The Jews in Sicily, Volume 2 (1302-1391)

This volume illustrates the history of the Jews in Sicily for most of the 14th century and the events of the first century of Aragonese rule over the island. During that period, often unsettled by political upheavals, the Jewish minority flourished economically, but suffered, along with the rest of the population, during civil war and uprisings of the barons. Some 1000 documents record the fortunes of the Jews, their relations with the authorities and those with their Christian neighbours. The abundnace of historical records in the archives of the Crown, local authorities and notaries compares favourably with the relative scarcity of surviving documentation in preceding centuries. Therefore, many documents had to be reported in summary form.