BEYOND THE NARRATIVE: A STUDY OF MEDIEVAL GERMAN JEWISH MARTYRS’ LISTS

During the anti-Jewish violence of crusaders and other Christians in 1096, several Jews killed other Jews or themselves to avoid forced conversion or Christian abuse. Later generations of German Jews highlighted these martyrs (among those killed by Christians) in their narratives and liturgy. This article focuses on these “distinguished martyrs,” examining the scale and nature of their actions through quantitative analysis of medieval Hebrew martyrs’ lists. First, it introduces medieval Hebrew lists of martyrs, explaining how they reveal heretofore unnoticed observations about Jewish distinguished martyrdom. Second, it presents a quantitative analysis of this phenomenon based on both the lists and on chronicles describing the events of 1096. Third, it considers how the conclusions arising from the above two analyses offer new perspectives on some of the historiographical questions that continue to engage scholars. Overall, this article provides new information regarding the number, gender, and origin of distinguished martyrs, and sheds further light on their modes of behavior.