1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio, 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: show that unmasks history one day at a time. I'm 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: Gabe Lucier and in this episode, we're reflecting on a 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,799 Speaker 1: horrific act of anti Semitism perpetrated by the King of 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: France in the head of the Catholic Church in the 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 1: mid thirteenth century. The day was June seventeenth, twelve forty two. 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: At the direction of King Louis the ninth, all known 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: copies of the Talmud in France were burned. The Talmud, 10 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: from the Hebrew word for study, is one of the 11 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: central texts of the Jewish faith. It's composed of two 12 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: separate works, the Mishnah, a compendium of laws written down 13 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: in the third century AD, and the Gomara, the record 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: of rabbinic commentary on Jewish law and other subjects compiled 15 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: throughout the sixth and seventh centuries. The teachings of the 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: Talmud explain how the commandments of the Torah are to 17 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: be carried out in daily life, and just like the 18 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: Five Books of Moses, they're considered to be divinely inspired 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: and vital to understanding the laws and customs of Judaism. 20 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: The public burning of these holy books in Paris was 21 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: not a unique or isolated event. It was part of 22 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: a long concerted effort by leaders of the Catholic Church 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: to discredit and destroy Jewish communities in Europe. The attack 24 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: on the Talmud was instigated by a Catholic convert in 25 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: Paris named Nicholas Donan, and the directive to burn the 26 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: sacred text was handed down by the head of the 27 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: church himself, Pope Gregory the Ninth, in twelve thirty six, 28 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: shortly after his conversion to Roman Catholicism. Donan wrote a 29 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,559 Speaker 1: detailed letter to the Pope in which he formally denounced 30 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: the Talmud and Judaism as a whole. He included translations 31 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: of several passages from the Talmud that he considered to 32 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: be incriminating, as well as a list of thirty five 33 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: arguments for why it should be banned, including claims that 34 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: it blasphemed Jesus and Mary, and that it sanctioned violence 35 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: against Christians. Donan also asserted that if copies of the 36 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: Talmud were removed from circulation, some Jews might abandon the 37 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: faith and be more inclined to convert to Christianity, just 38 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: as he had done. Pope Gregory hadn't known that the 39 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: Talmud even existed until Donan brought it to his attention, 40 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: but he was quickly swayed by the accusations against it. 41 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: He sent copies of the list of charges to other 42 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: authorities of the church, as well as to the Catholic 43 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: kings of Italy, Spain, Portugal, England and France. In an 44 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: accompanying letter, the Pope ordered that all copies of the 45 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: Talmud be confiscated and examined to see if they corroborated 46 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: Donan's charges. Then, as the Pope put it, quote those 47 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: books in which you find errors of this sort, you 48 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: shall cause to be burned at the stake. This order 49 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 1: was largely ignored in most countries, except in France, where 50 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: the staunchly Catholic Louis the ninth had already been making 51 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: life difficult for French Jews. He eagerly complied with the 52 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: Pope's directive, and, to add insult to injury, he carried 53 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: out the confiscation on a Saturday, when Jewish communities would 54 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: be gathered for Shabbat services. On March third, twelve forty, 55 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: the King's officials raided Jewish synagogues, homes, and schools, seizing 56 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: every copy of the Talmud they could find. Later that summer, 57 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: the Talmud was put on trial at the French King's court. 58 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: The proceedings were open to the public and to the 59 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: form of a multi day debate between Catholic and Jewish representatives. 60 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: Arguing against the Talmud was none other than Nicholas Donan. 61 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: In speaking in its defense were four prominent rabbis of France, 62 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: Rabbi Yahiel, Rabbi Moses, Rabbi Judah, and Rabbi Samuel Ben Solomon. 63 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: As you might expect, it was hardly a fair fight. 64 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: The rabbis were barred from saying anything even remotely derogatory 65 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: about Christians or their beliefs, and they had to watch 66 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: what they said about their own faith as well, lest 67 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: they be accused of blasphemy by the All Catholic tribunal. 68 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: The rabbis were said to have put up a valiant effort, 69 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: but the trial's outcome had been decided before it even began. 70 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: The Talmud was determined to be an insult to Christianity, 71 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: and its punishment, as decreed by the Pope, was to 72 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 1: be ritually burned in a public bonfire. Year years later, 73 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: on the morning of June seventeenth, twelve forty two, King 74 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: Louis the Ninth carried out the sentence. Twenty four wagon 75 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: loads of Talmud manuscripts and other Jewish books were piled 76 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: in the Place de Greve public square in Paris and 77 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: burned to ash. There were roughly twelve thousand copies in total, 78 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: and each one was the equivalent of about twenty three 79 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: hundred pages in today's format. The scope of that destruction 80 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: is even greater when you consider that the printing press 81 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: had not yet been invented. Every manuscript had been painstakingly 82 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: written by hand using quill, pens, ink and parchment or vellum. 83 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: Generations of Jewish scholarship and untold hours of manual labor 84 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: were wiped away in a matter of hours. Rabbi Meir 85 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: of Rotenberg witnessed the burning of the Talmud in Paris, 86 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: and he wrote a poignant lament or quina to express 87 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: his sorrow. One translation reads, in part, how was it 88 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: that you o law given by God? The consuming fire 89 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: should be consumed by the fire of mortals. And yet 90 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: the heathens weren't singed by your burning coals. I no 91 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: longer hear the voice of your singers and songstresses, for 92 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: the strings of your harps have been split. In the 93 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: years that followed, Pope Gregory's successor, Pope Innocent the Fourth, 94 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: would soften the Church's stance on the Talmud. In twelve 95 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: forty seven, he ruled that rather than banning or burning 96 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: the books, they should simply be censored or corrected, as 97 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: he put it. This enabled Jewish scholars to continue studying 98 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: the work, albeit in a compromised form. Even still, the 99 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: trial of the Talmud and its subsequent burning mark the 100 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: beginning of the end for the Jewish community in France. 101 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: King Louis the ninth later signed Legisa to strip Jewish 102 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: citizens of their money and property, and then expel them 103 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: from the Kingdom of France. The latter action was ultimately 104 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: carried out in thirteen oh six by Louis's successor, King 105 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,239 Speaker 1: Philip the Fourth. By that point, the Roman Catholic Church 106 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: had canonized Louis the Ninth, making him the only French 107 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: king in history to be proclaimed a saint not one 108 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: of the words I'd use to describe it. I'm Gabelusia 109 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 110 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep 111 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 112 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 113 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to send him my 114 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: way by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. 115 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing the show, and thanks 116 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here and 117 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in history class.