosses written in Hebrew letters (i.e., Judeo-French).

The second focuses on the collaboration between Jewish and Christian scribes in the creation of bilingual Bibles as part of early Christian Hebraism. It will also consider the wide range of interest and curiosity among English scholars regarding Jewish learning in pre-expulsion England and, later, from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Following the return of the Jews to England, this interest included active collaboration with the Jewish community—both rabbis and lay leaders—who participated in major intellectual projects led by scholars such as John Selden, Edward Pococke, and Benjamin Kennicott.