A Lifetime in Letters: New Evidence Concerning Immanuel of Rome's Timeline

Abstract:This article examines two letters written by Immanuel of Rome, the fourteenth-century poet and thinker from Italy. Using new manuscript evidence, as well as a new comparative lens, the essay challenges traditional ideas about Immanuel's timeline and intellectual affiliations. Considering a discovery of an older version, a reexamination of a freestanding letter believed to have been part of the Maimonidean debate between Zerahiah of Barcelona and Hillel of Verona shows that Immanuel was not involved in this dispute over the proper application of philosophy and science to biblical exegesis. Having no known addressee, Immanuel's invective letter addresses a scholar's reliance on foreign wisdom, but the most interesting part of the letter is the concluding invective couplet. While scholars had identified the freestanding letter as an indication of Immanuel's involvement in the Maimonidean controversy, this article contends that such involvement is far more evident in a rhetorical letter embedded in Mahberot Immanuel, Immanuel's poetic anthology. The embedded fictional letter, addressed to Joab, challenges a poet, teacher, and ersatz scholar, as Immanuel derides his inability to appreciate allegorical readings of the Bible and his lack of a philosophical education. Using allusions to his own allegorical readings of biblical verse, Immanuel lampoons Joab as an Ashkenazic Jew, in his traditionalist exegetical sensibilities as well as in his inability to compose mellifluous verse. The article concludes that Immanuel was deeply attuned to the nuances of late medieval debates over the relationship between philosophy and Torah.