The Medieval Jewish underworld: Jewish involvement in crime in medieval Europe

Crime and its socio-legal impact may be used as a prism through which we can evaluate almost any given society, past or present, to explore the intersect between law and civilization. The Medieval Jewish Underworld project is a proposed new and comprehensive study that will collect, describe, and analyze evidence of Jewish involvement in crime and the criminal underworld in the medieval period. This project will uncover and evaluate this phenomenon both inside and outside of the Jewish community. The primary objective of the project is to build a database that will enable a proper analysis of the role of Jewish crime in medieval Europe in an effort to better understand its socio-cultural implications.