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The Red Jews (), a legendary

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish nation, appear in vernacular sources in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

during the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

era, from the 13th to the 15th centuries. These texts portray the Red Jews as an

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

al threat to

Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...

, one which would invade Europe during the tribulations leading to the end of the world. Andrew Gow studied the original

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

texts and concluded that the legend of the Red Jews conflated three separate traditions: the

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

ic references to

Gog and Magog Gog and Magog (; he, גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג, ''Gōg ū-Māgōg'') appear in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran as individuals, tribes, or lands. In Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land; in Genesis 10, Magog is a man and epo ...

, the

Ten Lost Tribes The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ashe ...

of Israel, and an episode from the '' Alexander Romance'' (3rd century AD), in which

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

encloses a race of heathens behind a great wall in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

. These traditions had some overlap already; Gog and Magog are among the nations trapped behind the wall in the ''Alexander Romance'', and the only ones named in the version of the story appearing in

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

al-Kahf Al-Kahf ( ar, الكهف, ; The Cave) is the List of chapters in the Quran, 18th chapter (sūrah) of the Quran with 110 verses (āyāt). Regarding the timing and contextual background of the revelation (''asbāb al-nuzūl''), it is an earli ...

(The Cave) 18:89, while the 14th-century work ''The Travels of Sir John Mandeville'' explicitly associates the confined nations with the Ten Lost Tribes. Many pamphlets circulated interpreting such events as the rise of Turkish power in the context of the legendary Red Jews. Both

Martin Bucer Martin Bucer ( early German: ''Martin Butzer''; 11 November 1491 – 28 February 1551) was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a me ...

and

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

(1497–1560), for example, claimed that

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

were the Red Jews.

References

*Anderson, Andrew Runni. ''Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations''. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1932. *Brook, Kevin Alan. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006. *Christian of Stavelot. ''Exposito in Matthaeum Evangelistam''. *Gow, Andrew C. ''The Red Jews: Antisemitism in an Apocalyptic Age, 1200-1600''. Brill, 1994. *Rabb, Theodore "Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honor of E.H. Harbison, Princeton University Press, 1969 {{Khazaria, state=collapsed Christian folklore European folklore Gog and Magog Jewish German history Jews and Judaism in the Ottoman Empire Khazars Antisemitism in Germany Antisemitic canards Medieval legends Mythological peoples Stereotypes of Jewish people

See also

References