Robert Chazan

It is tedious and usually unnecessary to begin papers with a
definition of terms. In this case, however, preliminary delineation
of topic is unavoidable. The term "anti-Semitism" means many
things to many people, and useful understanding can be achieved
only when aspects of this multi-faceted phenomenon are carefully
isolated and analyzed. The accepted usages of the term "anti-
Semitism" range from the narrow (opposition to and denigration
of the Jews as a racial group) to the very broad (any anti-Jewish
behavior or attitude). In this paper the term will be used in an
intermediate fashion, neither excessively narrow nor excessively
broad, focusing on popular negative views and stereotypes of the
Jews. The term "medieval" requires less attention, although it too
is regularly used in a variety of ways. Again for the purpose of
isolating a limited and analyzable aspect of the broader phenome-
non of medieval anti-Semitism, this paper will be confined ar-
bitrarily to the newly emerging Ashkenazic communities of
northern Europe during the period between 1000 and 1500 C.E.
This arbitrary choice on the one hand reflects my own personal
interests and expertise; at the same time, the popular anti-Jewish
stereotypes that developed in this area during this period are of
enormous significance for the overall study of the history of anti-
Semitism. In particular, this area forms the major conduit

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