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Conspicuoulsly absent (to my recollection) from this discussion has been R. I. Moore's _Formation of a Persecuting Society_, I wonder why? Do members not like it? His thesis, to oversimplify, is that in the early middle ages theres is nothing like widespread abuse of Jews, in fact Jews and Christians got along w/out incident, that it was only in the 13th c. that persecution of the Jews becomes endemic in western Europe. Along with this cam harsher treatment for lepers, gays, and women as well. Why? Because in the 13th c. The Church was trying to define more precisely the body of believers, who was in and who was out and so, inadvertantly, singled out certain groups as targets for ostricization and persecution. I should add that he does not see the church as alone in this process, that the Church is one of many political communities trying to centralize their authority by defining their members more precisely (so, too, France, HRE, England, etc all see increased perseuctions). I have some serious reservations about the book, but I find it a useful model, does anyone have an opinion or could improve my rough summary? Louis Louis Hamilton Fordham University %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%