"From Spain to India" Becomes "A Mediterranean Society": The Braudel-Goitein "Correspondence" Part...

MITTEILUNGENDES KUNSTHISTORISCHEN INSTITUTESIN FLORENZ

LVI. BAND — 2014

HEFT 1

Littoral and Liminal SpacesThe Early Modern Mediterranean and Beyond

MITTEILUNGENDES KUNSTHISTORISCHEN INSTITUTESIN FLORENZ

_ 3 _ Hannah Baader - Gerhard WolfA Sea-to-Shore Perspective. Littoral and Liminal Spaces of the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean

_ 17 _ Çigdem KafesciogluViewing, walking, mapping Istanbul, ca. 1580

_ 37 _ Stephanie HankeAn der Schwelle zwischen Stadt und Meer: Frühneuzeitliche Uferpromenaden in Messina, Palermo und Neapel

_ 59 _ Itay SapirThe Birth of Mediterranean Culture: Claude Lorrain’s Port Scenes Between the Apollonian and the Dionysian

_ 71 _ Brigitte SölchArchitektur bewegt – Pugets Rathausportal in Toulon oder Schwellenräume als ‘sympathetische’ Interaktionsräume

_ 95 _ Joachim ReesAuf schwankendem Grund. Visuelle Konstruktionen des Litorals in den Bildkünsten der Niederlande und Japans um 1600

_ 113 _ Peter N. MillerFrom Spain to India Becomes A Mediterranean Society. The Braudel-Goitein ‘Correspondence’, Part II

Redaktionskomitee | Comitato di redazioneAlessandro Nova, Gerhard Wolf, Samuel Vitali

Redakteur | RedattoreSamuel Vitali

Editing und Herstellung | Editing e impaginazioneOrtensia Martinez Fucini

Kunsthistorisches Institut in FlorenzMax-Planck-InstitutVia G. Giusti 44, I-50121 FirenzeTel. 055.2491147, Fax [email protected] – [email protected]/publikationen/mitteilungen

Graphik | Progetto graficoRovaiWeber design, Firenze

Produktion | ProduzioneCentro Di edizioni, Firenze

Die Mitteilungen erscheinen jährlich in drei Heften und können im Abonnement oder in Einzelheften bezogen werden durch | Le Mitteilungen escono con cadenza quadrimestrale e possono essere ordinate in abbonamento o singolarmente presso:Centro Di edizioni, Lungarno Serristori 35I-50125 Firenze, Tel. 055.2342666, Fax 055.2342667,[email protected]; www.centrodi.it.

Preis | PrezzoEinzelheft | Fascicolo singolo: € 30 (plus Porto | più costi di spedizione)Jahresabonnement | Abbonamento annuale: € 90 (Italia); € 120 (Ausland | estero)

Die Mitglieder des Vereins zur Förderung des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz (Max-Planck-Institut) e. V. erhalten die Zeitschrift kostenlos. I membri del Verein zur Förderung des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz (Max-Planck-Institut) e. V. ricevono la rivista gratuitamente.

Adresse des Vereins | Indirizzo del Verein:c/o Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. AG & Co. KGaA z. H. Frau Cornelia Schurek Odeonsplatz 12, D-80539 Mü[email protected]; www.associazione.de

Die alten Jahrgänge der Mitteilungen sind für Subskribenten online abrufbar über JSTOR (www.jstor.org).Le precedenti annate delle Mitteilungen sono accessibili online su JSTOR (www.jstor.org) per gli abbonati al servizio.

LVI. BAND — 2014

HEFT 1

Littoral and Liminal SpacesThe Early Modern Mediterranean and Beyond

edited by Hannah Baader and Gerhard Wolf

112 | Peter N. Miller |

____

1 letter of S. D. Goitein to Fernand Braudel, 20 February 1955

| 113

S. D. Goitein (1900–1985) was a monumental scholar. There is as yet no biography of him, and his personal papers have only just left the family home.1 His impact has been registered almost entirely by those working with materials from the Cairo Geniza, and hence on Jews in the Islamic Mediterranean world. But recently, scholars as diverse as Sanjay Subrahmanyam

From Spain to indiaBeCoMeS

a mediterranean SocietyTHe BrauDel-GoITeIn

‘CorreSponDenCe’ parT II

peter n. miller

and Chris Wickham have looked into Goitein’s work to answer broader questions.2 and there is a whole new generation of Geniza-based scholars who, in turn, are looking out from the Geniza to questions of europe-an and asian importance.3 That his five-volume medi-terranean Society (1967–1988) has so much less engaged the broader audience of scholars, let alone laymen,

1 What passes now for a biographical introduction is Gideon libson, “Hidden Worlds and open Shutters: S. D. Goitein Between Judaism and Islam”, in: the Jewish past revisited: reflections on modern Jewish Historians, ed. by David n. Myers/David B. ruderman, new Haven/london 1998, pp. 163–198. an international conference at Brandeis university, “Goitein in perspective” (31 March–1 april 2014) was explicitly framed as “To-wards an Intellectual Biography”. Goitein’s papers were held by the family until they were donated to the national library of Israel in 2012. They have not yet been catalogued. In what follows, unless otherwise noted, all letters between Goitein and Heller are cited from the Fonds Heller in the archive of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in paris, and those between Goitein and everyone else from the materials in the Depart-ment of archives of the national library of Israel in Jerusalem. I wish again to thank Brigitte Mazan in paris and rachel Misrati in Jerusalem.

2 Sanjay Subrahmanyam, “notes on Circulation and asymmetry in Two Mediterraneans, c. 1400–1800”, in: From the mediterranean to the china Sea: miscellaneous notes, ed. by Claude Guillot/Denys lombard/roderich ptak, Wiesbaden 1998, p. 32; Chris Wickham, Framing the early middle ages: europe and the mediterranean, 400–800, oxford 2005, p. 718, n. 48. 3 See especially the essays of avner Greif, institutions and the path to the modern economy: Lessons from medieval trade, Cambridge/new York 2006; Jes-sica Goldberg, trade and institutions in the medieval mediterranean: the Geniza mer-chants and their Business World, Cambridge 2012; Marina rustow, Heresy and the politics of community: the Jews of the Fatimid caliphate, Ithaca/new York 2008; roxani eleni Margariti, aden and the indian ocean trade: 150 years in the Life of a medieval arabian port, Chapel Hill 2007; phillip ackerman-lieberman, the Business of identity: Jews, muslims, and economic Life in medieval egypt, Stanford 2014.


than the two volumes of Braudel’s La méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de philippe ii (1949; second edition 1966) raises many questions.4

The choice of Braudel as his pair makes sense. Both are the century’s great windows giving on to the Mediterranean; their work makes the most compel-ling case for the importance of the Mediterranean as a historical arena and as a historiographical proving ground. Yet they seem like ships that pass in the night. neither engages in print with the work of the other. Braudel never mentions Goitein, and in his bibliogra-phy both misspells Goitein’s name and invents a ficti-tious title for his work, while Goitein only mentions Braudel in the “epilogue” to his volume V, where he confesses he did not read the mediterranean until the mid-1970s and then garbles its publication history.5

and yet, despite the principals’ presentation of their relationship, for ten years Goitein was in close col-laboration with the Centre de recherches Historiques (CrH), a unit of the VIème section of the École pratique des Hautes Études (epHe), then directed by Braudel. attracted by Goitein’s first publication in autumn 1954 of his discovery about the Jewish “India traders” of the Middle ages, Clemens Heller, Braudel’s right-hand man at the CrH, wrote to Goitein and suggested a collaboration.6 He initially showed interest in publish-ing what has come to be known as the “India book”, but later, speaking for Braudel, proposed publishing the

entire “documentary Geniza”. Three years of intense negotiation over publication followed (1955–1957; Fig. 1). I have told this story elsewhere;7 in this article we will conclude the story of this failed collaboration and its consequences for the shape of Goitein’s oeuvre and our understanding of it. For it was in the years from 1957 to 1964 that Goitein abandoned India for the Mediterranean, Jerusalem for philadelphia, and a French publishing base for an american one.

all of these changes were connected. We cannot here plumb the significance of Goitein’s move from Israel. But the cost of giving up the India book and Braudel can be assessed. Had he completed it and then moved on to write a mediterranean Society – and the difference between the India book of 1954 and the India book of 2008 was only a matter of quan-tity (i. e. more sources), not quality8 – we would have had to reckon with the reconstruction of a historical cosmos that stretched from Spain to India. The turn to the transnational and the global was there, all pre-pared, in Goitein’s study. But it had to wait, and with it the scope of Goitein’s own reputation, for another half-century to pass. not only can we only now evaluate Goitein’s intellectual contribution, but only now, in the wake of publications such as Francesca Trivella-to’s Familiarity of Strangers (2009) or David Hancock’s oceans of Wine (2009) can we begin to assess the im-pact Goitein’s work of the 1950s could have had.9

4 Fernand Braudel, La méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque de phi-lippe ii, paris 1949 (english in 2 vols. 1972); S. D. Goitein, a mediterranean Society, Berkeley/los angeles 1967–1988. 5 Goitein gives 1966 as publication date for La méditerranée instead of 1949; 1966 was the date of the second edition. Without giving the date (1975), Goitein notes that he only read the book after it had been published in paperback in english “and could be studied away from my desk” (S. D. Goitein, “epilogue”, in: idem [note 4], V, p. 497). 6 S. D. Goitein, “From the Mediterranean to India: Documents on the Trade to India, South arabia, and east africa from the eleventh and Twelfth Centuries”, in: Speculum, XXIX (1954), pp. 181–197. 7 peter n. Miller, “Two Men in a Boat: The Braudel-Goitein ‘Corres-pondence’ and the Beginnings of Thalassography”, in: the Sea: thalassography and Historiography, ed. by idem, ann arbor 2013, pp. 27–59.

8 S. D. Goitein/Mordechai akiva Friedman, india traders of the middle ages: documents from the cairo Geniza: india Book, part one, leiden/Boston 2008. no doubt the argument could be made that if he had finished the India book we would have had to wait fifty years for a mediterranean Society. But this is false. The fact is that the India book was delayed because Goitein wanted to add more documents to it. In the 1958 report that he prepared on his progress, probably a requirement for continued funding from the French, Goitein proudly announced that at the time of the Speculum essay he had only 130 documents, while he had now accumulated 262. It is this quest for more – in fact, for all – that held up production of the India book for so long. 9 Francesca Trivellato, Familiarity of Strangers: the Sephardic diaspora, Livorno, and cross-cultural trade in the early modern period, Yale university press 2009; David Hancock, oceans of Wine: madeira and the emergence of american trade and taste, Yale university press 2009.

| the BrauDel–GoiteiN ‘CorreSPoNDeNCe’ | 115

Goitein was careful to describe himself as a philolo- gist10 and there is no disputing that it is the historical character of the philologian, not the historian, that is on view in both the India book and a mediterranean So-ciety. and yet, at the same time, his recognition that the world of the Indian ocean traders was connected to that of the Mediterranean traders, through the hinge at Cairo, was a historical insight of the first order. It is no less grand in its scale, or revelatory in its intuition, than Braudel’s vision of the greater Mediterranean that stretched from the atlantic and the Sahara to Central asia and, yes, the Indian ocean. and he was aware of it in 1955, almost from the very beginning of his work on the India merchants.

We can get a sense of Goitein’s wider historical vi-sion from a précis which he had prepared for Braudel. From Spain to india was the projected first title in the se-ries of Goitein volumes that the CrH was to publish.11 Discussion of a small sample introduction began in spring 1955.12 Goitein duly prepared a “preface” and had it translated in Jerusalem. (He even inquired from Heller whether Braudel liked the translation.)13 It sur-vives in the Heller archive. This text of 6 typewritten pages, which has never before been published, lays out Goitein’s fullest vision – and therefore enables us best to take his measure (see appendix).

Goitein begins by stressing the importance of the trade between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean as the key to the medieval international economy, even as it later drove the europeans’ trans-oceanic voyages. What could be known of it at its apogee, under the Fatimid rulers of egypt in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, had been limited to fragments – before the exploitation of the documents in the Cairo Geniza. af-ter briefly rehearsing the history of those documents,

Goitein turned to explain how one used them. Having begun, he writes, to gather up all that reported on trade to the lands south and east of egypt, he then realized that he was encountering many records of people who worked in the Indian ocean and in the Mediterrane-an “and that it was clear that these two domains were inseparable in their eyes”. It was this vision that ex-plained how it was that documents belonging to one or another India merchant reported on affairs in the Mediterranean. Goitein observed that “this offers us the possibility of tracing a pretty comprehensive por-trait of great merchants, whose business network ex-tended from Spain to India”.14 This idea of a portrait of individual people articulated through documents is one that he goes on about and which is reflected in the architecture of the volume, both as it was projected and as it was published over 50 years later. He noted the many unknown personalities who now stood out “under the full light of history”.15

The rest of From Spain to india seems not to have been translated into French and survives in an english typescript, marked in Goitein’s hand as “Confidential. Copyright S. D. Goitein”. The full sub-title echoes very precisely the line of the preface: documents from the cairo Geniza on trade and travel between the mediterranean and the indian ocean. First of all, as is made very clear in the thirty pages which follow, this was to be a collection of documents, organized around particular individuals. Second, it makes the trade “between” the Mediterrane-an and Indian ocean worlds the main story. What we possess is a brief calendar of the documents Goitein had found. a long entry, for instance, describes a

most personal letter of a husband to his wife, in egypt,

mentioning that he was travelling further than Ma‘bar

10 Goitein to Heller, 27 october 1954. 11 Goitein to Heller, 12 December 1955. 12 Goitein suggested auditioning a certain paul Klein who once worked at the Bibliothèque nationale in paris and was now residing in Jerusalem, to see how well he translated. Goitein to Heller, 25 april 1955.

13 Goitein to Heller, 21 november 1955. (Braudel did indeed approve the translation; alice Vidal [Heller’s secretary, for Heller] to Goitein, 16 January 1956.) 14 appendix, p. 129 (translation by the author). 15 ibidem, p. 130.


[Malabar] (eastern coast of India). He apologizes for

being away so long and for not having sent her enough

presents owing to shipwreck and other disasters, leaving

it entirely to her whether she wanted to have a divorce

or not. His love was unshaken, he got drunk every day

owing to the sufferings of separation, but ‘cured his soul’

through fasting and was the most respected leader of the

congregation in prayer all over India and aden.16

another is a letter to Maimonides from his broth-er David. It told of “the terrors endured from bandits and other dangers during the crossing of the desert between luxor and aidhab and expressing the hope that God who had saved him from the desert would keep him on the ocean as well”. Goitein could not re-sist claiming, even in a list such as this, the historian’s form of omniscience: “a hope, which was not fulfilled; he perished with all the fortune of the family”.17

Thus, in 1955, as he was working on the India book, Goitein was also thinking about its value. He de-fined it, as we have seen, in terms of its connectedness to the Mediterranean. The decision to drop the Indian part out of the story and concentrate on the Mediterranean was presented by Goitein as something that came later. In the preface to volume I of a mediterranean Society, he puts the turning point in the summer of 1958. He had come to feel that simply to identify the India merchants as part of a network that extended to the Mediterranean was insufficient. In fact, they could not be satisfactorily understood without that Mediterranean context being understood. and it was just then, that “there arrived a letter from Dr. G. e. von Grunebaum [professor at uCla] dated august 18, 1958, suggesting that I par-ticipate in the new publication program” of uCla and university of California press. “This decided the mat-ter. I was off India and on the Mediterranean.”18

But Goitein’s switch of focus from India to the Mediterranean needs to be seen in a broader bio-graphical context to which he did not call attention, namely, his move from Jerusalem to philadelphia. This had been proposed to him in a letter from ephraim avigdor Speiser, Chairman of the De-partment of oriental Studies at the university of pennsylvania, of 17 December 1955. In his reply of 27 December, Goitein agreed to move. He gave two main explanations, the first, and better known, was that moving to philadelphia would enable him to “carry out that great research project of the Geniza in a way which I would think appropriate”. The sec-ond, and less obvious, acknowledged the impact of geopolitical conditions on scholarship. “I believe that, for the foreseeable future, a Jewish arabist can work for the understanding of Jews and arabs, if at all, as a professor at a renowned american university better than in Jerusalem.”19

But in his correspondence with Speiser, Goitein actually linked his move to the publishing project. at least in his mind everything was bound together: position, project, printing. He explained that he was “just about to sign an agreement” with the CrH on a nine-volume project. “However,” he continues, “I was hesitating all the time, for turning my english or He-brew Introductions and Translations again into French would itself involve an enormous loss of time, and, frankly, despite their enthusiasm for the undertaking, I do not believe that the French will be able to bear the costs.” Doing the volumes in english, however, would be much simpler and cheaper. He imagined this as “a joint undertaking of penna [university of pennsylva-nia] and the Hebrew university”.20

at this stage, there is no hint of dropping the In-dia book, but the switch to north america and to

16 S. D. Goitein, From Spain to india: documents from the cairo Geniza on trade and travel between the mediterranean and the indian ocean, Jerusalem, The national library of Israel, Department of archives, Goitein papers, pp. 27f.

17 ibidem, p. 28. 18 Goitein (note 4), I, pp. VIIf. 19 Goitein to Speiser, 27 December 1955. 20 ibidem.


21 Formal notification of the appointment came in a letter from roy F. nicholas, Vice provost and Dean of the Graduate School of arts and Sciences of the university of pennsylvania, of 18 May 1956. 22 This story is told in detail in: Miller (note 7), pp. 45–50.

english-language publishing would play a decisive role in that later change.

Goitein took up residence in philadelphia for fall term 1957 as professor of arabic.21 Was it at all a co-incidence that it was just then that the simmering crisis of confidence between Goitein and paris bubbled over? Goitein’s fears and threats to pull out were conveyed by the great orientalist Claude Cahen to Heller and Brau-del and they immediately responded in november with renewed declarations of support in the hope of appeas-ing Goitein.22 on 5 December 1957, Goitein wrote to accompany a specimen of the manuscript, along with his suggestion that the printing be done in Jerusalem rather than leiden, where Mouton & Co., with whom the epHe had an agreement, was located. He thought volume IV of the India book – originally planned as a one-volume work – should include the fundamental documents printed as facsimiles, but that they should be translated in extenso in volume III. Volume II was to include Hebrew materials (summaries etc.).23

Heller responded on 19 December after having discussed the printing issues with Mr. De ridder of Mouton & Co. They agreed that some parts of the India book – the edition of the texts – should be print-ed in Jerusalem and others – the facsimiles – in Hol-land. “To sum it all up,” Heller wrote: “we propose to publish four volumes: I. Introduction – (in French); II. reproduction of facsimiles; III. edition of texts; IV. General essay about Indian merchants and transla-tions (in english)”.

Heller added that the introductory volume would be in French as would the specific introductions to vol-umes II and III. “The VIe Section would be responsible for all cost connected with the printing.” Heller asked if Goitein had a preference for the disposition of the series as a whole: “and would you prefer that the series

be published as a separate collection under the joint auspices of the university of Jerusalem and the École, as a separate collection of the École, or as part of one of the existing collections of the École?”24

In his response of 27 December 1957, Goitein put the language question at the center of the discus-sion. But it, in turn, was bound up in the confusion caused by the ever-changing organization of the pub-lication.

Concerning the language of the India book publication

there seems to prevail some confusion. What we agreed

to in new York was the following: (a) I should prepare

a short volume on the Geniza in 1958, mainly biblio-

graphical, which should come out in French. (b) The

India book should be published in english.

It seems it would be strange for one publication to be in

two different languages. However, we can discuss these

matters when we meet, as I hope, next May or June.

In any case, I write in english for the simple reason

that I am unable to do so in French. I would also like

to discuss with you our plans for future volumes, and

the question, under what auspices the Geniza project

should be published, when we meet.25

Goitein’s discomfort with French was a constant source of irritation with his parisian partners and would in time wear away the foundation of their rela-tionship. By 1958, the strain was beginning to show.

In mid-January 1958, Goitein was asking if he could contact the printer (De ridder of Mouton & Co.) directly, copying Heller, of course, in order to set up printing protocols.26 Writing back immediately, Heller allowed for the direct contact with the printer and affirmed that there might be monies available for paying for translation into French.

23 Goitein to Heller, 5 December 1957. 24 Heller to Goitein, 19 December 1957. 25 Goitein to Heller, 27 December 1957. 26 Goitein to Heller, 16 January 1958.


support to it at the CnrS. nor did he think there was any problem with partial publication outside of France. lemerle was, however, concerned with the choice of series: his own on the Middle ages would be swamped by Goitein’s projected eleven volumes. If Heller thought the Jewish series more appropriate a home, he would certainly agree.29

In February, Goitein was writing to De ridder and complaining that a late subsidy payment might cost him his travel reservation.30 In March, he wrote again. He presented the India book, as he had in the preface of 1955, as “my book of documents on the trade and travel between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean”. at the end of the letter Goitein was still complaining about the delay in obtaining his re-imbursement.31 replying, Heller promised to work on the travel agent.32 Goitein continued to complain about the lack of reimbursement in his next letter.33 a week later, Heller telegrammed Goitein saying that Cunard line tickets had been bought at Cunard in paris, sent to Cunard in philadelphia and that Globe Travel in philadelphia had been informed.34 If it seems rather astonishing that Heller was performing these secretarial tasks for Goitein, this only testifies to the high respect in which Goitein, and his project, was held at the CrH.

after all this, Goitein exploded in his next letter, of 4 May 1958. Barely thanking Heller for the wired payment, he lost his temper over the language ques-tion:

I should like to emphasize that I can accept this grant

only on condition that no strings are attached to it ex-

cept of course that the initiative and enduring interest

of the Centre will be emphasized in any publication

made with its help.

There seems to be a possibility that the recherche

Scientifique will give us money to cover part of the cost

of production. professeur lemerle will defend the case

before the recherche Scientifique and it seems again

best that he and you correspond directly with each oth-

er (with copies to my office). You will hear shortly from

him. It seems also possible to find some money to pay

for a translation of the whole work into French and

those circumstances [sic], the French are naturally eager

to have this translation. It would be important for me

to have your opinion.27

That same day, Heller wrote to paul lemerle, di-rector of a research group on the medieval near east, arming him for his meeting with the CnrS with the plan for a four-volume publication “consacré aux mar-chands juifs sur la route des Indes”. These included:

I. Goitein et paneth [sic; Baneth], Introduction aux do-

cuments de la Geniza

II. Goitein, reproduction des facsimiles pour le volume

sur le commerce avec les Indes

III. Goitein, Édition des textes pour le volume sur le

commerce avec les Indes

IV. Goitein, Introduction générale sur le commerce avec

les Indes et traduction du texte.

one notes that here the fourth volume is present-ed as if in French, not in english, though this am-biguity could have been accidental. Heller thought it would be best to publish the books in the series of the Centre d’Études Juives, which was one of the new area programs of the VIème section.28

lemerle’s answer acknowledged that “these texts are of great interest, and it is necessary to insure publication as soon as possible”. He would lend his

27 Heller to Goitein, 20 January 1958. 28 Heller to lemerle, 20 January 1958. 29 lemerle to Heller, 29 January 1958 (translation by the author). 30 Goitein to Heller, 26 February 1958.

31 Goitein to Heller, 23 March 1958. 32 Heller to Goitein, 4 april 1958. 33 Goitein to Heller, 9 april 1958. 34 Heller to Goitein, 16 april 1958.


38 Goitein to Heller, 21 June 1958. 39 Goitein to Heller, 28 august 1958. 40 Goitein to Heller, 11 September 1958.

I have to make this remark, because, while looking

through our correspondence, I see that in your letter of

19 December you again speak about a French volume

of Introduction, although I have made it plain to you

that I cannot take upon myself any scientific respon-

sibility for a translation. I personally would prefer to

write French, if I knew it. However, as things stand, I

am able to publish only in english, German and He-

brew. Having lost almost two years with this muddle in

languages, I am really sick of it. Therefore, should there

be any misunderstanding about this point, I am ready to

refund immediately the sum paid to Cunard.35

Did Goitein lose two years over the language ques-tion? Was he himself consistent about the language to be used in this multi-volume project? about this the re-cord is clear: no. Indeed, in his letter of December 12, 1955, Goitein himself had said that the Introduction would be in French! Whether or not this arrangement had in fact been changed when Heller and Goitein met in new York that winter, it certainly is the case that it was not two years’ worth of discussions, and certainly Heller could not be entirely held accountable.

This letter of 4 May crossed with Heller’s of 8 May, asking if Goitein had received the telegram as he had had no response.36 There must have been another letter, now missing, which accompanied the telegram, because in his answer of 16 May, Goitein thanked Heller for “your fine letter”. It also evoked an emotional response, but now in an opposite, over-ly-sentimentalized direction.

I shall never forget your initiative, which indeed encour-

aged me to embark on that vast undertaking of the Ge-

niza; neither your decision that the documents, or at

least most of them, should be given in full translation.

now that the work is in a rather progressed state, I see

35 Goitein to Heller, 4 May 1958. 36 Heller to Goitein, 8 May 1958. 37 Goitein to Heller, 16 May 1958.

how right that decision was, despite the time and energy

required for it.

and then, without introduction of any sort, Goitein turned briskly to financial matters: “I should be grateful, if you kindly paid over to me […] the sum stipulated for 3 months.”37 The remainder of the let-ter mentioned younger acolytes such as Shaul Shaked or Murad Michael coming to paris but not staying long.

Goitein’s next two letters, from Southampton and Cambridge, were brief and solely about the non-payment of the promised funds (June 3 and June 16, 1958). These finally arrived and were duly acknowledged in a letter of the 21 June. now Goitein turned to content: the planned “ ‘Tentative Bibliography of Cairo Geniza Documents’ is nearing completion”, he wrote, and he would be going to Jerusalem briefly “in order to put on it the finishing touch”. apparently they had discussed this in new York because Goitein now asked for confirmation that the CrH did in fact publish bibliographies. The main issue was the relationship between its english orientation and French publication needs. Goitein proposed that there could be “both French and english title-pages and the Introduction could be in French with a résumé in english”.38

Heller was silent over the summer. on 28 august the correspondence resumed, with Goitein noting that as he did not get any answer from Heller to his letters of 30 July and 14 august, he decided to leave earli-er and was sailing home from england on 4 Septem-ber.39 nor did this rouse Heller. In September, back in philadelphia, Goitein sent the report on his work – mandated, no doubt, in exchange for funding. He had spent 1088 dollars, including 378 for the round-trip london–Jerusalem, and had only received a 250-dol-lar check (which had arrived in early July).40


But this would be no routine bureaucratic exer-cise. In the report on his work in 1958 – the first of a series of annual reports sent by Goitein to Hel-ler, no doubt a condition of the French grants he re-ceived – Goitein noted that he had added 22 pieces to the “collection of documents on trade and travel between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean”, doubling the number attested in the Speculum article of april 1954, which discussed only 130 documents. But then, without fanfare, Goitein dropped the bomb. “My main attention, however,” he continued, “was given to material for a book to be called mediterranean Life, records from the cairo Geniza, for which about 220 documents, many of poor legibility, were copied or earmarked.” This is something entirely new. “origi-nally, I had intended to defer this subject until after the completion of the India Book. However, in the course of the work on the book, it appeared that the two subjects were so closely interrelated that they had to be dealt with simultaneously.”41

Where did this book come from? In May 1958, Goitein wrote to a colleague in pakistan that he was working on publishing documents on “trade and travel between the Mediterranean and India”.42 By Septem-ber, in addition to this, he described himself as pre-paring a book entitled mediterranean Life, records from the cairo Geniza, “which touches almost on all aspects of life in practically all countries of the Mediterranean, mainly during the eleventh and twelfth centuries”.43

I have not been able to locate the letter from Gru-nebaum of 18 august 1958, mentioned by Goitein in the preface to volume I of a mediterranean Society, nor Goitein’s response of 25 august. on 15 September he wrote again, to make sure Grunebaum had received the earlier letter. Grunebaum replied on 23 Septem-ber, noting that he had written “a longish reply” on

4 September making “certain suggestions in behalf of [sic] the press” and assuring Goitein of “our intense interest for your work”.44 It seems, therefore, that there had been a solicitation from Grunebaum which immediately elicited from Goitein a detailed proposal.

What did Goitein propose? His letter to Grune-baum of 1 october makes clear that he had offered a volume of bibliography, of about 1600 entries, which he expected to run about 200 pages, and an intro-ductory volume. He noted, as if in passing, that this number could be augmented by including texts “used in another book of mine to be called mediterranean Life, records from the cairo Geniza”. He dropped the idea of an introductory volume, however, because it was not ready and he thought it unlikely to be ready any time soon.45

Grunebaum replied immediately, rejecting Goitein’s change. “Quite frankly,” he wrote, “I do not believe that the press would be willing to accept the bibliography alone.” Goitein would simply have to find a way to get the introductory volume done.46 This sharp intervention was decisive. Goitein wrote back immediately, acceding to Grunebaum’s request. He dropped the Bibliography, saying that he had only offered it in the first place because it was ready. If uCla could wait a bit, he wrote, “I shall have some-thing far better to offer.” It was a book with the rough title “Mediterranean life. records from the Cairo Geniza” and it was to be “a picture of life around the coast of the Mediterranean during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, based on a whole gamut of Geniza documents mostly unpublished”. Goitein explained that he decided to write this book when he realized that the India book was too big and that it would take too long to publish it. The difference between the books was clear. “While I feel myself obliged to bring

41 S. D. Goitein, the cairo Geniza documents project [1958], paragraph 7. These reports are filed in the same dossier as the letters in the Fonds Heller cited above, note 1. 42 Goitein to Imtiaz Mohamad Khan, 23 May 1958.

43 Goitein to Boyd Shafer, 12 September 1958. 44 Grunebaum to Goitein, 23 September 1958. 45 Goitein to Grunebaum, 1 october 1958. 46 Grunebaum to Goitein, 8 october 1958.


his letter of 27 March 1959 there was no apology or explanation for the gap – this may have been given in a letter now missing.53 In March, Heller discussed fund-ing and asked about Goitein’s plans for the upcoming year so as to better organize CrH’s subsidy. and he asked, yet again, for the publication plan for the first volumes.54

This time, it was Goitein who didn’t bother an-swering. “as far as my scientific publications are con-cerned,” he wrote, “I refer you to paragraph seven of my report on last year’s travel, which you have ap-proved.” He then dropped the bombshell:

according to this, I am preparing now a book to be

called mediterranean Society in mediaeval times, Based on records from the cairo Geniza. I have to deliver the manuscript to

the university of California press on March 31, 1960

and hope to be able to do so. It will be a book of about

four hundred to four hundred and fifty pages. I would

very much like that this book should appear also in a

French translation, perhaps in an expanded form. I am

exploring now the possibilities of beginning to print

the texts of the originals of the India book, even before

the english part is completed.55

This got Heller’s attention. a reply was written on the day it was received:

Thank you very much for your letter. I am somewhat

bewildered by its content because I thought that the

publications concerning the Geniza would be made by

the École and I must confess that I am disappointed

by the arrangements you have made with the California

press. publication of translations, even in expanded ver-

in the India book everything found in the Geniza con-cerning that topic, the book Mediterranean life, of course, is only a kaleidoscope from the material which is about ten times as large as that concerning trade and travel to India.” of course, why Goitein felt that the one had to be comprehensive while the other could be impressionistic is left unexplained. The scale of the surviving evidence seems to have relieved him from his native inclination to completeness. Goitein thought the Mediterranean book would appeal to a wider public.47 Two letters from Grunebaum passed without making any mention of this new proposal.48 on 3 november Grunebaum noted that he was re-fraining from replying until he could discuss the new proposal with representatives of the press.49

even after receiving and, presumably, reading Goitein’s annual report, Heller did not respond. on 9 october 1958 Goitein wrote again, noting the si-lence from paris, but adding that as he knew some mail to him had gone missing it was possible that a let-ter from Heller was in it. In short, without saying so, he was giving Heller another chance.50 Heller seems to have written in December 1958, sending both a re-imbursement check for 1958’s research and informing Goitein that $1600 had been put in the budget for him for summer 1959. But there is no mention of the new book project.51

In the meantime, the university of California press acted. a letter of Goitein’s to philip a. lilienthal, associate Director of the press, of 23 January 1959 commented on specific terms of the book contract that he had already received.52 Heller, for his part, seems not to have responded until the end of March 1959. There may be lacunae in the archive, because in

47 Goitein to Grunebaum, 15 october 1958. 48 Goitein was puzzled by this silence. See Goitein to Grunebaum, 31 october 1958. 49 Grunebaum to Goitein, 3 november 1958. 50 Goitein to Heller, 9 october 1958. 51 Goitein to Heller, 29 January 1959. a copy of this letter is in Jerusalem, the original is not in the Fonds Heller.

52 Goitein to lilienthal, 23 January 1959. 53 The current uncatalogued state of the Goitein papers does not allow a conclusive determination of this question. 54 Heller to Goitein, 27 March 1959. 55 Goitein to Heller, 2 april 1959.


contacted Mouton, but they did not answer on three of my letters [sic]. Thus I thought they had changed their mind.” Was this disingenuous? If it were serious it would imply a very low valuation put on Heller’s – and Braudel’s – repeated assurances, as well as on the money that was consistently being invested by the CrH in Goitein’s project. “In any case,” Goitein con-cluded, “it will take some time before this five volume book will be completed [underline Heller].” Heller’s underlining raises our own question: just when did the India book become a five-volume work?

as for the Bibliography mentioned before, Goitein noted that it had no publisher yet. But his plans for it seem to have expanded:

I intended to bring it out as a three volumes affair [under-

line Heller], preceded by a volume forming a general

introduction to the Cairo Geniza documents and fol-

lowed by a chrestomathy of Geniza texts (originals),

which correspond approximately to the text translated

in my forthcoming book, the mediterranean Society.

He aimed to send California press in May “a substantial sample (about 150 pages)” and at that point he could put them in touch with either Heller or Mouton to discuss collaboration. Finally, he was sending Heller the receipt for the previous summer’s stipend of 840 dollars though he had actually received only 838. “When we meet next,” Goitein concluded, “I shall remind you of the rest.”57

Heller did not answer by return mail, so Goitein wrote to him on 6 May asking if he had received this letter of 14 april “and whether you consider any ac-tion in connection with it” – implying, it seems, a sense that things had come to a head.58

Heller’s reply was written on 14 May. He was trying very hard to keep Goitein with the VIème section. “as

sions, is out of the question for us; on the other hand,

we could have published the volumes in english.

Heller also wondered about the introduction to the Geniza materials which was to have been published as volume I in the “Geniza series”. Heller noted drily that there were some implications of this decision. “as a matter of fact, it is only in view of the publica-tions by the École that I can obtain financial support for your work since we cannot act as a Foundation but merely as a research institution.”

and yet, ever unwilling to allow for a rupture, Hel-ler thought aloud about other possibilities. “unless you have completely abandoned our original plans for the complete publication of the economic papers of the Geniza, I can only see a way out by some agreement between the university of California press and Mou-ton in which the present volume would be published under the joint imprint of the École and of the uni-versity of California as part of a series to be put out jointly by the university of California and the École, to be published in part by the university of California press and in part by Mouton and Co.” This kind of problem-solving on the fly was Heller at his best. His conclusion was both politic and honest: “obviously, I am at fault in all this and largely responsible for the existing confusion but I would be very grateful if you would let me know your opinion on the matter.”56

Goitein responded with equanimity. “The situ-ation is not as tragic as you seem to think, according to your letter of april 7. My main work, the book on the trade to India [underline Heller], still has no pub-lisher, except that the university of California press reserves itself the right of the first choice.”

Thus, at this point, he was still considering the India book to be his “main” project. He then offered an explanation for this volte-face. “as you know, we

56 Heller to Goitein, 7 april 1959. 57 Goitein to Heller, 14 april 1959.

58 Goitein to Heller, 6 May 1959.


es” he continued: “But you did not write, what would be the best of cases. I am not interested in Mouton, but in École pratique des Hautes Études; therefore, I should like you to make a suggestion, in which way the École should appear on that publication.” Goitein thought that the chrestomathy of the Geniza, contain-ing the arabic and Hebrew originals of the texts translated in a mediterranean Society, would be an ideal first publication.61

Heller hesitated. The favorable financial terms of the epHe with Mouton made it difficult to work with other publishers. Heller’s preference was to pub-lish all the Geniza volumes “as a unit – which would mean one publisher, and this would have to be Mou-ton if we are going to be financially responsible for the publication”. Heller then outlined what he took to be a possible order of publication: first the intro-duction written with Baneth, then the chrestomathy and finally the India book. If a contract had already been signed with university of California press, and if the epHe was to subsidize publication, then the whole could be published as a joint project of the university of California press and the epHe, with California and Mouton as joint publishers. If California would choose to bear the cost of the whole series, then they could be the sole publisher.62

on the 24 May, Goitein telegraphed Heller ask-ing him to book a room in a “modest hotel for two”. (We can still see Heller’s handwriting on the bottom of the piece of paper: “Montalembert/réservé”.)63 on that same day Goitein wrote a letter to philip a. lilienthal, associate Director of university of Cali-fornia press. It was headed “urgent”. Goitein began with a quick description of his dealings with paris as background to the discussion of possible co-pub-lishing. “The Centre de recherches Historiques of the École pratique des Hautes Études, paris, which

far as the publications are concerned,” he began, “we would start printing as soon as you send the manus- cripts. It does not matter whether they are in French or in english.” This represented something of a climb-down on his part. He proposed as a home either the series “le Monde d’outre-Mer passé et présent”, or a new series being launched, “Études Juives”, or even creating a new one for Goitein’s Geniza publications. Moreover, the epHe had taken over the revue des Études Juives and it could “be used by you and others as a central organ for the discussion of the economic and social aspects of the Gheniza [sic] papers”.

Finally, even though the university of California press was given first refusal, Heller believed that some kind of arrangement could be worked out for joint publication, perhaps modeled on the co-publishing agreement of Mouton & Co. with Harvard univer-sity press, according to which books were sold in the united States by Harvard and in europe by Mouton. He hoped to get started printing as soon as possible. In the post-script Heller noted that he was adding the missing $2 to the enclosed check of $570 for the steamship ticket.59

To his brother-in-law David Baneth in Jerusalem, Goitein wrote that “from the correspondence with Heller, I got the impression that they are really inter-ested in the Geniza project” but that they preferred to co-publish with an american publisher because “this would make it easier for them to swallow the bitter pill that the whole thing is in english and not in French”. In other words, for Goitein the language issue was central.60

To Heller, by return mail, Goitein wrote that his letter made him happy “because it gave me new hope that the Geniza papers would one day or other really be printed”. He had decided to come to paris. picking up on Heller’s comment about “in the worst of cas-

59 Heller to Goitein, 14 May 1959. 60 Goitein to Baneth, 25 May 1959. This is also reflected in his (less colorful) letter to Grunebaum of 25 May 1959.

61 Goitein to Heller, 17 May 1959. 62 Heller to Goitein, 20 May 1959. 63 Goitein to Heller, 24 May 1959.


Frugé believed that a mediterranean Society, “which will be largely written from the documents, hardly fits into a series with the others you have in mind”, which were a “series of documentary publications”. He acknowledged that if publishing the documents eliminated the need to include them in a mediterranean Society, that was a good thing. California, in short, was glad to jointly publish the series “if one wants to make us an offer”.67

Goitein left for paris on 3 June 1959.68 on 2 June, he sent the american philosophical Society the required report on work he had done with their grant money.69 entitled Judaeo-arabic documents from the cairo Geniza, it outlines two major projects, “Trade and Travel Between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean”, which is described as a four-volume work (vol. 1 Hebrew transcriptions, vol. 2 translations into english, vol. 3 full commentary, vol. 4 Introduction “to be easily readable even for the interested laymen”) and “Mediterranean Society in Medieval Times”. This is described as “entirely different in character” from the India book. While the latter “tries to ex-haust all the material found in the Geniza”, the for-mer “intends to give an overall picture of social and economic life”. Chapters were to be devoted to the “Mediterranean Scene”, economic life, family, daily life, community and “the spirit of the age”. (This latter was to include “religion and its place in life. Individualism and group-consciousness. life in a glorious past and in future redemption. The ideal of learnedness. The scribe and his art. The importance of poetry. The Mediterranean man.”) This is nothing less than the five volumes of a mediterranean Society, already clearly defined.70

has shown interest in the Geniza work for a long time, informed me a short time again [sic] that it was interested in bringing out the whole series of publica-tions.”64 The CrH had already invested a great deal of money in Goitein – much more than is connoted by Goitein’s choice of the word “interest”. and it was not only a “short time” ago that the CrH proposed publication – all this distorts the record.

Goitein then reported Heller’s proposal that the Geniza publications come out as a unit and that California and Mouton divide the distribution with epHe covering the costs. The volumes included:

1. Mediterranean Society

2. Chrestomathy – all the texts translated for a mediter-ranean Society and some others, but excluding those for

the India Book

3. Introduction to the study of Cairo Geniza

4. Bibliography of Geniza Documents (with Shaul

Shaked and D. H. Baneth)

5. Geniza Documents on the India trade (4 vols.).65

This letter accompanied one written the next day to Heller giving his dates in paris and asking for in-formation about Heller’s schedule. on the bottom, Heller wrote “télégraphié le 29.v.59”.66

The Fonds Heller preserves the response of university of California press to Goitein. It is dated 29 May 1959, i. e. not long after Goitein’s letter would have been received, and was written by the press Director, august Frugé (because lilienthal was still in london). He commits the press to joint publishing with Mouton, with the École footing the bill, Mouton doing the printing and California handling uS distribution.

64 Goitein to lilienthal, 24 May 1959. 65 ibidem. 66 Goitein to Heller, 25 May 1959. 67 Frugé to Goitein, 29 May 1959 (paris, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, archive, Fonds Heller). 68 Goitein to Frugé, 2 June 1959.

69 In a letter of 2 april 1959, l. p. eisenhart, executive Director of the american philosophical Society, wrote to Goitein asking that the required report be submitted by 1 June for inclusion in that year’s Yearbook (eisenhart to Goitein, 2 april 1959). 70 Judaeo-arabic documents from the cairo Geniza, report on Grant no. 216-J, dated 2 June 1959 (Jerusalem, The national library of Israel, Department of archives, Goitein papers).


may now regard the collection of material on the india book as complete”.73

There was no letter from Heller for nearly a year, from May 1959 to February 1960. He had been in athens on uneSCo business and seems to have fallen behind on his correspondence. In February 1960, he dived directly into Goitein’s proposition that the Hebrew texts be published in Jerusalem at the Merkaz press. Heller also wanted to know “your definite plans for the publication of the various vol-umes, including the Baneth, and the approximative date when each volume will be ready for the printer”. and, Heller stated his interest in publishing the the-ses of three of Goitein’s doctoral students.74 again, it is hard not to feel that after letting things slide for a while, Heller was now desperately trying to make up with Goitein.

In March, Goitein wrote back announcing that his Bibliography would probably not be ready until 1961. “as far as my book mediterranean Society is concerned, I shall contact you again when the book will be nearer completion.” Full stop. The India book was “almost ready for print”, but Goitein did not want printing to begin in Israel while he was in philadelphia. So that would have to be delayed until 1961.75

In June, Goitein reported to Heller on the chang-ing shape of mediterranean Society. “The book Mediter. Soc. slowly gets a shape rather different from that en-visaged, when the university press of California first ordered it. Thus, it might be that after all, it will have to be published in europe. However, I am still very far from completing it.”76

In august 1960 Goitein was again asking for the $920 outstanding from the previous year. “I am defi-nitely running out of funds, which is directly damag-ing my work.”77

Goitein must have given Frugé’s letter to Heller when they met in paris, for the original is now in the Fonds Heller in paris. In his response to Frugé of 29 June, Heller wrote that he would have wanted to keep a mediterranean Society with the other Geniza publications, but presumed this not possible. He then laid out four possible publishing options and asked California to state a preference:

a) The École publishes mediterranean Society in english

and all other volumes of the Geniza series in monde d’outre mer.b) California publishes mediterranean Society and the

École publishes the other volumes.

c) California distributes in the uS whichever books

the École publishes in monde d’outre mer.d) California (Center for near eastern Studies) and

the École act as joint sponsors of all the volume in the

Geniza series.71

no reply to this letter is found in Heller’s archive. In fact, no letter follows until Goitein’s of october 1959, which accompanied that year’s annual report to the CrH. It did, however, dun Heller for money which had been promised but not yet sent (920 of the 1600 dollars mentioned in Heller’s of 16 De-cember 1958).72

The 1959 report lists among the main projects the exploration of english Geniza collections “with regard to the material essential for the study of Medi-terranean society in mediaeval times”. By contrast, on previous trips he had not had “the purpose of making a representative collection for a book on Mediterra-nean society”. He had added 300 items to mediterra-nean Society, but only 8 to the India book, making him think that there was not much more to be had. So “we

71 Heller to Frugé, 29 June 1959. 72 Goitein to Heller, 13 october 1959. 73 Goitein, Geniza project [annual report for 1959]. 74 Heller to Goitein, 17 February 1960.

75 Goitein to Heller, 15 March 1960. He also referred to a letter of his of March 10, but this has gone missing and may not have been received by Heller. 76 Goitein to Heller, 2 June 1960. 77 Goitein to Heller, 4 august 1960.


Then Goitein went on:

8. Since Mediterranean Society is now not a summa-

ry of more or less known facts but based mostly on new

sources, it is impossible to keep its size within the limits

originally contemplated. likewise, it appeared practi-

cal to divide the book into two separate, but intercon-

nected, publications, one to be called ‘Mediterranean

Society etc.’ and the second ‘Mediterranean reader,

Selected records from the Cairo Geniza.’

Goitein stated that he had already prepared 650 typewritten pages, and expected that another 600 would be needed. Finally, he thanked the various donors who supported his work, but did not mention the Vi ème section. This only occurred, and then off-handedly, in the bibliographical section, which mentioned the “com-prehensive report” on the state of Geniza studies prepared for the revue des Études Juives, published by the École, “which, through its secretary M. Clemens Heller, always has shown much interest in the Geniza project”.78 no formal acknowledgement of the years of CrH support would be found in the published version of a mediterranean Society.

In December, Goitein thanked Heller for his letter of 1 December. In it Heller had finally drawn the line: there would be no funds without publication. This put Goitein on the defensive and elicited an exculpa-tory response:

I fully appreciate your difficulties. I also would never

have imagined in 1954 that the year 1960 would have

passed without at least three volumes of the India book

having come out. However, in the course of its prepa-

ration it appeared that the documentary Geniza was a

field far less studied than I had assumed in the early

and middle fifties. I believe, it would have been a great

mistake, if I had begun the printing of such a volumin-

ous book, without making first those comprehensive

surveys and studies which I am now in the course of

completing. I am very satisfied with the present state of

We do not know what Heller was thinking dur-ing this period because there is only one letter from him between May 1959 and March 1961. We do have Goitein’s annual report for 1960, which was probably sent in the fall. This offers an especially valuable chron- ology of Goitein’s scholarship.

1. until summer 1958, my main work on the Geniza

consisted in the preparation of a five volume publica-

tion on trade and travel between the countries of the

Mediterranean and those of the Indian ocean. This

work is in an advanced state of preparation. provided

funds and technical facilities are available, the printing

of the texts could start at any time.

2. In summer 1958, it appeared that it would be advis-

able to bring out a volume of a more general character

on the Geniza, prior to the publication of the India

book. In addition, it became evident that the India trade

was so closely connected with the Mediterranean, that

a study of the latter was imperative before completing

the description of the former. Thus, there ripened the

idea of a book to be called ‘Mediterranean Society

in the High Middle ages, Based on records from the

Cairo Geniza.’ It was to be based on the published texts,

on my general knowledge of the Geniza, and about 300

unpublished texts, which had been prepared for this

purpose until the end of the 1958 summer vacation.

3. owing to the initiative of professor G. e. von Grune-

baum of the university of California, los angeles, the

book was accepted for publication by the university

of California press, and it was hoped that it would be

ready by spring 1960.

4. In the course of its preparation, however, it appeared

that the plan had to be changed in its entirety. It was

impossible to give an outline at a time, when our basic

knowledge proved to be so incomplete.

according to this report, all of 1959 and most of 1960 were devoted to reading and re-indexing about 1200 texts. 700 had been copied for the chrestomathy, which did not include the 278 for the India book.


In the best of intentions you have done me harms.

Your unsolicited offer of a travelling grant for 1959

prevented me from filing an application here, where I

most probably would have obtained a grant covering

my expenses. In any case, the costs of printing will be

indefinitely higher than anything expended by you on

me and then we shall have to be extremely careful that

payments will be made according to schedule.83

ever patient with Goitein, Heller replied that “If you want to be certain of regular payments for the printing, I do need now some indications when pub-lication of the volumes will become possible. Could you also tell me whether additional help is needed for the publication of the volumes.”84 In May, Heller re-peated that the CrH was still interested in publishing “the Geniza papers and related volumes”. In his De-cember letter he had explained that there were “con- siderable difficulties about the payments to you with-out assurance concerning the publications. on the other hand, we could continue to contribute to the preparations of the volumes if some definite working schedule can be worked out”. Yet again Heller asked for “a definite schedule”.85

Goitein gave him another definite schedule in his reply of 13 May. It included nine titles, all related to the Geniza. one notes in particular that the Bibliography of Geniza documents to be published with Shaked was projected for summer 1962, the two volumes of med-iterranean Society for summer and fall 1962, documents on the india trade, which are described as “almost ready”, for winter 1962, india trade in the Light of the Geniza documents, which Goitein called “the short book”, for fall 1963, and documents on the india trade, translations and commentary, “one half ready”, for fall 1964. as for the chrestomathy of texts for the mediterranean Socie-

my work and am confident that our publications will

vindicate this optimism. as to applications for further

subventions, I shall certainly do so as soon as we begin

to print.

Goitein concluded, “I sincerely appreciate your sustained interest and have no doubt that finally you will derive much satisfaction from the fact that you have been the first to discover the importance of the Geniza project.”79

Heller’s next letter to Goitein was written in French, for the first time in their correspondence. He had arranged things for Goitein to be supported for published work (i. e. for a new grant). He asked again for a publication schedule.80 Goitein wrote back im-mediately. “as to the proposed publications,” Goitein wrote, “I am working all the time on the twin books mediterranean Society in the High middle ages and mediterra-nean reader and shall certainly see to it that the Divi-sion des aires Culturelles will be associated with their publication.”81

Heller’s reply of 22 March answered tersely: “I presume that you have no longer the intention to collaborate with us in this publication. I would regret it very much but the decision is obviously with you.”82 no, no, no, was Goitein’s response. Heller’s conclu-sion, he wrote, was “unwarranted. However,” he went on, “I agree that we leave the question of our future cooperation open, until one or several volumes of the books which I am preparing will be definitely ready for print”.

and then, in a remarkable demonstration of what can only be called chutzpah, Goitein turned around and blamed Heller for funding him for the past few years, and so distracting him from applying for american grants which would have been more generous:

78 Goitein, Geniza project [annual report for 1960]. 79 Goitein to Heller, 10 December 1960. 80 Heller to Goitein, 10 March 1961. 81 Goitein to Heller, 14 March 1961.

82 Heller to Goitein, 22 March 1961. 83 Goitein to Heller, 3 april 1961. 84 Heller to Goitein, 14 april 1961. 85 Heller to Goitein, 8 May 1961.


will depend on the help I shall have for seeing things through the press” – thereby turning a time manage-ment issue (Goitein’s problem) into a production is-sue (Heller’s problem).91

In September, Goitein was back after Heller for money, this time to bring his collaborator on the Bibli-ography, Shaul Shaked, to Cambridge for a last round of checking.92 Writing back to Goitein immediately, and “par exprès”, Heller agreed to pay for Shaked’s travels. He then turned to the question of whether and where this Bibliography was to figure in a putative “Geniza series”. He reminded Goitein that two years ago he had spoken of many texts in preparations by students and friends.93

When pushed by Heller to make a decision him-self, Goitein deferred. While he “believed, indeed, it would be reasonable to publish the bibliography of Geniza documents as the first volume of a series of Geniza studies and texts”, because Shaked was the main author he needed to be asked. and since the Israel academy of Sciences had contributed towards the cost of the photocopies used, he believed – now, after so much discussion! – that it needed to be con-sulted on the matter. and then, looking ahead, and for himself, he reminded Heller that when he was pre-paring the budget for next year he should remember that “I may have some wishes”.94 unflappable, Heller, in his reply, agreed to joint publication with the Israel academy of Sciences.95

ty volumes, Goitein stated that “texts are copied and largely laid out”. This was an enormous amount of publication that Goitein projected for a short period of time. even he seemed to doubt the dates he gave, as his super-commentary read: “as I have disappointed you so often before, I shall not apply for funds for printing except when the volume of the bibliography, no. 2, will be definitely ready.”86

Heller thanked him for all this information and asked which of these Goitein imagined to be pub-lished by the École and “for which we are to assume financial responsibility”. He was building his publica-tion budget just then and needed this information.87 Goitein replied on the 22 May 1961 that of all the projects he listed, the Bibliography was the only one sure for the epHe. mediterranean Society was for Cali-fornia. He suggested leaving all questions of co-pub-lishing until printing was to happen. Moreover, he concluded, “the printing of the texts of the India book should not start later than the beginning of 1963.”88

Detailed discussions about production of the Bibli- ography began in May 1961.89 Heller asked about the schedule for producing the chrestomathy90 and Goitein answered immediately, explaining that “The printing could start, as soon as I am through with Medit. So-ciety and Med. reader, I hope in winter 1962/3. as we certainly want to start printing the texts of the India book at that time, the timing of the publication

86 Goitein to Heller, 13 May 1961. 87 Heller to Goitein, 19 May 1961. 88 Goitein to Heller, 22 May 1961. 89 See the letter of paul Hartmann to Goitein from 29 May 1961. Hartmann was in charge of publications at Mouton & Co. and wanted as many details as possible about the book, as soon as possible, “une version approximative – en ce qui concerne le volume du texte et le nombre de pages dactylographiées – de la Bibliographie que nous devons publier, ceci si le MS que vous possédez correspond approximativement à celui de votre version définitive”. This would enable them to start planning the publication even before receiving the final version of the manuscript. Goitein replied to Hartmann on 31 May 1961 saying that he asked Shaked to send details.

90 Heller to Goitein, 30 May 1961. 91 Goitein to Heller, 2 June 1961. 92 Goitein to Heller, 5 September 1961: “as I have no funds whatsoever at my disposal at present, Mr Shaked’s travel to paris, as well as a 4–5 days’ stay in Cambridge for final checkings should be borne by the Division des aires Culturelles.” 93 “Veuillez également me dire si vous proposez de publier comme premier volume une série sur les Geniza [sic] et si vous souhaitez publier dans cette série d’autres volumes dont vous ne seriez pas l’auteur. Il y a deux ans vous m’aviez parlé de plusieurs textes en préparation par des élèves et amis” (Heller to Goitein, 13 September 1961). 94 Goitein to Heller, 20 September 1961. 95 Heller to Goitein, 24 September 1961.


plete these books.” He had worked on the India book in spring and summer, too. “However, I have become convinced that I should not start with the printing, as I had intended, before working again full time on that material.”98

The last letter of Goitein’s to Heller preserved in the Fonds Heller is written nearly two years later, in august 1964, and the sarcasm in its opening sentence is a far cry from the tone used by Goitein ten years earlier, when this correspondence began: “I suppose you are somewhere at the sea shore or on one of your important missions.” This letter was itself occasioned by two needs. The first was to accompany the annual report which we know to have been the condition of funding from the CrH. “as you see from the report attached,” Goitein wrote, “things have worked out differently from what we envisaged, when on your ini-tiative, we contacted each other ten years ago.” The tor-tured language cannot hide the truth: if it was Heller’s initiative how could the contact have been reciprocal! no, the initiative was Heller’s, as we have seen, and so was the initial contact. Goitein went on: “I must confess that you had indeed in mind a complete attack on the Cairo Geniza documents. Then I was doubt-ful about the possibilities.” again, this misstates the archival truth. Yes, Braudel was the one with the vi-sion to offer a Geniza series, but it was Goitein who jumped at the bait and sketched out publication plan after publication plan, none of which came into being. “Meanwhile, I have carried out the project.” This is aspirational. at the time these words were being writ-ten only the Bibliography was published.99 How could Goitein say that he had “carried out the project”? even the next line belied this: “The seventy odd papers I have published on the subject are only parerga.” neverthe-less, the first two volumes, at least, of a mediterranean Society were completed, and the reader “almost” ready

With the Bibliography in its final stages, Goitein turned back to the India book. In a letter of october 1961, Goitein explained that he intended “to start with the printing of the texts of the India book next summer” but that he was reluctant to give hard and fast dates until he could assess the speed at which the press could handle complicated volumes of this sort. In any case, he continued, “I would suggest that the cost of the printing itself should be borne by the Di-vision des aires Culturelles, while the academy would pay the person who would see the books through the press.”96

at least one letter of Goitein’s, of 1 January 1962, has gone missing, but in his reply of 17 January, Heller tried to pin down Goitein on which series he thought would make the best home for the India book. “Since you do not agree on the inclusion of the India book in the Série de l’océan Indien, I would like to know whether you would agree to the inclusion of it into a new series which we are starting this year, recherches Méditerranéennes or if you would prefer a publication in le Monde d’outre-Mer.” payment would be effec-tuated by invoice; the printer should send the estimate and upon approval he would be formally authorized to commence printing.97

Ten months go by before the archive’s next docu-ment, a letter from Goitein to Heller of 22 october 1962. Goitein began by explaining that he had not answered Heller’s of 22 June for three reasons: First “because I agree with everything which is said about me in the pages attached to your letter”; second be-cause he expected Heller to be away until october, and third because he was writing all summer. He re-ported that “Mediterranean Society of the High Middle ages is now at 820 pages and its sister vol-ume readings in Mediterranean Social History at 410 pages, but another year will be required to com-

96 Goitein to Heller, 4 october 1961. 97 Heller to Goitein, 17 January 1962. 98 Goitein to Heller, 22 october 1962.

99 eventually the book was published by Mouton & Co.: Shaul Shaked, a tentative Bibliography of Geniza documents: prepared under the direction of d. H. Baneth and S. d. Goitein, paris/The Hague 1964.


Two volumes (1,260 pages) have been completed and

sent to the publisher in July 1964. It is hoped that vol-

ume three will be completed in the course of 1965. Cfr.

Table of Contents attached. There is also a companion

volume, readings in mediterranean Social History, comprising

translations in english of selected pieces. It is almost

ready for print.

a Mediterranean Society is not intended to exhaust

the content of the Cairo Geniza. a whole generation of

scholars will be needed to do this job, each working in

a specialized field. The book is a kind of inventory of

the topics contained in the Geniza documents, showing

the way in which they are treated and how the author

understands them.

The India book, which began the collaboration with Braudel and the Centre de recherches Histo-riques, had become more incomplete with time’s passage. What began as a book, and then became a “short” introduction, had now completely withered away. Geniza documents on the medieval trade with india was Goitein’s new title for this project. nevertheless, it re-mained central. as he put it,

There is only one field in which Mr. Goitein has done

what he regards as exhaustive research on Geniza docu-

ments; the documents related to the medieval trade

between the Mediterranean and the countries of the

Indian ocean. 315 documents have been collected,

deciphered and, with few exceptions, typed. one third

of them has been translated and equipped with a de-

tailed commentary. It is contemplated to print the

texts, or at least a representative selection, together

with a translation and commentary, and, if possible,

facsimiles. The publication will be accompanied by

a general volume on the subject. This work will be

undertaken after the completion of a Mediterrane-

an Society and readings in Mediterranean Social

History.

and with it material for a third volume. Goitein was “confident our India Book will come into the fore in not too distant a time”. This too, as we know, was an ill-judged promise. The letter ended on an obviously valedictory note: “I have not forgotten you and the encouragement I have received from you and the ‘Cen-tre’. You will hear from me in due time.”

and yet, even saying farewell was not enough of a reason for Goitein to write. He explained, in fact, that the only reason he was writing this letter was be-cause “Some one told me that Monsieur Braudel has invited (?) a Mr. G. (I did not catch the name) from Haifa (?) to work on the Geniza. It is certainly de-sirable to widen the circle of people working on the Geniza. However, there should be some measure of coordination. Some duplication is not avoidable. But a high degree of repetition is wasteful and also con-ducive to unsatisfactory results.” In other words, even after being rejected as a partner by Goitein, Braudel still saw value in the Geniza for his historical project and wanted to pursue it. Goitein was registering a pos-sessive, defensive response, trying to make sure that all Geniza roads ran through him.100

The 1964 report, whatever Goitein said in the let-ter that accompanied it, represents publication of the entire Geniza as Goitein’s project, and as a desidera-tum of the first order:

The aim of the project is to encompass the documen-

tary Geniza in its totality, to get a view of all the sub-

jects dealt with in it and the type of information to be

derived from them. There is no need to emphasize the

importance of the Geniza for Jewish history and the

social history of medieval Islam and the Mediterranean

basin in general.101

The description of the nature and progress of the volumes of a mediterranean Society, then in press, is valu-able:

100 Goitein to Heller, 14 august 1964. 101 Goitein, the Geniza (documents) project [annual report for 1964].


Finally, the volume over which he and Heller had argued, the introduction to the Study of the cairo Geniza documents, was now taken off the table completely: “Whether it will be useful to publish this material in a book, will be seen at a later stage.”102

Heller was not at the seaside, but replied by return post. His note was short, in French, and on another topic, making no reference at all to Goitein’s curricu-lum vitae, or to his darts.103 Goitein, for his part, seems never to have written again.

only now, with publication of the India book and the coming to maturity of another generation of scholars, has Goitein’s widest historical vision become

102 ibidem. 103 Heller to Goitein, 19 august 1964. 104 Goitein to Boyd Shafer, 12 September 1958. Shafer was at that time executive Secretary of the american Historical association. 105 a forum in a recent issue of the Jewish Quarterly review devotes two articles

accessible. He himself, long ago, foresaw this moment. The materials that he dealt with in a mediterranean Society, he wrote in September 1958, “have been dis-cussed only at orientalists’ congresses or conferences devoted to Jewish studies. However, they belong to the medieval history of the Mediterranean basin in general.”104 as this is finally happening, a re-assessment of the historiography of the Mediterranean in the twen-tieth century, and of its possibilities for the future, can now begin.105 With it, too, comes a reassessment of Goitein’s monumental effort and his relationship with Braudel, as well as Braudel’s ability to see the value in scholarship very different from his own.

to Goitein and twentieth–century historiography, though without reference to the contents of either the Heller or Goitein archives: elliott Horowitz, “Scholars of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean of Scholars”, and Fred astren, “Goitein, Medieval Jews, and the ‘new Mediterranean Studies’ ”, in: Jewish Quarterly review, CII (2012), pp. 477–490 and 513–531.


[p. 2] réunis des documents appartenant à quinze bibliothèques différentes, de quatre continents. Sauf pour deux d’entre elles, toutes ces collections ont été examinées personnellement par l’auteur, et la publication a été généralement faite d’après les originaux et vérifiée au moment de l’impression grâce à des photocopies.

nous évaluons à près de cinq mille le total des lettres et autres pièces complètes ou fragmentaires assez longues pour offrir un sens par elles-mêmes, qui sont conservées dans les bi-bliothèques dont nous avons parlé. on n’en trouvera ici que deux cent douze. Sans doute la longueur moyenne des docu-ments que nous publions est de beaucoup supérieure à celle de l’ensemble des fragments de la Gueniza. Il est clair néanmoins que ce recueil ne constitue qu’un choix relativement réduit de l’immense quantité de documents que la Gueniza renferme. Dans ces conditions, et en raison de la grande dispersion des textes de la Gueniza [sic] entre de nombreuses bibliothèques, et même quelquefois entre des fonds différents de la même bi-bliothèque, il est possible que quelques textes liés à notre sujet aient échappé à l’auteur, d’autant plus que le rapport entre la plupart des documents publiés dans ce livre et la question qui nous occupe n’apparaît pas de prime abord, mais a été élucidée à la suite d’une étude approfondie par comparaison avec tout le reste du matériel. a présent que la voie est frayée, et que les index analytique et de noms propres permettent de reconnaitre les objets et les personnes qui se rapportent à notre sujet, il sera plus facile d’identifier ce qui a pu échapper à l’auteur. nous espérons cependant que les omissions sont en petit nombre, et qu’elles ne sont pas de nature à modifier sérieusement le tableau qui se dégage des documents présentés ici.

nous n’avons pas eu l’occasion de consulter la collection des manuscrits de la Gueniza qui se trouvent à leningrad. Tou-tefois, comme ce fonds a été de longues années sous la garde d’un savant (check: don’t understand) aussi érudit et aussi zélé à éditer des textes intéressants que le professeur Harkavy, il est peu vraisemblable qu’il y figure beaucoup de documents d’im-portance dans ce domaine. Cependant, cet argument n’est pas décisif, et il est possible que des surprises nous attendent de ce côté-là. peut-être aussi y a-t-il encore des fragments de la Gueniza dans des collections privées, et il n’est pas exclu non plus qu’on découvre d’autres fonds d’archives, analogues à la Gueniza du Caire, dans les nombreuses villes égyptiennes qui possédaient des communautés juives. Dans deux bibliothèques, au Fonds David Kaufmann de l’académie royale de Hongrie à Budapest et au Dropsie College de philadelphie, on a constaté la disparition de plusieurs fragments de la Gueniza. parmi ceux qui ont été perdus à philadelphie, il y en avait un ou deux qui, d’après les indications du catalogue imprimé du fonds, seraient entrés dans le cadre de cet ouvrage, et il est vraisemblable que la collection hongroise en possédait aussi quelques-uns. on est

appendix

paris, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, archive, Fonds Heller

De l’espagne à l’Inde

Documents judéo-arabes traitant du commerce et des voyages entre la Méditerranée et l’océan Indien particulière-ment au XIème et au XIIème siècle.

préfacele commerce entre l’Inde et les pays méditerranéens était

la clé de voûte de l’économie internationale au moyen âge. Comme on sait, c’est la recherche du chemin le plus direct vers les ressources naturelles de l’extrême-orient qui a entraîné la découverte de l’amérique et de l’afrique du Sud et a marqué ainsi le seuil des Temps modernes. Cependant tout ce que nous savions sur ce commerce à son apogée, sous les Fatimites, – au XIème et au XIIème siècle, – reposait sur des sources exclusive-ment littéraires. Jusqu’à présent on n’avait pas trouvé, ou du moins on n’avait pas publié de documents de l’époque sur le commerce avec l’Inde (sauf quelques textes qui paraissent dans ce volume et qui ont déjà été publiées à part dans des pério-diques). le présent ouvrage se propose de combler pour une part cette lacune.

Il contient des lettres et d’autres pièces se rapportant à des marchands juifs, principalement du XIème et du XIIème siècle, qui ont exercé leur négoce entre les pays de la Méditerranée et ceux de l’océan Indien. Certains de ces documents n’ont pas été écrits par les marchands eux-mêmes, ni par leurs employés, mais par des personnes de leur entourage, parents ou hommes de loi. Sauf un, ils sont tous rédigés en caractères hébraïques, mais la plupart en langue arabe, parfois émaillée de quelques mots hébreux ou araméens. l’adresse notamment est le plus souvent en hébreu, tout au moins l’essentiel de son libellé.

a l’exception d’un seul, tous les documents publiés dans ce volume proviennent de la Gueniza du Caire. Sur la nature de cette collection de manuscrits et sur le problème de l’ori-gine des documents qu’elle contient, nous nous étendrons au Chapitre IV de l’Introduction. la majeure partie de cette Gue-niza fut transférée en 1897 à la Bibliothèque de l’université de Cambridge, cependant que certaines pièces étaient recueillies par d’autres bibliothèques, telles que la Bodléienne d’oxford, le Fonds elkan nathan adler qui se trouve actuellement à la Bibliothèque du Jewish Theological Seminar of america à new York, le British Museum, la Bibliothèque publique de lenin-grad, la Bibliothèque de l’alliance Israélite universelle, etc…Quelques fragments sont conservés aussi à la Bibliothèque na-tionale et universitaire de Jérusalem. Dans ce volume se trouvent


qui n’entraient pas dans les chapitres précédents. et le dernier chapitre est consacré à des lettres et à des fragments isolés, qui, dans sa première partie, sont des missives familiales et person-nelles.

ainsi, comme nous l’avons indiqué tout à l’heure, la plus grande partie des textes publiés dans ce livre tournent autour d’un nombre relativement [p. 4] réduit de personnes et de fa-milles. Mais ils mentionnent un nombre considérable d’indi-vidus: des centaines de marchands, d’armateurs, de capitaines, d’agents, etc… y sont cités par leur nom. Ce double aspect des choses comporte un avantage certain: il nous montre d’une part le commerce avec l’Inde dans toute sa variété, mais nous per-met d’autre part d’approfondir l’observation de terrains bien délimités.

une douzaine des deux cent douze documents publiés ici ont été édités précédemment par d’autres savants. Il va sans dire que ceux-là aussi ont été comparés à l’original; dans certain cas, nous avons reproduit l’original avant de savoir que ces frag-ments avaient déjà paru.

Il est normal que les documents que nous publions dans ce volume traitent essentiellement de commerce. Ils comprennent par exemple des commandes; des accusés de réception; des échanges de vue sur les prix et la valeur des diverses monnaies, les procédés d’expédition et d’emballage, la douane, les avaries, la perte de navires entiers ou d’une partie de leur cargaison; des accords en vue de créer ou de supprimer une association; des procès verbaux de jugements, des comptes de toute sorte; des listes de marchandises et des barèmes. Cependant, il est rare qu’une pièce soit dépourvue de tout caractère intime. avec les marchandises, on envoyait fréquemment des cadeaux ou des objets personnels, et les relations commerciales étaient considé-rées en général, à cette époque, comme des relations d’amitié. Certaines lettres ou certains documents sont consacrés entière-ment ou principalement à des affaires privées ou publiques. un mari, que ses affaires retiennent dans l’Inde, écrit à sa femme restée en egypte; une mère de famille résident à aden s’adresse à son fils qui s’est rendu au Caire. un homme qui a quitté l’Inde pour aden, à la tête d’une grande fortune, annonce à ses parents de Sicile et d’afrique du nord qu’il est sur le chemin du retour, et ainsi de suite. on relève également dans ces textes l’écho de questions publiques, surtout celle de la soumission de la communauté juive du Yémen à l’exilarque qui réside à Bag-dad (alors sous la domination des Seldjoukides) et d’autre part aux Gueonim d’egypte (où régnaient les Fatimides chiites), ou celle du statu de “l’agent des Marchands”, qui exerçait aussi une sorte de présidence de la communauté juive locale.

Comme les montre la brève numération ci-dessus, ces do-cuments sont à même d’éclairer de nombreux aspects de la vie des marchands qui voyageaient au XIème et XIIème siècle entre l’espagne et les autres pays méditerranéens d’une part, et

en droit de croire que ces deux groupes de documents perdus finiront par être retrouvés.

le choix des documents contenus dans ce volume a été fait sur la base la plus simple: nous avons recueilli tout ce qui se rap-porte au commerce et aux voyages dans les pays situés au Sud [p. 3] et à l’est de l’egypte. pourtant, au cours de notre travail, nous avons rencontré plusieurs écrits relatifs à des personnages ayant exercé leur activité aussi bien dans l’océan Indien que dans la Méditerranée, et il était visible que ces deux domaines étaient inséparables à leurs yeux. C’est pourquoi on trouvera aussi quelques fragments ayant trait aux pays méditerranéens, pour autant qu’ils se rapportent à des marchands qui sont nettement en relations avec l’Inde. Ce ne sont là que des cas isolés. pour un seul personnage, Halfon ben netanel Dimyati (Chapitre IV), nous avons donné un recueil considérable de sa correspondance avec l’espagne, l’afrique du nord et l’egypte. en effet, cela nous offrait l’occasion de tracer un portrait assez complet d’un grand marchand, dont les affaires étendaient leur réseau de l’espagne jusqu’à l’Inde, et qui, par sa position sociale et sa culture hébraïque et arabe, était un représentant caracté-ristique de la bourgeoisie juive cosmopolite de cette époque.

presque dès le début de nos recherches, il est apparu qu’une grande partie des textes qui nous travaillions à recueillir gravi-taient autour d’un petit nombre d’individus. Ce fait s’explique par deux raisons principales. parfois des écrits relatifs à un personnage ou à une famille ont été versés dans les archives de la communauté après s’être accumulés de longues années dans des archives familiales. C’est le cas, croyons-nous, pour les nombreux textes qui se rapportent au marchand tuniso-in-dien abraham ben Yajü et à ses proches (Chapitre III). D’autres fois, un seul homme ou une seule famille, comme Madmun ben Yefet, “agent des marchands” à aden et sa famille, occupaient une position si centrale dans le commerce avec l’Inde que les fragments se rapportant à eux sont forcément très nombreux (Chapitre II). Comme nous l’expliquerons dans l’Introduction, d’autres causes peuvent encore rendre compte de ce phénomène. Toujours est-il qu’il a facilité le classement du matériel. Il est vrai que nous n’avons pas trouvé des pièces en nombre suffisant sur tous ceux qui paraissaient se détacher de la masse lors d’une première mise au point, et que par contre certains personnages, comme Halfon ben netanel et Madmun ben Yefet, ne se sont révélés qu’à un stade plus avancé de nos recherches comme doués d’une importance primordiale. néanmoins il a été pos-sible de ranger la plupart des documents sous la rubrique des personnalités centrales. les quatre premiers chapitres renfer-ment chacun des textes se rapportant à un personnage et aux siens. De même le Chapitre V, “autres marchands de l’Inde”, contient essentiellement du matériel relatif à trois marchands d’envergure. le Chapitre VI présente des listes, des contrats et d’autres actes juridiques ayant trait du commerce avec l’Inde,


le rite de la prière en commun trois fois par jour, qui nécessite la présence de dix hommes de plus de treize ans. De même, en groupe il était plus facile d’observer le sabbat et les règles d’alimentation rituelles. l’expédition des marchandises et du courrier était confiée, le plus souvent – mais pas toujours – à d’autres marchands juifs. et, s’il se trouvait des juifs qui s’adres-saient aux tribunaux des Gentils, les contrats commerciaux et les procès [p. 6] qui en découlaient, et à fortiori, les mariages et les divorces, ainsi que le plus souvent les questions d’héritage, se traitaient encore à cette époque devant les tribunaux juifs. en outre, le fait que chaque communauté religieuse habitait géné-ralement un quartier à part contribuait puissamment à pousser les coreligionnaires à s’associer dans leur activité commerciale. pourtant, si notre interprétation des documents publiés ici est exacte, les juifs n’ont pas joué, malgré leur particularisme religieux, un rôle économique spéciale dépassant le cadre des activités des autres communautés, au sein du monde musul-man s’étendant entre l’espagne et les côtes de l’Inde, comme c’était le cas, à la même époque, dans les pays chrétiens d’eu-rope occidentale. aussi ce volume n’est-il une contribution à l’histoire économique des juifs que dans ce qu’il nous enseigne dans quelle mesure et sous quelle forme ils ont participé à la vie commerciale agitée dont l’océan Indien était alors le théâtre.

Ces documents sont aussi d’une grande valeur pour la pa-léographie. en effet, nous possédons ici plusieurs lettres pro-venant de certains individus dont nous savons quand et où ils vivaient, et quelle était leur situation sociale et professionnelle, et parfois nous avons aussi les copies qui ont été faites de ces lettres par leurs employés. on y rencontre également de nom-breux actes juridiques portant une date précise et le nom du scribe qui les a copiés. Quand quelques volumes de ce genre seront à la disposition des chercheurs, l’histoire de l’écriture hébraïque et la “diplomatique” hébraïque en orient pourront être assises sur des bases solides.

enfin, il est presque superflu de souligner ce que cet ou-vrage peut nous apprendre au sujet de l’histoire de la langue arabe et même, dans une beaucoup moindre mesure, de l’hé-breu. l’orthographie et la prononciation, la morphologie et la syntaxe, le vocabulaire et les usages de la langue reflètent ici bien plus fidèlement la réalité vivante que dans les sources littéraires. l’arabe, beaucoup plus encore que l’araméen jadis, a servi de lien unificateur entre la plupart des groupes de la nation juive qui étaient épars alors entre l’espagne et le Maroc à l’ouest, entre l’Irak et l’Inde à l’est. Il ne faut pas s’étonner que les juifs se soient efforcés de parvenir à s’exprimer élégamment dans cette langue, il y a plusieurs lettres dans ce recueil où le signa-taire s’excuse de n’avoir pas réussi à accomplir cet idéal. Sauf quelques missives de lettrés juifs d’espagne, qui sont écrites en arabe presque classique, tous les documents sont rédigés dans une langue qu’on ne peut certes qualifier de dialecte, mais qu’il

l’afrique orientale, l’arabie méridionale et les côtes de l’Inde et de Ceylan d’autre part. Ces documents sont d’une grande valeur, tout d’abord pour l’histoire générale du commerce et de l’industrie. Car, comme notre analyse le démontrera, les juifs ne s’adonnaient pas à un commerce particulier, bien qu’il y ait des branches importantes dont nous n’avons pas pour le moment de preuves [p. 5] que les juifs y aient été actifs, comme par exemple l’exportation des bois de l’Inde ou la traite des nègres africains. Ils ne se distinguaient pas non plus des autres par les procé-dés commerciaux. au contraire, le commerce d’outre-Mer était fondé en majeure part sur ce que la terminologie juridique juive appelle “l’association des Gentils”, type d’association courant dans le droit musulman et qui s’identifie pour l’essentiel avec la commenda italienne. Ces associations étaient conclues par devant un tribunal juif et faisaient l’objet de contrats et de procès-ver-baux en caractères hébraïques, mais les clauses et les termes qui y figuraient étaient ceux en usage dans les milieux commerciaux de l’époque.

Bien plus, tout ce commerce avait nettement un caractère international et interconfessionnel. Des associations entre juifs et non-juifs étaient fréquentes. elles faisaient naître aussi des liens “d’amitié et de fraternité”. Juifs, musulmans, hindous et chrétiens négociaient entre eux sans aucune hésitation. De même, du point de vue de l’éthique, c’est-à-dire des concep-tions et des mœurs, il semble qu’il régnait une profonde unité. ainsi les documents publiés ici serviront non seulement l’his-toire économique générale, mais aussi l’histoire de la société.

Toutefois, il ne faut pas minimiser la contribution en faits nouveaux que ce volume apporte à l’histoire juive. la partici-pation des juifs au commerce avec l’Inde à l’époque qui nous intéresse n’était connue jusqu’à présent que d’une manière extrêmement générale. elle se révèle ici dans tous ses détails, sous la pleine lumière de l’histoire. Des personnalités juives qui n’étaient guère connues auparavant que par leur nom sont à présent rapprochées de nous par des dizaines de documents, qui n’éclairent pas seulement leur activité commerciale, mais aussi leur rôle dans la communauté et la science juives. l’histoire des juifs du Yémen du XIème au XIIème siècle ressuscite à nos yeux sous plusieurs de ses aspects les plus intéressants. et surtout, la vie privée et publique du peuple d’Israël à cette époque, celle de Juda Halévy et de Maïmonide, s’y trouve mise en lumière dans toute sa couleur et sa variété.

le fait même que tous ces textes soient rédigés en caractères hébraïques et contiennent pour la plupart quelques mots d’hé-breu n’est pas un hasard, car, en dépit du cosmopolitisme du commerce international d’alors, il revêtait également un aspect communautaire très net. un juif, de nombreux documents nous l’apprennent, voyageait d’ordinaire en compagnie d’un autre juif, et si possible au sein d’un groupe plus important de coreli-gionnaires. la raison en est simple: cela permettait d’accomplir


faut considérer comme une langue semi-littéraire reproduisant des usages locaux. ainsi, nous aurions été incapables de saisir certains des termes qui y figurent sans recourir à nos connais-sances de la langue parlée aujourd’hui par les juifs du Yémen. D’une manière générale, il est permis de dire qu’il s’agit d’une langue claire, distinguée et expressive.

abstract

This essay continues an inquiry into the relationship between the work projects of Fernand Braudel and S. D. Goitein. Braudel’s initial contact, made via Clemens Heller in october 1954, led to a ten-year connection between Goitein, then in Jerusalem but soon to move to philadelphia, and the Centre de recherches Historiques, a unit of the VIème section of the École pratique des Hautes Études in paris. The attempt to recruit Goitein, which was organized by Heller, led Goitein to an extraordinary set of detailed self-representations of his project. It is also a tale of human uncertainty and distrust. at a certain point, Goitein decided to publish with the university of California press and changed his project accordingly. This essay provides a detailed account of the genesis of a mediterranean Society (5 vols., 1967–1988), at the same time revealing Goitein’s own groping attempts towards a description of his work, beginning with “social history” and ending with “sociography.”

photo credits

author: Fig. 1.

Stampa: alpi lito, Firenzeluglio 2014

umschlagbild | Copertina: Map of Istanbul, in: Seyyid lokman, Hünernâme

(Detail aus abb. 1, S. 12 | Dettaglio da fig. 1, p. 12)

ISSn 0342-1201

"From Spain to India" Becomes "A Mediterranean Society": The Braudel-Goitein "Correspondence" Part...

Documents

Transcript of "From Spain to India" Becomes "A Mediterranean Society": The Braudel-Goitein "Correspondence" Part...