Jews in Ivanhoe: Scott's Portrayal of Medieval Judaism

Introduction: Ivanhoe and the Question of Anti-Semitism

Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe makes Jews central to the plot, yet it is not an anti-Semitic book. Despite the inclusion of some traditional stereotypes — which, given the largely "antiquarian" nature of Scott's interests in telling this tale, are aimed above all at historical accuracy for the time period and are not intended to be offensive — Scott writes as though some tenet of Christian chivalry entails tolerance and open-mindedness toward the Jewish population in medieval England. A thorough examination of the novel's portrayal of twelfth-century Judaism reveals that Scott is writing from a deep understanding of what life is like at the margins. Perhaps this sensitivity stems from his own experience as a Scotsman and as a physically disabled person — Scott famously had a club foot — and it makes him more attuned to the subject of Jewish life than we might otherwise expect for a man of his place and time.

Scott's narrator in Ivanhoe is a good indication of the novel's overall tone. The narrator's voice in a work of fiction goes a long way toward shaping how we judge the material, and in Scott's case the narrator frequently reassures the reader of the historical validity of his fictional tale of chivalry. What is remarkable is that Scott's ideal of chivalry is shown to include a protective attitude toward Jews. Yet Scott does not whitewash the existence of real anti-Semitism. Here is how the narrator introduces a discussion of it in Chapter Six:

The Narrator's Voice and the Condemnation of Persecution

"His doubts might have been indeed pardoned; for, except perhaps the flying fish, there was no race existing on the earth, in the air, or the waters, who were the object of such an unintermitting, general, and relentless persecution as the Jews of this period. Upon the slightest and most unreasonable pretences, as well as upon accusations the most absurd and groundless, their persons and property were exposed to every turn of popular fury; for Norman, Saxon, Dane, and Briton, however adverse these races were to each other, contended which should look with greatest detestation upon a people, whom it was accounted a point of religion to hate, to revile, to despise, to plunder, and to persecute."

This passage reveals the awareness of Scott's narrator — and presumably Scott himself — of not only the "unintermitting, general, and relentless persecution" to which Jews were subjected, but also the fact that many "accusations" against them were in fact "most absurd and groundless." The narratorial voice establishes a common-sense perspective from which we recognize what Scott depicts: different races of Gentiles conspiring against Jews in a historical period when Jews had no legal protections, a situation that was always likely to produce trumped-up charges motivated by economic self-interest on the part of the accuser.

Since Ivanhoe is, among other things, a Robin Hood novel, we can note how the narrator goes on to ascribe a particularly vicious anti-Semitism to King John, the customary villain of Robin Hood stories:

"The kings of the Norman race, and the independent nobles, who followed their example in all acts of tyranny, maintained against this devoted people a persecution of a more regular, calculated, and self-interested kind. It is a well-known story of King John, that he confined a wealthy Jew in one of the royal castles, and daily caused one of his teeth to be torn out, until, when the jaw of the unhappy Israelite was half disfurnished, he consented to pay a large sum, which it was the tyrant's object to extort from him."

Jews, Money, and Historical Accuracy

We are not meant to find John's example admirable: this is one way he lives up to his customary role as villain of the Robin Hood myth. Scott uses anti-Semitism here not only to convey authentic period detail — he refers to it as a "well-known" story, suggesting it is not an invented slander against King John but one of the historically documented horror stories of anti-Semitic violence in the Middle Ages — but also to convince the reader that he is accurately representing the historical period. This shows that Sir Walter Scott can write about an anti-Semite without being one himself.

From the standpoint of the Jewish characters depicted in the book, we can see them as fully real, responding to the actual societal pressures of the time period they inhabited. When Scott includes details that might superficially sound like anti-Semitism — especially in discussing the historical role of Jews as moneylenders — he is nonetheless careful to make the reader aware that he is doing so purely for reasons of historical accuracy. Scott is, in fact, somewhat cautious in his depiction of Jews and money, and the issue is handled fairly frankly by the narrator. The following extended passage establishes Scott's handling of the "Jews' Exchequer," a royally sanctioned legal instrument designed to extort money from Jews, who were, the narrator acknowledges, essentially the only people in England who possessed any liquid capital during this period:

"The little ready money which was in the country was chiefly in possession of this persecuted people, and the nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign, in wringing it from them by every species of oppression, and even personal torture. Yet the passive courage inspired by the love of gain, induced the Jews to dare the various evils to which they were subjected, in consideration of the immense profits which they were enabled to realize in a country naturally so wealthy as England. In spite of every kind of discouragement, and even of the special court of taxations already mentioned, called the Jews' Exchequer, erected for the very purpose of despoiling and distressing them, the Jews increased, multiplied, and accumulated huge sums, which they transferred from one hand to another by means of bills of exchange — an invention for which commerce is said to be indebted to them, and which enabled them to transfer their wealth from land to land, that when threatened with oppression in one country, their treasure might be secured in another. The obstinacy and avarice of the Jews being thus in a measure placed in opposition to the fanaticism and tyranny of those under whom they lived, seemed to increase in proportion to the persecution with which they were visited; and the immense wealth they usually acquired in commerce, while it frequently placed them in danger, was at other times their only protection."

What is striking here is that Scott contextualizes Jewish wealth not as the product of innate greed but as a rational and even courageous response to institutionalized persecution. The "love of gain" that drove Jews to endure oppression is presented as a survival strategy rather than a moral failing. The narrator's tone is consistently one of admiration for the resilience of a people who managed to prosper despite systematic efforts to destroy them.

Conclusion

A thorough examination of Ivanhoe reveals that Sir Walter Scott writes about Jewish life in twelfth-century England with a level of empathy and historical conscience that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries. He uses his narrator's voice to condemn anti-Semitism explicitly, contextualizes Jewish economic behavior as a product of persecution rather than innate character, and creates in Rebecca one of the most fully realized and morally admirable characters in his fiction. While some period-inflected stereotypes remain in the text, they serve the novel's commitment to historical authenticity rather than its author's prejudice. Scott's Ivanhoe is ultimately a novel that insists, beneath the pageantry of medieval chivalry, on the humanity of those whom the dominant culture sought to dehumanize.