El Contra Judaeos de Isidoro de Sevilla en la predicación regular ibérica del final del siglo xii. Entre identidad confesional y estatutaria

Amélie De las heras (1)

1 IRHT - Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes

This chapter re-evaluates the homiletic production of the Augustine canon regular Martin of León (d. 1203) with reference to the reception and transmission of authoritative texts within the Iberian Peninsula, particularly the De fide catholica contra Judaeos of St Isidore of Seville (d. 636). It critiques the widely accepted thesis that Martin of León composed his biblical commentaries, the Concordia, which contains over fifty sermons, to be used to polemicize against the rabbis of León or to convert León’s Jewish communities. We re-examine the anti-Jewish rhetoric in the sermons of Martino of León’s Concordia in light of his scholarly work of textual compilation. We interrogate whether Martino sought to revise the Contra Judaeos to be used as a tool to polemicize against or convert the Jews or, conversely, to deepen the faith of the canons regular. Toward this end, the chapter first analyses the content of the sermons in the Concordia that specifically quote the Contra Judaeos and concludes that most of them (six out of eight) were intended to be preached since they contain exhortations. The comparative analysis of the content of the Concordia and Contra Judaeos further reveals how Martino drew from St Isidore’s work to structure some of his sermons or to provide the prothema for others, but it also shows that he utilized other scholastic sources from France with the aim of shaping a coherent anti-Jewish discourse. The final section argues that Martino of León used the Contra Judaeos mainly for purposes other than polemicizing against the Jews, namely to deepen the exegetical instruction of his audience in order to enhance their practice of lectio divina and to fortify the cohesion of the canons regular of San Isidoro as a community of brothers united in faith. In sum, the chapter concludes that Martino of León reused the Contra Judaeos for many purposes, none of which included the conversion of León’s Jewish minority. He revalidated and deployed the anti-Jewish discourse of Isidore of Seville’s treatise in the service of the lectio divina to fortify the faith and the communal identity of the canons regular of San Isidoro of León.

La prédication léonaise de la fin du XIIe siècle est souvent réduite à ses ambitions antijudaïques, du fait du poids de l’œuvre de Martin de León dans les sources disponibles et, au sein de celle-ci, des emprunts au De fide catholica contra Judaeos d’Isidore de Séville. La visée antijudaïque est indéniable : dans un long traité, Martin de León s’oppose ardemment au « juif réel ». Dans sa prédication, cependant, il utilise le traité d’Isidore essentiellement pour dénoncer le « juif théologique ». Ces sermons ne sont donc guère de circonstance. Ils servent avant tout une ambition didactique, celle d’accompagner les principaux destinataires, i.e. les chanoines à Saint-Isidore de León, dans leur compréhension de l’œuvre du saint patron de leur collégiale. C’est leur édification qui est en jeu ; le Contra Judaeos sert bien la prédication martinienne pour négocier une identité mais celle-ci est moins confessionnelle que statutaire, canoniale.

Mots clés: Antijudaism; Iberian Peninsula; Preaching; 12th Century

Mots clés: Martino de León; siglo xii

Domaines: Histoire

Amélie De las heras. El Contra Judaeos de Isidoro de Sevilla en la predicación regular ibérica del final del siglo xii. Entre identidad confesional y estatutaria. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Preaching in the Mediterranean and Europe. Identities and Interfaith Encounters, 2019, 978-2-503-58271-9. ⟨10.1484/M.SERMO-EB.5.116669⟩. ⟨halshs-02508156⟩