This monograph analyses the way that Jews were portrayed in various scholarly journals and lay gazettes published in French in the United Provinces of the Netherlands, mostly by Huguenot refugees. Many of these sources have previously escaped scholarly attention, and as such are valuable sources for exploration. The scholarly journals are mostly focused on the discussion of historical and theological aspects of Jewish people and Judaism, the origins of their language and its influence on others, and their customs and nuances related to worship. The lay gazettes discuss gossip and contemporary events, portraying the Jews as their editors see them. Jews were depicted in these sources in several unique ways which are identified in this study. Particular attention is given to the dimension of privacy, which provides an additional tool of analysis aimed at better understanding how these constructs were created. The final part of this book examines how Muslims in general and Turks in particular, as well as the Siamese, were portrayed in the same sources, in order to investigate whether they were treated differently than the Jews.
List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue 13 Historical Background 17 The Huguenots 17 Huguenot Refuge in the United Provinces of the Netherlands 19 Jews in France 22 Jews in the United Provinces of the Netherlands 23 Republic of Letters and Its Scholarly Journals 35 The Gazettes 38 Notions of Privacy and Private Life 40 Methodology 41 Part I. Jewish Image in the Scholarly Journals 43 Nouveau journal des sçavans 43 Journal littéraire 51 Histoire critique de la République des Lettres 57 Part II. Jewish Image in the French-Language Dutch Lay Gazettes 73 L’année burlesque ou recueil des pieces 73 L’esprit des cours de l’Europe 89 Part III. Non-Christians in Scholarly Journals and Gazettes 93 Islam 93 The Ottoman Turks 96 The Kingdom of Siam 101 Conclusion 107 Bibliography 111 Primary Sources 111 Secondary Literature 113 Webography 120 Index Nominum 121 Index Locorum 123