Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt. The Origins of the Office of Head of the Jews, ca. 1065-1126
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. XXI, [1], 385, [1]pp. Tan dust jacket with blue lettering on covers and spine. Tan cloth binding with gilt lettering on spine over blue label. Blue lettering also on spine.
Under three successive Islamic dynasties (the Fatimids, the Ayyubids, and the Mamluks), the Egyptian Office of the Head of the Jews (also known as the Nagid) became the most powerful representative of medieval Jewish autonomy in the Islamic world. To determine the origins of this institution, Mark Cohen concentrates on the complex web of internal and external circumstances during the latter part of the 11th century. Challenging the still popular theory that the office was created suddenly by government fiat a hundred years earlier when the Fatimids conquered Egypt, he shows instead how the office gradually evolved as a communal response to political and social developments in the larger Muslim world.
Dust jacket in very good+, binding and interior in very good+ to near fine condition overall. vg+ to near fine. Item #45747
ISBN: 0691053073
Price: $75.00