Early Middle Ages in Europe
By the early Middle Ages a few Jewish settlements dotted the northern shore of the Black Sea in Russia, with many more in Greece and the Balkans—at Athens, Corinth, Salonika, Sofia, and Sarajevo, among others. Dense and numerous Italian Jewish communities in addition to Rome extended as far north as Milan, Genoa, Ferrara, and Verona. There were settlements in Germany (Regensburg, Metz, and Cologne, among others), more in France (Paris—then called Lutetia—Nantes, Bordeaux, Agde, Aries, and Marseilles), and quite a few in Spanish towns like Toledo, Cordoba, Granada, and Valencia. Towns with Jewish neighborhoods dotted the north African coast from Morocco to Egypt.
In Byzantium the eastern Church was very powerful, but the culture was still Greek. Jews read the Torah in Greek translation in many synagogues. They were silk producers, weavers, dyers, tanners, and other kinds of artisans, but they were kept on society’s fringes and conversion was clearly urged on...
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Konner, M.J. (2005). Jewish Diaspora in Europe and the Americas. In: Ember, M., Ember, C.R., Skoggard, I. (eds) Encyclopedia of Diasporas. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29904-4_17
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