In this collection of primary sources, Eugene Smelyansky highlights instances of persecution and violence, as well as those relatively rare but significant episodes of toleration, that impacted a broad spectrum of people who existed at the margins of medieval society: heretics, Jews and Muslims, the poor, the displaced and disabled, women, and those deemed sexually deviant. The volume also presents a more geographically diverse Middle Ages by including sources from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean. Each document is preceded by a brief introduction and followed by questions for discussion, making The Intolerant Middle Ages an excellent entrance into the lives and struggles of medieval minorities.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1: Precursors and Origins 1. Christians Accused of Participating in Scandalous Rituals  2. The Martyrdom of Saint Perpetua 3. Emperor Constantine Condemns Arianism 4. Saint Augustine on the Grounds for Religious Persecution 5. Christianity Triumphant: The Theodosian Code on Christianity and Paganism Chapter 2: Anti-Judaism and Persecution of the Jews 6. "Slay Them Not": Saint Augustine on the Jews 7. Anti-Jewish Legislation from the Visigothic Code 8. The Massacre in Mainz at the Beginning of the First Crusade 9. Blood Libel: The Murder of William of Norwich 10. A Papal Response: Gregory X against the Blood Libel 11. Jewish Woman in a Christian Miracle Story 12. King Otakar II Promises Royal Protection to the Jews in Bohemia and Austria 13. Well-Poisoning Accusations against the Jews 14. Massacre of the Jews in Strasbourg Chapter 3: Heresy and Inquisition 15. Heresy in the Carolingian Word: Gottschalk of Orbais 16. Guibert of Nogent and the Heretics of Soissons 17. Hildegard of Bingen Preaches against Heresy  18. A Cathar Origin Story in the Testimony of Arnaud Sicre  19. Origins of the Waldensians 20. Canon of the Fourth Lateran Council Concerning Heresy 21. Inquisitor Bernard Gui at Work 22. Heretical Tricks: Inquisitor Nicholas Eymerich on the Art of Interrogation 23. Individual Resistance: Bernard Clergue  24. Cooperation and Resistance: Arnaud Sicre Infiltrates a Heretical Group 25. Papal Prohibitions against Beguines and Beghards at the Council of Vienne 26. The Fruits of Clerical Imagination: A Heretical Orgy  27. Persecutions of Waldensians in Late Medieval German Cities Chapter 4: External Others: Contacts, Intolerance, and the Making of Medieval Europe 28. Carolingian Conquest of Saxony: Two Perspectives 29. Gerald of Wales on the Irish 30. Papal Blessing for Henry II’s Conquest of Ireland 31. Keeping the Peace after the Conquest: Statutes of the Parliament of Dublin 32. Medieval Europe Old and New: Otto of Freising Describes Northern Italy and Hungary 33. Duke of Lithuania on the Teutonic Order Chapter 5: Interreligious Violence in the Mediterranean 34. The Martyrs of Cordoba  35. Depictions of Muslims in The Song of Roland 36. Ibn Jubayr on Sicily under the Christian Rule 37. Interfaith Coexistence in Crusader Jerusalem   38. Coexistence and Exclusion in the Siete Partidas    39. Pope Innocent III Forbids the Venetian Merchants to Trade with the Muslims  40. Frederick II’s Trade Agreement with Tunisia  41. Accusations against the Genoese Merchants in Service of the Mamluk Sultan Chapter 6:  People on the Margins of Medieval Society 42. Agobard of Lyon: On the Baptism of Jewish Slaves 43. Poverty as Piety: The Rule of Saint Francis   44. Critique of the Mendicant Friars: William of St-Amour’s On the Dangers of the Final Days 45. Medieval Serfdom and Manumission   46. Punishments for Impregnating a Female Slave in Genoa   47. Discrimination against the Poor in Siena during the Famine of 1329  48. Living in Poverty in Florence  49. The World Turned Upside Down: Social Anxiety during and after the Plague 50. Wage Control after the Plague: Ordinance of the Laborers, 1349  51. Ordinances against the "Jews, Lepers, and Swine" and the Poor in Late Medieval London   52. Christine de Pizan on the Virtues of Toleration Chapter 7: Disease and Disability in Medieval Europe 53. Disability and Charity in Piers Plowman 54. False Disability on the Streets of London 55. Rules of the Maison-Dieu in Pontoise 56. Physician Gilbert the Englishman on the Symptoms of Leprosy 57. Humbert of Romans Preaches to the Lepers  58. Ritual of Exclusion for a Leper 59. The Leper Plot against Christendom, 1321 Chapter 8: From the Holy to the Sinful: Attitudes towards Women 60. A Prostitute Saint: Saint Mary of Egypt 61. The Trial of Thiota, A False Prophetess 62. The Life of Christina of Markyate  63. Women in the Sicilian Laws of Frederick II 64. Women and the Ideals of Courtly Love 65. Religious Life of Margery Kempe  66. Marital Problems: An Innkeeper’s Wife Leaves Him  67. Bernardino of Siena Preaches on Marriage Chapter 9: The Control of Sexuality 68. Laws of Justinian Concerning Same-Sex Acts and Blasphemy  69. A Cross-Dressing Saint: Marina/Marinus 70. Punishments for Illicit Sexuality from a Medieval Penitential  71. Prostitution and Religious Reform in Prague 72. Illegal Prostitution in London 73. Confession of a Muslim Prostitute in Valencia 74. Confession of Arnaud of Verniolle  75. The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer  76. Testimony of Rolandina Roncaglia 77. Testimony of Eleanor/John Rykener