Jewish status in medieval western christendom was complex, to put it mildly. Key to this status was the traditional stance of Christianity toward Judaism and Jews, as interpreted by the Church. This stance contained multiple elements, often existing in considerable tension with one another. Moreover, as western Christendom evolved from the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, much changed in the Church in general, and as a result new ecclesiastical views of the Jewish place in Christian society emerged. To be sure, there were factors beyond the Church in shaping the status of Jews. Governmental authorities – ostensibly devoted to the dictates of the Church and committed to serving as the practical support toward implementation of its policies – often had views of their own on the place of their Jewish clients in Christian society. Finally, Church leadership and lower-level Church officials, governmental authorities at all levels, and the populace at large responded to the evolving realities of Jewish existence with a more immediate sense of what Jewish status in actuality was and what it should be.

We shall again begin by examining traditional imageries of Jewish status, proceed to a close look at the detrimental aspects of Jewish status in medieval western Christendom in actuality, and then note more positive facets of the status of medieval European Jews.