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differently, it is precisely the
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interaction of time-bound and timeless concerns that makes the narratives ultimately more
fascinating even for studying post-1096 imagemaking than the simpler poems.
This brief survey of prior work on the Hebrew First Crusade narratives serves as a useful backdrop
for identifying the main thrusts of the present investigation. This study begins with a close scrutiny of
the three 1096 narratives. The boundaries of each is clearly delineated, and each is carefully examined
in its entirety in an effort to ascertain, first of all, its literary integrity. I conclude that the Mainz
Anonymous is the work of a single historical imagination; the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle a
compilation of prior compositions, each of which must be carefully identified and analyzed; and the
Eliezer bar Nathan Chronicle a reworking of the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle, highlighted by the
addition of poetic dirges over the destroyed Jewish communities of the Rhineland. Among the
compositions absorbed by the editor of the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle in addition to the Mainz
Anonymous are a striking depiction of events in Trier and a radically different account of the
destruction of Cologne Jewry. Thus, the three narratives actually provide us with five distinct
perspectives on the events of 1096.
After the five available post-1096 voices are scrupulously identified, the next items addressed are
the dating and the objectives of each independent literary unit, two interrelated issues. Dating will help
clarify objectives, and objectives will help clarify dating. In a general way, the earlier
compositions the Mainz Anonymous and the Trier unit of the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle reflect
the fullest time-bound orientation. Those voices at the greatest distance from the events tend, not
surprisingly, to lose the time-bound focus and highlight the timeless. I argue that the Mainz
Anonymous like the Orlans letter noted earlier is unique in its effort to integrate the time-bound
and the timeless. These matters, all involving close analysis of the three 1096 narratives, occupy the
first half of the study.
The second half of the book is organized in terms of issues, rather than sources. In the light of the
analysis of the discrete literary units in the first half of the book, I clarify the time-bound and the
timeless objectives of the diverse voices available to us. Close examination of the varied time-bound
objectives of our authors leads readily to consideration of the facticity of the data provided in the
narratives. If time-bound objectives did indeed animate our authors, what implications does this have
for the reliability of the data transmitted in the narratives? Did the
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time-bound objectives necessitate an effort to transmit verifiable and reliable information?
Careful consideration of the timeless messages of the narrators leads in an alternative
direction the identification of an innovative sense of the complex relationship between the divine and
the human in shaping the course of history. At the close of this study, the innovativeness of this
seemingly new style of historical narrative and this seemingly new conceptualization of God, humanity,
and history an innovativeness suggested, for example, in the Yerushalmi and Mintz studies is
rigorously examined. Is it possible to discover precedents in either the classical or the medieval
literature of the Jews? If not, are there alternative models for this innovative style of historical writing
and these innovative formulations of the interaction of the divine and the human? Again, these
far-reaching considerations are ultimately rooted in a close reading of each of the literary units
discernible in our three narratives. From the particular to the more general is the broad organizing
principle of this study.
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2. The Mainz Anonymous
Structure, Authorship, Dating,
and Objectives
Of the three Hebrew First Crusade narratives, the Eliezer bar Nathan Chronicle has been the most
widely copied and read; more recently, scholarly attention has focused on the so-called Solomon bar
Simson Chronicle.[1] However, it has been my sense for some time now that the most interesting,
impressive, and valuable of the three compositions is the Mainz Anonymous.[2] The Eliezer bar Nathan
Chronicle I shall argue is but an epitome of the lengthier Solomon bar Simson Chronicle, with poetic
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additions;[3] the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle is a rich but often maladroit compilation of a variety of
independent sources;[4] the Mainz Anonymous is a tightly organized, carefully conceptualized
narrative, written by one person quite close in time to the events themselves. The burden of this
chapter is to lay bare the tight organization and careful conceptualization of the Mainz Anonymous, to
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