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Disputation of Paris and Burning of the Talmud

Type Event Region Western Europe Time 1240–1242

In 1240 the Jewish convert Nicholas Donin accused the Talmud of blasphemy before Pope Gregory IX, prompting a trial-style disputation at the Paris ro…

Timeline

  1. 1239–1240Paris · ParisNicholas Donin presented more than thirty charges to Gregory IX, alleging that the Talmud contained blasphemies against Jesus, Mary, and Christianity and affected the legal status of Jews and Christians. In 1239 the pope ordered Christian rulers to seize the Talmud. The French royal court enforced it most vigorously.
  2. 1240Paris · ParisA trial of the Talmud was held at the court of Louis IX. Donin served as accuser, while four rabbis including Yechiel of Paris defended it. Queen Mother Blanche and others were present. The disputation proceeded according to the logic of ecclesiastical trials, and the Jewish side failed to alter the direction of the predetermined verdict.
  3. 1242Paris · ParisAfter the verdict, about twenty-four cartloads of Hebrew manuscripts were publicly burned in Paris. Eyewitness traditions survive in the poems of rabbis such as Meir of Rothenburg. The event severely damaged the manuscript foundation of Jewish scholarship in France and influenced subsequent Christian censorship policies toward the Talmud.

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