Forced conversion and tolerance in the West
Date
550CE
sixth century CE to 604 CEapproximate date
In the emperorless West, a bishop forced the conversion of the Jews of Clermont, while Pope Gregory the Great condemned forced conversions.
Sourced narrative
Each block is a verifiable statement. The number opens the cited page; amber or coral blocks flag tradition or contested interpretation.
5 statements
There is no general rule for Christian-Roman conduct toward the Jews: sometimes the government acted against them, sometimes it defended them. As the empire fragmented from the fifth century, the picture grew more varied still, and in the West, without central imperial power, bishops gained even more weight.
02Clermont
In the sixth century, at Clermont (in today's France), Bishop Avitus, who wished to see the local Jews baptized, stoked a conflict between Jews and Christians. The result was a destroyed synagogue and a community compelled to convert under threat of being driven out.
03Gregory the Great
Not everyone acted this way. Gregory the Great, pope from 590, also wanted the Jews to convert, but he ordered bishops to repay Jews for confiscated synagogues and condemned conversion by force.
Context
Some Christian leaders were bent on converting the Jews, at times by force, threatening them with expulsion or death. Overall, though, Augustine's line won out, and Jewish communities went on existing, if in weakened form. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430) disagreed sharply with the Jews: he held that they misread the Bible and that their dispersion and suffering were punishment for rejecting Christ. Even so, unlike other Christian thinkers, he did not preach violence: Jews were to go on existing, even in humiliation, to serve as living proof of Christian faith. This view probably weighed heavily in allowing Jews to survive under Christian governments through the Middle Ages.
§ 01Geography
Where it happened
§ 04Network
Connections
§ 05Bibliography
Further reading
No specific reading recorded for this event.
§ 06Apparatus
Sources on this page
- 01Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125inspect
- 02Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 521inspect
- 03Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125inspect
- 04Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125inspect
- 05Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 125; Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman, p. 520inspect
- Documented evidenceAttested by contemporary evidence: texts, inscriptions, coins, papyri or archaeology.
- Scholarly reconstructionHistorians' inference from indirect evidence.
- Tradition or narrativeA literary, traditional or religious account; significant in itself, but not independently verified.
- Contested interpretationScholars explicitly disagree; see the positions in the debate.
- Illustrative reconstructionA hypothesis or visual scheme to guide reading; not a historical claim.