The Boy in the Oven: The Arabic Infancy Gospel and an Anti-Jewish Tale in Medieval Iberia

This study examines a 13th-century tale, as told by Gonzalo de Berceo and Alfonso X, of a Jewish father who tries to burn his son alive in an oven for having converted to Christianity. It shows how the typological significance of the Virgin Mary's intervention, when she rescues the boy from the...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:"The Gospels in Medieval Communities and Daily Life, Part 1, Written and Spoken Word"
Main Author: Giles, Ryan D. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Il Mulino 2022
In: Quaderni di storia religiosa medievale
Year: 2022, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 263-287
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages
NBJ Mariology
Further subjects:B Miracles
B Anti-judaism
B Typology
B Arabic Infancy Gospel
B Medieval Spain / Iberia
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Description
Summary:This study examines a 13th-century tale, as told by Gonzalo de Berceo and Alfonso X, of a Jewish father who tries to burn his son alive in an oven for having converted to Christianity. It shows how the typological significance of the Virgin Mary's intervention, when she rescues the boy from the oven, is influenced by a legend from the Arabic Infancy Gospel, first in early Latin sources for the miracle, and even more so in medieval Iberian retellings. Finally, it takes into consideration how this anti-Jewish story relates to a 15th-century tale, attributed to Jaume Roig, in which the villain is recast as a Moor and earlier typologies and evangelizing messages have no place, in a retelling that anticipates a more racist notion of identity.
ISSN:2785-1311
Contains:Enthalten in: Quaderni di storia religiosa medievale
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.32052/106689