Learning Hebrew in Medieval England

Christian Scholars and the Longleat House Grammar

Judith Olszowy-Schlanger

Pages: 204 p.
Size:152 x 229 mm
Illustrations:24 col.

Language(s):English
Publication Year:2023

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ISBN: 978-0-88844-230-7
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Review(s)

“Judith Olszowy-Schlanger’s book is of the greatest importance to the history of Hebrew learning in the Middle Ages. The Hebrew grammar that is its focus survives in a unique copy now at Longleat House, Wiltshire and can be traced to the Benedictine Abbey of Ramsey, East Anglia, in the thirteenth century. Learning Hebrew in Medieval England presents an edition of the text (together with an English translation of the essay on Hebrew accents and vowels), a full description of the manuscript, and an extended historical introduction. The author enjoys a worldwide reputation as a formidable scholar, well-versed in the languages used in the grammar (classical and medieval Hebrew, Latin, Anglo-Norman French) and in firm command of the skills (codicology, paleography, and diplomatics) required to interpret the manuscript’s complexities. The result is a magnificent achievement that makes a remarkable work accessible to a wider scholarly audience.” — Aharon Maman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

BIO

Judith Olszowy-Schlanger is President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College and Professor of Hebrew Palaeography at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris-Sciences-Lettres. She is the author of numerous publications, including Les manuscrits hébreux dans l’Angleterre médiévale: étude historique et paléographique (2003) and Hebrew and Hebrew-Latin Documents from Medieval England, in two volumes (2015). With Anne Grondeux et al., she is the editor of Dictionnaire hébreu-latin-français de la Bible hébraïque de l’abbaye de Ramsey (XIIIe s.) (2008); she has also co-edited several collections, among them Books within Books: New Discoveries in Old Book Bindings (2013), with Andreas Lehnardt, and A Universal Art: Hebrew Grammar across Disciplines and Faiths (2014), with Nadia Vidro and Irene E. Zwiep.

Summary

For inquisitive Christian minds in the Middle Ages, there were many reasons to learn Hebrew. The rediscovery of classical sources and Aristotelian philosophy and the engagement with Graeco-Arabic sciences that marked the renaissance of the twelfth century also brought about an acute awareness of the need for a philological understanding of the Hebrew language. In England in particular, various factors combined to encourage and facilitate the study of Hebrew texts, not only among well-known writers but also among English scholars whose names have not been preserved. They nevertheless produced bilingual Hebrew-Latin manuscripts in collaboration with Jewish scribes, along with manuals, textbooks, and reference aids to facilitate access to the sources. This volume presents an edition and analysis of one such learning tool: a thirteenth-century grammar written in Hebrew, Latin, and Anglo-Norman French (the vernacular language of the Jews of England) in a complex combination of Hebrew and Latin alphabets.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abbreviations
Tables
Preface

Facsimile of the Longleat House Grammar

Introduction

Chapter 1
The Manuscript: Its Structure, Texts and Scribes
The Codicological, Textual and Palaeographical Units of LH MS 21
The Codicological and Textual Composition of the Longleat House Grammar
The Scribes of LH MS 21
Palaeographical Remarks
Page and Text Layout

Chapter 2
The Longleat House Grammar and Hebrew Scholarship at Ramsey Abbey
The Longleat House Grammar Among the Bilingual Hebrew-Latin Manuscripts
The Longleat House Grammar and Ramsey Abbey

Chapter 3
The Longleat House Grammar and Different Linguistic Approaches to Hebrew in Medieval England
Through the Latin Lens
Christian Hebrew Grammar and Jewish Linguistic Traditions

Chapter 4
The Edition of the Longleat House Grammar
Grammar Textual Unit 1: The Hebrew Grammar in Latin Characters
Grammar Textual Unit 2: The Essay on Hebrew Vowels and Accents
Grammar Textual Unit 3: The Hebrew Grammar in Hebrew Characters
Grammar Textual Unit 4: The Hebrew Verb Paradigms in Latin Characters

Chapter 5
Contents and Sources of the Longleat House Grammar
Grammar Textual Unit 1: The Hebrew Grammar in Latin Characters
Grammar Textual Unit 2: The Essay on Hebrew Vowels and Accents
Grammar Textual Unit 3: The Hebrew Grammar in Hebrew Characters
Grammar Textual Unit 4: The Hebrew Verb Paradigms in Latin Characters

Conclusions

Bibliography
Index of Quotations
Index of Manuscripts
General Index