Subproject 3: Josephus Christianus?

The Christian Reception of Josephus in 12th-Century France

Katharina Heyden, Sara Moscone, Lena Tröger

This cluster compares the reception of the 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. It will focus on Peter Comestor’s Historia scholastica and the crusader chronicles of Fulcher of Chartres and William of Tyre. It examines the historiographical and narratological techniques they applied to Josephan material, how they understood his works as historiography, and what type of Josephus they fashioned. In exploring Josephus’ 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.