Meir ben Elijah of Norwich: Persecution and poetry among medieval English Jews (13th-century English martyrological literature)

Given the prominent role played by martyrological literature among the Jewish communities of northern France, and the close relationship between the two communities, the absence of martyrological writing from England is striking. Until now, scholars have largely assumed that the relatively small community of medieval English Jews was not culturally sophisticated enough to produce such literature on its own. This paper looks at a liturgical poem by Meir of Norwich, a thirteenth-century English Jewish poet whose poems survive in a variety of genres. The poem "Put a curse on my enemy" describes the conditions of economic, communal and spiritual devastation that characterize thirteenth-century English Jewry. The poet shows considerable literary ability and moreover a keen understanding of the 'modern' poetic styles made fashionable by the Spanish Jewish poets of the preceding century. Meir's work suggests it is time to re-evaluate the cultural activity of medieval English Jewry, which, like its continental analogues, sought to express the particularity of its experience of persecution in verse. A translation and edited text follows.