This book is the first edition and detailed study of a recently discovered 14th-century Judeo-Provençal poem on the story of Esther. The book makes an important contribution in several fields of studies, especially Jewish Studies, Romance Philology, History of Provençal Jews.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Editor’s Note -- Introduction -- 1 Judeo-Provençal Texts on Queen Esther: Dates and Context -- 2 Narrating Purim in Medieval Provence: Wine Songs and Prayers -- 3 Esther, an Inspirational Example of Provençal Jews -- 4 Roman d’ Esther : Text, Author, Audience -- 5 Biblical Inspiration and Jewish Themes -- 6 Romanz and Romance Themes -- 7 The Omniscient Author, the Modernization and the Irony -- 8 Maʿasé-Ester or “Esther’s Affairs” -- 9 Text, Content and Style -- 10 Metrical Structure -- 11 Between Oral Tradition and Authorial Rearrangement -- 12 A Text in Search of an Author -- The Maʿasé-Esther : Text and Commentary -- 1 The Text -- 2 Alterations in the Manuscript -- 3 Maʿasé-Esther -- 1 Text -- 2 Notes to the Text -- 4 Linguistic Study -- 1 Phonetics: Vocalism -- 2 Phonetics: Consonantism -- 3 Morphology -- 4 Syntax -- 5 Vocabulary -- 5 Glossary of Provençal Terms -- 6 Glossary of Hebrew Terms -- 7 Transcription of the Manuscript Text -- 8 Transcription in Latin Letters -- 9 The Codex unicus -- 1 The ms. Rome, Casanatense 3140 -- 2 Physical Description of the Manuscript and the Scripts -- 3 Structure -- 4 State of Preservation -- 5 Decorations, Notes and Annotations to the Text -- 6 A Composite Manuscript -- 7 Story of a Book and of the Person Who Wrote it -- 8 Watermarks -- 9 Ms. Rome, Casanatense 3140: Photo-Reproductions of Fols. 190 v –192 r -- Bibliography -- Index of Special Terms.

The Ma‘asé-Ester , “Esther’s affairs”, is a 14th-century Judeo-Provençal poem on the story of Esther, intended for a recital during the banquet for Purim . The short poem – recently discovered in the single manuscript that preserves it – is a new precious document that enriches a small corpus of medieval Judeo-Provençal texts. This book offers the first critical edition of the complete text accompanied by a detailed study of the sources and the language. It guides us in understanding why the story of Esther became such a popular theme in 14th-century Provence, and in what way the Avignon Papacy and the studies on Moses Maimonides influenced this literary novelty.

Description based on print version record.