“This book wonderfully proves the value of collaborative research. The introduction describes how this collaboration came about and is by itself a little masterpiece. Like a detective story, it chronicles how the researchers gradually came to recognize that the Haggadah and its Latin—and very Christian—preface constitute one of the most remarkable testimonies in both image and word of the complex character of Jewish-Christian relations in the fifteenth century. Yet the manuscript, even after the collaborators’ fascinating findings, remains enigmatic and indeed mysterious. This is simply an extraordinary book about an extraordinary artifact.”

—William Jordan, Princeton University

“Jewish-Christian relations in the Middle Ages represent a challenging and often painful subject that defies easy categorization in terms of what too often is called, in anodyne, even evasive, terms, the ‘Judeo-Christian’ tradition. This brilliant collaboration between three experts in their respective fields uncovers an exceptional, yet also exemplary, case of a hybrid haggadah that, although written by a Jewish scribe, was adapted in a variety of ways for use by Christian monks both during and after its production. A testimony to interdisciplinary research, the book uncovers an astonishing episode in the long history of Christian Hebraism. University professors, Christian humanists, Bavarian monks, and anonymous artists are the cast of characters that make of this study a fascinating piece of detective work and a reminder of the complexity of any effort to capture historical truth. Especially admirable is the editors' willingness to consider multiple solutions to the conundrum the Tegernsee Haggadah presents. The reader is invited to think along with the editors. In the process, a world of Jewish-Christian interaction more complex than commonly imagined is revealed with precision and eloquence.”

—Jeffrey Hamburger, Harvard University

“The Tegernsee Haggadah in Munich is a truly unique book. This edition reproduces an unusual illuminated manuscript. It also includes both a detailed description of the book and a meticulous reconstruction of its production, its history, and its eventual function as—amazingly enough—a study book for monks in order to familiarize themselves with Jewish rituals. Containing a Latin treatise, it was supposed to teach the monks to read the Haggadah within the framework of contemporary blood libels. David Stern, Sarit Shalev-Eyni, and Christoph Markschies leave no stone unturned in unraveling the story of an extraordinary artifact, and the somewhat unusual role a book could play in the Jewish-Christian coexistence of late medieval Europe.”

—Katrin Kogman-Appel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev