Analyses

These analyses provide key points about medieval Jewish fighters generally.

Where It Was Good For Medieval Jewish Fighters
Lists the times and places 300-1600 CE where Jewish fighters not only existed but were a recognized part of their society under reasonably decent conditions for at least one century

A Summary Chart of Jewish Medieval Political Conditions and Fighters
A one-page Timeline summary that shows, for each 25-year period 300-1600 CE and for 28 geographic areas, where Jewish fighters are documented or reasonably believed to have existed and an assessment of the political conditions vis-a-vis Jews.

Patterns in Place and Time
The Timeline’s mass of data can be overwhelming at first. This essay identifies some patterns which will make the history easier to understand.

Finding Female and Minority-Religion Fighters
Medieval places that accepted Jewish fighters sometimes also accepted other-minority-religion or female fighters, and for the same reasons. Here are some historical patterns to help you find where/when such places existed and why their policies of tolerance ended.

Busted Myths
Some common beliefs about Jews in the Middle Ages that are not supported by the facts.

Data Challenges
Researching this subject has particular challenges, both in finding data and in discerning fact from fiction.

Medieval Re-enactment Group Articles

These essays dive into more detail on fighters in specific times and places, with the additional goal of providing the information needed to portray such personae in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) — a medieval research and re-enactment group.

The Jewish Near-Knights of Christian Iberia, or “Why were these knights different from all other knights?”
Published in Tournaments Illuminated, issue #196, 4Q 2015.
Posted with the kind permission of Tournaments Illuminated.

The Jewish Fighting Freeholders of Carolingian Southern France
A version of this paper was published in the East Kingdom Gazette in August 2016 (research paper #11).