Subproject 3: Josephus Christianus?
The Christian Reception of Josephus in the 12th-Century Renaissance
Katharina Heyden, Sara Moscone, Lena Tröger
Our cluster compared the reception of the Latin translations of Josephus in works from two literary genres well-represented in twelfth-century Paris: scriptural commentary within the circle of St Victor and medieval historiography on the crusades. Our focus was on Peter Comestor’s Historia scholastica and the crusader chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres and William of Tyre. We examined the historiographical and narratological techniques which both authors applied to Josephan material, how they understood his works as historiography, and what vision they fashioned of Josephus himself, as author. In exploring Josephus’s influence on medieval Christian conceptions of history, this project asks to what degree Josephus was perceived and portrayed as a Jewish or a (proto-) Christian author, and what significance this had for Christian historiography and theologies of history in the Crusading period.
Publications include:
Heyden, Katharina (2024) “ Geschichte als Argument in der christlichen Auseinandersetzung mit Judentum und Islam. Historische Theologie im Spannungsfeld von theologischen Coping-Strategien und historischer Co-Produktion”, in M. Delgado, V. Leppin (eds), Historia magistra ecclesiae, Arbeiten zur Schweizerischen Kirchengeschichte. Basel: Schwabe, 97–128.
Heyden, Katharina (2024) “‘Josephus Proudly Presents’: Figurations of Josephus Presenting his Work in High Medieval Latin Manuscripts (12th and 13th Centuries)”, in M. Avioz, C. Bay, J. W. van Henten (eds), From Josephus to Yosippon and Beyond: Text – Re-interpretations - Afterlives. Leiden – Boston: Brill. 497–529.
Heyden, Katharina (forthcoming 2025) “‘Ein jüdischer Mann, (aber) wahrheitsliebend’: Josephus in Byzanz”, in C. Bay, A. Ellis, J. Mania, S. Moscone, L. Tröger (eds), The Medieval Afterlife of Hellenistic Judaism: Reception & Reinvention in Western Europe. Basel: Schwabe.
Moscone, Sara (2022) “Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica: Pursuing the veritas historiae Through the Works of Josephus.”, Judaica: Neue Digitale Folge 3 [https://doi.org/10.36950/jndf.2022.19]
Moscone, Sara (2023) “Magis Iosephi sententia sequimur: The compass of Comestor’s Journey Through the Historia.”, in NUME – Gruppo di Ricerca sul Medioevo Latino (eds), IX Ciclo di Studi Medievali. Atti di Convegno (Firenze, 6–7 Giugno 2023). Vibo Valentia: Libritalia, 477–481.
Moscone, Sara (2025) Pro veritate historiae: Flavio Giuseppe e le fonti ebraiche nell’Historia Scholastica di Pietro Comestore. Basil: Schwabe. [https://doi.org/10.24894/978-3-7965-5203-8]
Moscone, Sara. (forthcoming 2025) “Lost Oral Traditions: The Jewish Sources of Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica”, in M. Clark and R. Saccente (eds) Texts and Studies in the Scholastic Thought of the High Middle Ages: The School of Paris. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.
Moscone, Sara. (forthcoming 2025) “Josephus, Comestor, and Women in Biblical Law: Excerpts from Numbers and Deuteronomy”, in C. Bay, A. Ellis, J. Mania, S. Moscone, L. Tröger (eds), The Medieval Afterlife of Hellenistic Judaism: Reception & Reinvention in Western Europe. Basel: Schwabe.
Tröger, Lena. 2021. ‘Josephus Christianus? Die christliche Rezeption des Josephus Latinus in den Kreuzzugchroniken des Fulcher von Chartres und Wilhelm von Tyrus’, in E. Morlok (ed.), Erlanger Jahrbuch für Interreligiöse Diskurse, Band 1: Methoden der Darstellung und Analyse. Baden-Baden: Ergon, 360–362.
Tröger, Lena. 2023. ‘On the Trail of Josephus in Fulcher’s Historia Hierosolymitana and William of Tyre’s Chronicon – Parallels, Differences, and Perspectives’. In NUME (ed.), IX Ciclo di Studi medievali. Atti del Convegno (Firenze, 6-7 Giugno 2023). Vibo Valentia: Libritalia.net, 471–476.
Tröger, Lena – Ellis, Anthony (forthcoming 2025) “De l’haeresis à l’hérésie. La traduction des ‘écoles judéennes’ de Josèphe dans la culture latine chrétienne”, in F. Chapot, B. Guion, A. Molinier-Arbo, and J.-L.Vix (eds), Pourquoi traduire? La traduction et ses enjeux de l’Antiquité gréco-romaine à l’âge classique (Paris : Hermann).