On the Heavenly and the Earthly, the Secular as Sacred – A New Reading of Medieval Hebrew Fables
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Revital Refael-Vivante
Abstract
This article offers some insights regarding the conceptions of holy and secular in one of the popular medieval Hebrew books of fables: Meshal HaQadmoni (The Fable of the Ancient) by Isaac ben Shlomo Ibn Sahula, composed in Castile in 1281. Although Ibn Sahula was a biblical scholar and even engaged in Kabbalah, he also practiced medicine and was knowledgeable regarding contemporary scientific theories and mindsets. Thus, he had a broad worldview, and his writing corresponds to the general context of his time and place. I discuss Ibn Sahula’s references to sacred and secular issues within the context of the medieval general and Jewish cultural perception and illustrate the synthesis between the concepts of sacred and secular in Meshal HaQadmoni.
Abstract
This article offers some insights regarding the conceptions of holy and secular in one of the popular medieval Hebrew books of fables: Meshal HaQadmoni (The Fable of the Ancient) by Isaac ben Shlomo Ibn Sahula, composed in Castile in 1281. Although Ibn Sahula was a biblical scholar and even engaged in Kabbalah, he also practiced medicine and was knowledgeable regarding contemporary scientific theories and mindsets. Thus, he had a broad worldview, and his writing corresponds to the general context of his time and place. I discuss Ibn Sahula’s references to sacred and secular issues within the context of the medieval general and Jewish cultural perception and illustrate the synthesis between the concepts of sacred and secular in Meshal HaQadmoni.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Blurred Boundaries in Pre-Modern Texts and Images: Aspects of Audiences and Readers-Viewers Responses 1
- The Sacred and the Profane in German Courtly Romances and Late Medieval Verse Narratives: With an Emphasis on Ulrich Bonerius and Heinrich Kaufringer 15
- The Poetic and Ideological Blurring of Boundaries in the Jewish Book of Ethics Orḥot Ṣaddiqim 41
- Laughing at Death: Blurred Boundaries in Giotto’s Last Judgment 57
- The Popular in Service of the Sacred: The Sculpted Musicians of Santiago de Compostela 79
- Image and Legend of Saint Margaret as an Aid in Childbirth Rituals 101
- Violent Women and the Blurring of Gender in some Medieval Narratives 125
- On the Heavenly and the Earthly, the Secular as Sacred – A New Reading of Medieval Hebrew Fables 145
- The Secular and the Sacred in a Bifolio from Louis of Laval’s Book of Hours and Its Spiritual Use 165
- Between Psalter and “Mirrors for Princes”: On the Moral and Didactic Messages in BL Cotton MS Domitian A XVII 185
- Visual and Textual Authority: Reading Chevalier in Manuscripts of La Vie des pères 205
- Aspects of Italian and Flemish Identity in Relation to Book Illumination: Reception of Devotional and Antiquarian Ideas through Depictions of Jewelry 229
- List of Illustrations 249
- Notes on Contributors 253
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Blurred Boundaries in Pre-Modern Texts and Images: Aspects of Audiences and Readers-Viewers Responses 1
- The Sacred and the Profane in German Courtly Romances and Late Medieval Verse Narratives: With an Emphasis on Ulrich Bonerius and Heinrich Kaufringer 15
- The Poetic and Ideological Blurring of Boundaries in the Jewish Book of Ethics Orḥot Ṣaddiqim 41
- Laughing at Death: Blurred Boundaries in Giotto’s Last Judgment 57
- The Popular in Service of the Sacred: The Sculpted Musicians of Santiago de Compostela 79
- Image and Legend of Saint Margaret as an Aid in Childbirth Rituals 101
- Violent Women and the Blurring of Gender in some Medieval Narratives 125
- On the Heavenly and the Earthly, the Secular as Sacred – A New Reading of Medieval Hebrew Fables 145
- The Secular and the Sacred in a Bifolio from Louis of Laval’s Book of Hours and Its Spiritual Use 165
- Between Psalter and “Mirrors for Princes”: On the Moral and Didactic Messages in BL Cotton MS Domitian A XVII 185
- Visual and Textual Authority: Reading Chevalier in Manuscripts of La Vie des pères 205
- Aspects of Italian and Flemish Identity in Relation to Book Illumination: Reception of Devotional and Antiquarian Ideas through Depictions of Jewelry 229
- List of Illustrations 249
- Notes on Contributors 253
- Index 255
