Medieval artworks depicting medieval Jewish fighters or other armed Jews are quite rare, but they do exist. This webpage shows you where to find them.
Wherever images are viewable on the Internet I provide links rather than re-posting here so the museum/library website can get the page-views. Other images will be posed here if/when I can affordably get permission to do so.
Please note that I do not own the copyright on any of these images. If you wish to reproduce them please contact the institution listed with the image directly.
France
Mob attacking Armored Jews in a Verdun Tower, Shepherd’s Crusade of 1320.
In 1320, mobs of French shepherds and other poor peasants began killing Jews and other targets, saying that taking the Jews’ wealth would let them buy arms and attack the Saracens. 500 Jews fled to Verdun, where the governor gave them a tower for refuge. The Shepherds burned the tower gate, whereupon the Jews threw down their children in hopes they would be permitted to live and then killed themselves rather than be captured by the Pastoureaux.
The Jewish figures in the tower are wearing standard 14th century armor with French Jews’ badges.
Virgil Master’s Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis, Folio: 55v, ca. 1390.
Property of the British Museum since 1757, Royal 20 C VII
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=42601
Germany
These next two illustrations are from the Sachsenspiegel Landrecht — medieval Germany’s oldest law-book. It was originally written about 1230 but the online examples I found were from the Dresden library’s (SLUB) manuscript which was written about 1350. Please note that these illustrations appear in other versions of the Sachsenspiegel as well, so they were likely standard illustrations. Also the ink is somewhat faded so you’ll have to zoom in or look at re-drawings of these illustrations in various textbooks such as Guido Kisch’s Jewry-Law in Medieval Germany.
Jew with polearm as part of the militia/Judiciary Police Service, ca. 1350.
Book II article 71 said that all town citizens had to take their turn with defending their city’s walls and join the judicial police service when called (for a modern analogy, think of a sheriff in a Hollywood Western calling out the town posse). Stressing the point that *everybody* had to show up when called the illustration accompanying this article shows a variety of people, including as the leftmost a Jew (signified by his wearing a Jew’s hat) carrying a polearm.
The illustration is on the lower left-hand corner of the page.
Eike von Repgow’s Sachsenspiegel Landrecht
Dresden Library (Mscr. Dresd.M.32).
http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/6439/78/0/
Jew travelling on horseback with sword, ca. 1350.
Book III article 2 said that Jews had a choice regarding self-defense: they could accept royal protection at the price of being disarmed, or they could go about armed and defend themselves. The illustration accompanying that article shows a cleric (on the left) offering royal protection/peace (the “P”) to a Jew (identifiable by his wide-brimmed Jew’s hat) who has chosen to trust to his own defense and carry a sword. Note that the Jew is in civilian clothes so he is carrying the sword for personal defense, not because he is on military duty.
The illustration is on the lower left-hand corner of the page.
Eike von Repgow’s Sachsenspiegel Landrecht
Dresden Library (Mscr. Dresd.M.32).
http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/6439/80/0/
Jewish community fighting against pillagers (the Fettmilch Rising), 1614.
In 1614 a grocer named Fettmilch led an attack on the Jewish section of Frankfurt. The Jewish community fought back, holding the gates for several hours but they were ultimately overwhelmed and forced to flee. The Emperor hanged Fettmilch and Imperial troops escorted the Jews back into Frankfurt.
The Jews are the figures with the circular Jews’ Badge on their clothes.
Matthaus Merian’s The Plundering of the Judengasse During the Fettmilch Riot, 1628
Judisches Museum, Frankfurt
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frankfurt_Main_Fettmilch-Aufstand.jpg
Iberia (Spain, Portugal, al-Andalus)
Two Jewish Archers, 1220
Spanish kingdoms and Portugal at this time used Jewish troops to fight the Muslims as part of the Reconquista. As an incentive, Jewish and Christian commoners who fought were often granted parcels of the conquered land, and records exist of Jewish archers granted land for such service.
The Jewish archers are the two figures on the upper left hand corner wearing Spanish Jews’ hats.
Beatus of Liebana, Las Huelgas Apocalypse, Spain, 1220. MS M.429, folio 149v.
At the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
http://www.themorgan.org/collection/Las-Huelgas-Apocalypse/41