TY - BOOK AU - Toch,Michael TI - The economic history of European Jews: late antiquity and early Middle Ages T2 - Études sur le judaïsme médiéval, SN - 9789004235397 AV - DS135.E83 T63 2013 U1 - 330.94/01089924 23 PY - 2013/// CY - Leiden, Boston PB - Brill KW - Jews KW - Europe KW - History KW - To 1500 KW - Economic conditions KW - Commerce KW - To 1492 KW - Ethnic relations N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Chapter One Byzantium -- Chapter Two Italy -- Chapter Three Gaul, the Lands of the Franks, France -- Chapter Four The Iberian Peninsula -- Chapter Five Eastern Europe -- Chapter Six Jews, Commerce, and Money -- Chapter Seven Landholding, Crafts, Enterprises, Medicine, and the Internal Jewish Economy -- Chapter Eight Historical Conclusions -- Maps -- Appendix One Places of Jewish Settlement in the Byzantine Empire -- Appendix Two Places of Jewish Settlement in Italy -- Appendix Three Places of Jewish Settlement in France and Germany -- Appendix Four Places of Jewish Settlement in Iberia -- List of Abbreviations -- Bibliography -- Index; Available to subscribing member institutions only N2 - The Economic History of European Jews attempts to make sense of the economic foundations of Jewish life in the different parts of late antique and early medieval Europe. In the first part Michael Toch describes the demographic arc, decline, subsequent rise, and spatial distribution of Jewish populations. This data is then broadened to include the range of economic activities. The second part analyses the actual share of Jews in different branches of the economy. This includes the idea of their pioneer role and the notion of an intercontinental network of Jewish commerce, the phenomenon of Jews in agriculture and entrepreneurship, gender roles and the household mode of production, and the difficult subject of the significance of minority status for economic activity, among other subjects. \'This is the most up-to-date scholarly reassessment of a century of both overly optimistic and occasionally negative interpretations of Jewish population and economic activities, a boon to students and researchers of the first millennium of the Jewish experience in Europe, and an interesting read for the general public.\' S. Bowman, University of Cincinnati UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004235397 ER -