Shevet Yehudah [historiography]

A SCARCE EDITION OF IBN VERGA’S CHRONICAL OF THE PERSECUTIONS SUFFERED BY THE JEWS. “One of the outstanding achievements of the Hebrew literature of the Renaissance.” (EJ, VIII col1204). A chronicle of Jewish persecution from the destruction of the Second Temple until the Author’s own day, including an account of the Expulsion from Spain. Within ibn Verga’s account, lies a melancholy tone in his critique of his fellow-Jews and the place Gentile society has created for the Jew. “Of all the historical works [of the sixteenth century], ibn Verga’s Shevet Yehudah was to enjoy the widest popularity.” See Y.H. Yerushalmi, Clio and the Jews: Reflections on Jewish Historiography in the Sixteenth Century in: American Academy of Jewish Research, Jubilee Volume (1980) pp.607-38 and reprinted in: D.B. Ruderman (Ed.) Essential Papers on Jewish Culture in Renaissance and Baroque Italy (1992) pp.191-218. See also, idem. The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the Shebet Yehudah, Hebrew Union College Annual, Supplement No.1 (1976)