Download or read book The Jewish Pope written by Mary Stroll and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1987 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the struggle between Innocent II and Anacletus II, a member of the Roman Pierleoni family which had converted from Judaism to Christianity. In contrast to the prevailing theory that the split was ideological and that Innocent and his supporters in the monastic movement (e.g., Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, Matthew of Albano) represented a progressive church reform party, argues that it was basically political. Anacletus' Jewish origin and his family's banking activities were exploited in a successful campaign of vilification against him. Ch. 15 (pp. 156-168), "The Anatomy of the Schism: The Jewish Element", shows how increased antisemitism after the First Crusade and the image of the Jew as a usurer contributed to this campaign.