Ordonner et exclure

Presents a history of the Cluny monastery in the 11th-12th centuries as an illustration of the growth of Christian intolerance during the period of the first two Crusades. At that time Christians had to contend with their own dissidents as well as with other religions. Pierre le Vénérable, the abbot of Cluny between 1122-56, wrote the treatise "Adversus Iudeorum inveteratam duritiem" in 1143-44. The writings of Pierre le Vénérable reflect mechanisms of exclusion and demonization of the Jews who, until the period of the Crusades, were free citizens. During the Crusades they became serfs of local princes or protected subjects. The "Adversus Iudeorum" is not only a defense of Christianity against others but also a violent attack on the perseverance of the Jews. Presents and analyzes Pierre le Vénérable's arguments against the Jews, which culminate with the question whether the Jews are human beings. Argues that his writings are an early example of the passage from anti-Judaism to antisemitism, and that his theories were the beginning of an exclusion process which led to the Holocaust in the 20th century.