Cosmological & Astronomical Chart This fascinating treasure is a cosmological and astronomical chart from The British Library’s Hebrew Collection. It is a fifteenth-century didactic tool to impart knowledge on how the world works, and comes from Southern France or Spain. Jews placed high value on astronomical knowledge, in and of itself and as a way of keeping calendars. The importance of such knowledge can be seen in the astronomical section of the Book of Enoch (ca 72-80 BC), as well as by such sayings as those of Eleazar Hisma (about 100), a Jewish mathematician who could “count the drops in the ocean” and who declared that the “ability to compute the solstice and the calendar is the ‘dessert’ of wisdom.” The British Library’s Hebrew Collection formed the basis of its Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the Written Word exhibition, the first exhibition after the library reopened after the Covid-19 lockdown. It showcased rarely-seen manuscripts, some dating back to the 10th century and displayed for the first time. Watch a short introduction to the exhibition here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18sbWM5yFm Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain British Library’s Hebrew collection Cultural | Historical DocumentsPartially online The British Library’s Hebrew collection is held within the British Library, Britain’s national library. It is open to researchers and contains a […]
‘Aaron, Son of the Devil’ ‘Aaron, Son of the Devil’ • The National Archives This Hidden Treasure is a doodle by a clerk on a legal document, a roll of ‘Pleas of the Forest for Essex in 1277’, from The National Archives. Pleas of the Forest dealt with criminal cases arising in the king’s forests, which had a separate legal jurisdiction within the Common Law at the time, which predates the expulsion of the Jews from England by Edward I in 1290. The image is on the back of membrane 3 of the roll and is next to a case concerning killing of deer near Colchester by a gang of young Jewish and Christian men. Among the accused were Isaac and Samuel, sons of Aaron of Colchester. For some reason that is not indicated in the text, Aaron is caricatured in the sketch as ‘Aaron, son of the Devil’. This representation of Jews in 13th Century society is one of the earliest English images of the ‘Badge of Shame’ – the piece of yellow taffeta, six fingers long and three broad, cut to represent the shape of the tabula that bore the Ten Commandments. The badge was established at the papal Lateran council of 1215. After the 1275 Statute of Jewry, it had to be worn in England by every Jew aged over seven. It was a kind of medieval yellow star. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The National Archives Commercial | Family History | Historical Documents | Holocaust | ImmigrationPartially online The National Archives are the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, located in Kew, South West London. They hold documents […]
King Solomon This beautiful treasure is a portrait of King Solomon reading Torat Mosheh (Moses’s Torah). It comes from a North French Hebrew Miscellany, dated 1277-1324 and is part of the British Library’s Hebrew Collection. This archive was assembled over a 250 year period, initially by the British Museum and since 1973 by the British Library. It’s one of the most important Jewish-related archives in the world, encompassing all facets of Hebrew literature and a wide range of religious and secular area studies. All Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library’s collection have been fully digitised and are available free of charge on the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts site. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain British Library’s Hebrew collection Cultural | Historical DocumentsPartially online The British Library’s Hebrew collection is held within the British Library, Britain’s national library. It is open to researchers and contains a […] Cosmological & Astronomical Chart Cosmological and astronomical chart • The British Library 8th Century Judaeo-Persian letter from Kaifeng, Henan province, China One of the earliest records of the Jewish community in China • British Library