The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History

This is no conventional dictionary. For two centuries an extensive Jewish community played an important role in English history. The book opens up a society for which we have sources 'many hundreds of times richer than those for France' (Robert Chazan). Nearly 30 self-governing communities extended across the country, from York to Exeter, Hereford to Canterbury. 42 illustrations include 14 town plans. Vestiges of the medieval Jewry remain in street names; sites of Jewish houses, synagogues and cemeteries; and archaeological sites and artefacts. 30 biographic entries examine leading members of communities; 8 family trees show that in six cases they extended over at least five generations. A wide range of entries of general interest provide details on matters as diverse as synagogues, ritual child murder, women, libraries and books, mikva'ot, Usury, herb gardens, bezant, community, treasure and laving stone. 139

JOE HILLABY is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and an acknowledged authority on English Medieval Jewry. He has been JHSE Council Member since 1995 and has published detailed studies of the medieval Jewries of London, Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester and Bristol, the 12th-century Jewish colonisation of England, the English medieval synagogue, mikva'ot and ritual-child-murder accusations.

List of illustrations
Preface, including listings of topographic, biographic and general entries
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
English Medieval Jewry, 1135-1290: An Introduction
The Dictionary
Bibliography