Sophia Blair

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Marks, Susan

Keywords

Severus, Bishop of Minorca, Epistula Severi, Conversion, Jewish-Christian Relations

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

Up until this point, the Epistula Severi, a fifth century Latin text authored by Severus, bishop to Minorca, has undergone little scrutiny. Scott Bradbury’s translation of the text to English in 1996 reveals a historical yet constructed text that narrates the supposedly consensual conversions of 540 Jews following a series of miraculous events. I seek to explore and unpack both the conversions themselves and the construction of Severus’ account first by examining the miracles and drawing connections between them and similar biblical events in order to establish the dominant rhetoric of the letter. I then examine the conversions themselves and attempt to determine whether forceful conversion and hostile relations between Christians and Jews were commonplace at the time through cross-referencing other historical accounts and texts like the Roman law codes. Finally I examine local sociopolitical factors on Minorca at the time that Severus wrote the letter in an attempt to discern potential factors that could have influenced both the conversions themselves, and the manner in which Severus chose to portray them, such as the threat to that part of the Empire by the Visigoths. These investigations shed light on a document that came to exist through the extraordinary confluence and pressure of many motivations and factors, not the least of which was the deterioration of Jewish-Christian relations in the fifth century C.E.

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