Anthonius Margaritha and the Jewish Faith: Jewish Life and Conversion in Sixteenth-Century Germany

Preface

xiii Preface Anthonius Margaritha was perhaps the best-known Jew of his generation in Germany to convert to Christianity. Born in the 1490s, Margaritha was the grandson, son, and brother of noted rabbis.1 His conversion in 1521 had the effect of making him in his own eyes two people, a Jew by flesh and a Christian by rebirth. The “new man” wrote several polemics on the errors of Judaism. The most popular was his Der gantz Jüdisch glaub (The entire Jewish faith) (1530). In it, he described the Jewish life cycle and provided the first translation of the Hebrew prayer book into German. Der gantz Jüdisch glaub influenced Martin Luther’s attitude toward Jews and embroiled Margaritha in a controversy with Rabbi Joseph (Josel) of Rosheim, Emperor Charles V’s advisor. The importance of his family, his own notoriety, and his autobiographical comments provide information about Margaritha that is not available for other sixteenth-century converts. With the rise of “scientific” history and Wissenschaft des Judentums (the scientific study of Judaism) in the nineteenth century, Margaritha’s story and his work supplied important data for study. The noted historians Leopold Zunz, Ludwig Geiger, Heinrich Graetz, and Harry Bresslau mentioned Margaritha, his work, Der gantz Jüdisch glaub, and incidents from his life in their works. Geiger’s studies of Reuchlin and the study of Hebrew in early modern Germany refer to Jacob Margoles and Anthonius. Zunz cited Margaritha concerning the liturgy and agreed with some of his opinions. Graetz described Margaritha’s disputation with Josel of Rosheim as well as using him elsewhere as a source of information on Jews and Judaism in the sixteenth century.2 What might be called the biography of Margaritha was not written in the nineteenth century. He was treated as a source for ethnography, as a type for the converts from Judaism to Christianity, and as a commenter on the Jewish liturgy. It was not until 1916 that Josef Mieses published xiv Preface a study of Margaritha and his prayer book translation.3 Mieses produced a biography of Margaritha to place his prayer book translation in a historical context. He corrected previous errors, correcting the assumption that Jacob Margoles was Margaritha’s father, whereas he was, in fact, his grandfather and Samuel was his father. Mieses also drew attention to the importance of Margaritha’s Isaiah Commentary. Nonetheless, Mieses had a poor opinion of Margaritha’s Hebrew skills and Jewish scholarship, a judgment that seems to have been a reaction, in part, to Margaritha’s conversion and his composition of anti-Jewish polemics. Margaritha remained an anti-Jewish exemplar for scholars until contemporary times. Raphael Straus mentioned him in his study of Regensburg .4 Selma Stern’s biography of Josel of Rosheim recounted the famous disputation but added little to the picture of Margaritha painted by others, especially Mieses.5 Beginning in the 1970s, some historians became interested in detailing questions about liturgy, anti-Jewish polemics, and conversion. Critical editions of sources that mention Margaritha became available, such as Chava Fraenkel-Goldschmidt’s editions of Josel’s Sefer ha-Miknah and his historical writings.6 HansMartin Kirn and R. Po-chia Hsia furthered the study of anti-Jewish polemics.7 Stephen Burnett produced articles and a study of Johann Buxtorf that highlighted the significance of Margaritha’s work for the study of sixteenth-century Jewish ethnography.8 Elisheva Carlebach, among her other fine studies, produced an insightful and detailed work on Jewish converts to Christianity, in which Margaritha played a prominent role.9 Peter von der Osten-Sacken devoted an entire volume to Margaritha and Martin Luther.10 Two younger scholars, Maria Diemling and Yaacov Deutsch, have dedicated their considerable talents to placing Margaritha and his thought into a historical context. Diemling, for her doctoral thesis on Christian ethnographies and converts, discovered new details about Margaritha’s travels, teaching, and family life.11 Among other things, she discovered documents that referred to his wife, children, and poverty, including an accounting of property after his death. The information in her articles has aided the analysis of his writings.12 Yaacov Deutsch has focused on the Jewish perception of and response to Christians, an area in which Margaritha provides some information. Building on Burnett’s work, he coined the term “polemical ethnography.”13 My own brief article on Margaritha was intended to test Margaritha’s trustworthiness as an ethnographic source, a paper that grew out of a conversation with [18.118.184.237...