In the late Middle Ages; Europe saw the rise of one of its most virulent myths: that Jews abused the eucharistic bread as a form of anti-Christian blasphemy; causing it to bleed miraculously. The allegation fostered tensions between Christians and Jews that would explode into violence across Germany and Austria. And pilgrimage shrines were built on the sites where supposed desecrations had led to miracles or to anti-Semitic persecutions. Exploring the legends; cult forms; imagery; and architecture of these host-miracle shrines; Pilgrimage and Pogrom reveals how they not only reflected but also actively shaped Christian anti-Judaism in the two centuries before the Reformation.
#428071 in Books University Of Chicago Press 1980-03-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.92 x .31 x 5.24l; .32 #File Name: 0226388069128 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Highly informative...By Patrick D. GriecoVery detailed and thorough scholarship. Norman truly takes the reader on a fun and detailed voyage into the intricate nature of Ottoman society.33 of 34 people found the following review helpful. Simple Introduction to Ottoman CivilizationBy L. BrownThis is a concise study of Ottoman culture; society and the Ottoman administrative system. The Ottoman Empire; which lasted for 700 years and included three continents; is an important but often excluded ingredient in world history. This empire should be seen like its shorter lived sister-states (Mughal India and Safavid Iran) as a descendent of the Turco-Mongol steppe tradition under which Central Asia was unified and which created the first modern; large-scale; integrated; long-distance; old-world trading system.The book begins with several brief chapters that outline Ottoman political history while the remaninder of the book provides an overvew of Ottoman institutions. The volume; which includes a map; chronology; glossary; and index; is very easy reading. It could be used as part of a case study comparing the Ottoman Empire with other imperial systems. A must read for anyone interested in history who has never ventured beyond Western Europe or Russia while in their armchair. This book will provide a very different perspective on European political/diplomatic history.18 of 20 people found the following review helpful. Very brief and easy read: Worth it.By A CustomerA small book; one volume in a larger series of studies of world civilazations published by Alfred A. Knopf. The book is sadly short and very brief; nevertheless; it is a helpful; clearly conveyed essay on the inner-workings of the Ottoman Empire; touching on its roots in Islamic traditions of government.This book is not helpful as a history: it runs through; in very general terms; the history of the Ottoman Empire only for a background understanding of what was happening on the broader scope. This book is for those that know the history pretty well and want a definite understanding of the government hierarchy; the workings of the ulema; and the meaning of the ghazi tradition.Norman Itzkowitz is a great scholar; and this study details perfectly how the Ottoman's owed their initial success to Islamic traditions; but also owed its subsequent stagnation and decay to the inherent reactionary elements of Islam.Well worth the read: unfortunately; the book covers only up to the reign of Selim III (the Inspired); and thus stops right before the reform era. This is understandable; since such an addition would probably entail doubling the size of the book; still; without a look into the last; turbulent century of the Ottomans; it feels incomplete.
