Robert Chazan,
THE JEWS OF MEDIEVAL WESTERN CHRISTENDOM
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CHAPTER 2 - THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Medieval Western Christendom covered a vast territory and included many peoples, languages, economies, political systems, and cultures. Because of this diversity, there is no single story of Jewish life in medieval Latin Christendom; regional studies are essential. The one unifying institution across the West was the Roman Catholic Church. It carried long-standing traditions about Jews and Judaism and was the primary body that formulated doctrine and prescribed proper behavior for Christians.

This did not produce uniformity. Doctrine, policy, and imagery of Jews varied within the Church over time and place. This chapter surveys those elements, especially papal teaching, while noting important internal disagreements. We also keep in view how Church positions evolved between 1000 and 1500 and how those changes affected Europe’s Jews.
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2A. THEOLOGICAL DOCTRINE
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Augustine’s Framework

St. Augustine synthesized earlier Christian ideas about Jews into a complex doctrine. Looking backward, it emphasized Jewish failure to recognize Jesus as Messiah, responsibility for the Crucifixion, and divine punishment through exile. Looking forward, it anticipated eventual Jewish acceptance of Christian truth. What Augustine left largely unspecified was how Christians should treat Jews in the present—a gap later filled by policy.

Before 1000, Augustine’s framework remained largely theoretical in Catholic lands, where few Jews lived. After 1000, as Jewish presence in the West grew, Christians perceived new challenges: social separation intensified, interest in Jewish teachings increased, Jews became more visible in the economy, missionary efforts sharpened, and hostile images spread. These developments prompted new policies and, at times, re-evaluation of Augustine’s views.

Alexander of Hales Revisited Augustine

​The 13th-century theologian Alexander of Hales (University of Paris; Franciscan) reconsidered Augustine in light of contemporary realities. He advanced three reasons against tolerating Jews:
  1. Blasphemy by Jews against Christ and the Virgin—capital under biblical law, he argued.
  2. Blasphemous passages in the Talmud—because Jews followed it as law, the work (and thus its adherents) should be suppressed.
  3. Analogy to the Crusades—if Christians legitimately wage war on Muslim deniers of Christ, how much more should they act against Jews who, in his view, showed even greater contempt.

Alexander drew on crusading rhetoric and on papal decretals (notably Innocent III) that alleged Jewish insults, mockery of Christian rites, and abuses. He also appealed to new awareness of the Talmud following the Paris confiscations (1240) and public burnings (1242). Although he ultimately conceded Augustine’s scriptural reasons to preserve Jews who lived peaceably (e.g., “Slay them not, lest my people forget,” Ps. 59:12), he pressed for harsh measures where he perceived blasphemy—especially the destruction of offensive Talmudic material.
In short, Alexander exemplifies a shift from Augustine’s largely theoretical toleration to a more conditional toleration: safe conduct for compliant Jews; punishment and censorship where Christians alleged harm.

Constitutio pro Iudaeis

A recurring papal charter, the Constitutio pro Iudaeis, articulated protections for Jews and functioned as a bridge between theology and policy. Pope Gregory the Great’s formula set the tone: Jews should neither exceed what their law permits in their synagogues nor be deprived of what has been conceded to them. Innocent III later added a sharply worded preface (“Although Jewish perfidy…”) and a closing clause limiting protection to Jews who did not “plot against the Christian faith.” Thus, Augustinian toleration remained—but increasingly conditional.
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