(Paperback)

Under three successive Islamic dynasties--the Fatimids, the Ayyubids, and the Mamluks--the Egyptian Office of the Head of the Jews (also known as the Nagid) became the most powerful representative of medieval Jewish autonomy in the Islamic world. To determine the origins of this institution, Mark Cohen concentrates on the complex web of internal an

(Hardback)

(Hardback)

What was it like to be poor in the Middle Ages In the past, the answer to this question came only from institutions and individuals who gave relief to the less fortunate. This book studies poverty in a premodern Jewish community - from the viewpoint of both the poor and those who provided for them.

(Paperback)

A companion to "Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt", this book contains the voices of the poor themselves, found in documents heretofore largely ignored. It provides access to the attitudes and philanthropic activities of the charitable, alongside the dramatic writings of the poor themselves.

(Paperback, Revised edition)

Did Muslims and Jews in the Middle Ages cohabit in a peaceful "interfaith utopia" Or were Jews under Muslim rule persecuted, much as they were in Christian lands Rejecting both polemically charged ideas as myths, the author offers a comparison of Jewish life in medieval Islam and Christendom.