Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval Europe: A Time of Limited Coexistence Amid Continued Conflict

Although coexistence between Jews, Muslims, and Christians existed to a limited extent in selected areas, the overall climate of the European middle-ages was one of conflict due to an overwhelming refusal to accept, and tolerate those with divergent ideologies. From the time of the first Roman colonization of the Iberian Peninsula, Jews and Christian Roman attitudes and ways of life were so similar, that differentiating between the two groups was hard, and sometimes not possible. By the 4th century CE, councils were adopting policies and rules to limit interaction of Jews and Christians, to aid in differentiation between the two groups, with the intent to create two distinct social groups. Upon the arrival of Muslims, who conquered the area in 711, came a policy not of equality, but of tolerance.[1]With the crusades that took place in the 11th century, this idea of tolerance was overruled with a policy of complete religious intolerance and insensitivity. The time is ripe with examples of both conflict and coexistence, which was largely based on the local aristocrat, or duke who governed each individual village. Authorities protected Jews in walled sections of cities; authorities watched idly as Jews were killed or forcibly converted in other cities. Charters granted Jews protection and preached a message of tolerance; decrees from aristocrats who financially backed crusades ordered the merciless slaughter of men, women, and children.

Conflict existed not only as a physical struggle between attacking parties, but also as an ideological battle between the church’s teachings of love, unity, and acceptance and the crusader’s seemingly hypocritical mission of religious hegemony. The leader of the Catholic church in 1199 CE, Pope Innocent III, condemned any action taken against Jews decreeing “…We, out of the meekness proper to Christian piety… grant them the buckler of our protection.”[2] This statement, part of a larger constitution granting Jews certain liberties and protections, demonstrates the official stance on crusading, although the statement lacks sufficient punishments for noncompliance, aside from excommunication. Long before this protection of the Jews under official Christian decree, during the time of Muslim rule, Jews were given status as “protected minority” or dhimmis.[3]This distinction, although allowing the two distinct cultural spheres of influence to exist in the land, did not grant Jews equal rights, but instead kept violence at bay. Because the Jews were not given equal rights, their ideology was not accepted, and they were not treated as first class citizens, coexistence was not achieved, although relative peace was established. By the 10th century, policy designed to stimulate the development of a culture based on religious mingling, tolerance, and unification, granted new rights to Jews and Christians in the area. This period of relative peace in the area would serve as an example of an era of tolerance and coexistence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.