Communities of Violence

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In the aftermath of modern genocide, violence against minorities is often viewed as a sign of intolerance or a precursor to extermination. However, David Nirenberg argues that violence in the Middle Ages operated differently. This provocative work examines specific attacks on minorities in fourteenth-century France and the Crown of Aragon, including Jews, Muslims, lepers, and prostitutes. Nirenberg contends that these acts of violence were not merely the result of irrational mobs driven by inherited prejudices; rather, they were executed by groups that strategically manipulated existing discourses about minorities. He illustrates how their violent actions were intertwined with complex beliefs regarding divine history, kinship, sex, money, and disease, often challenged by competing factions within their own societies. Through a thorough analysis of archival and literary sources, Nirenberg reveals how violence defined the parameters of coexistence for medieval minorities. The book highlights the particular and contingent nature of this coexistence through various juxtapositions, including comparisons between the Crown of Aragon and France, and medieval and modern contexts. Ultimately, it questions the relevance of dichotomies like tolerance versus intolerance for the Middle Ages and critiques analyses that trace modern European persecutory violence back to medieval origins.