Gnostic-dualistic tendencies in the history of medieval Europe<br/><br/>Ch. I makes an exception to the main subjct of this volume, that of gnostic-dualistic te... » 

Gnostic-dualistic tendencies in the history of medieval Europe

Ch. I makes an exception to the main subjct of this volume, that of gnostic-dualistic tendencies. It is about the Disprivileged groups of the Middle Ages, Part I about the Jews and Part II about the women.

With regard to the Jews, one should not use the term 'anti-semitism'. This is a term with a racial connotation, but racism did not exist in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. When people objected to Jews, it was on religious grounds, for which reason we should rather speak of 'anti-Judaism'. Another point is that all ancient and medieval societies, pagan, Muslim, Byzantine, Christians of the West, were based on the concept of wholeness, which means that these societies were thought to exist by the grace of a common set of beliefs and customs. The Jews nowhere fitted into this model.

The attitude of the Byzantine Empire with regard to Jews was undoubtedly dualistic: the Jews should not be there and were discriminated against.

During the first five centuries of Christian-Jewish cohabitation in the Latin West the Jews were not treated badly. They were generally left in peace, while there were many friendly relations between families and individuals. This changed during the eleventh century, when the Crusades began. The first Crusade, that of 1096, consisted in fact of two crusades, the popular Crusade and the seigneurial Crusade. The popular Crusade, that achieved nothing of any importance in the military field, consisted for a great part of rabble. During their march to the Holy Land, where they came to grief, they found the enemy near at hand: the Jews. In the Rhineland and elsewhere in Germany and Austria many Jewish communities were molested; there were countless victims.

After this period the relationship remained difficult. The successive Popes acted as the official protectors of the Jews; on the whole the higher classes of society and the better educated were not anti-Judaistic, but the lower classes fell a prey to anti-Jewish stereotypes, such as the Jews being Christ-killers. Towards the end of the villages governments also began to be hostile to Jews: they were expelled from England, France, Spain and Portugal, and from many regions and cities in Germany. This was also the time that the first ghetto's came into existence.

Part II. It should not be thought that medieval women could only be housewives and mothers. We find them in all walks of life, even in finance and business. We should also not think that women were systematically oppressed by the male half of society. Nonetheless, it is true that the female sex was viewed as being inferior to male sex, which would mean that the relationship was dualistic. Most women were illiterate, but so were men. The degree of literacy was highest in the nunneries, because nuns must be able to read the hours. There were possiblities for girls to go school, although these were not numerous. Girls of noble parents had the best chances for an education. Some medieval women became famous for their erudition. Others were influential in social and political life.

Ecclesiastical law forbade women to exercize sacerdotal functions, but this is also true for married men. Generally the Church advocated the equality of men and women, although male clerics often took a low view of women. It is a popular opinion that medievl society was hostile to sexuality and that the hand of the Church rested heavily on it in this respect. The reverse is probably more true. People of these centuries were certainly much less inhibited with regard to sexuality and nudity than the Victorian era. The Church fought an uphill battle in order to convince the Christians that the marriage bond was insolvable. The position of women was weakened by the fact that marriages were not registrated, neither civilly nor ecclesiastically: they were common law unions, with the result that a partner, mostly the husband, could walk away and found a new family somewhere else.

Finally, a section i «