‘Could I betray a woman so wise?’

Jewish Women in History (9th–16th centuries): Knowledge, Texts, and Objects. International Conference.

The international conference “‘Could I betray a woman so wise?’ Jewish Women in History (9th–16th centuries): Knowledge, Texts, and Objects,” which will be held in Paris, at the EPHE-PSL, Sorbonne, on 9-11 June 2026, and which is kindly sponsored and funded by the European Union. The conference seeks to explore different bodies of textual and material sources and to identify novel methodological perspectives to trace elements of female knowledge, devotion, and everyday life in the study of medieval Judaism.

The conference will gather scholars working on different aspects of women’s history and medieval and early modern Jewish history, literature and history of art. The various degrees of Jewish female presence and participation in culture and society will be sought in the context of literature, education, personal correspondences, art, magic, medicine, and legal affairs. Contributions that present original and unpublished sources, or that propose innovative methodological approaches capable of linking texts and artefacts to the complexity of women's experiences, are particularly welcome. While the primary focus of the conference is on Jewish women in the Middle Ages, comparative contributions addressing the Christian and Muslim worlds will also be presented. Although the core emphasis of the conference is on the Middle Ages, with due consideration for the distinctive nature of Jewish history, the temporal frame extends, on occasion, into the early modern period. For

Dates: 9-11 June 2026

Location: EPHE - PSL, Salle D059 Jules Delamarre, Sorbonne 
17, rue de la Sorbonne, 75005 Paris (escalier E, 1^er étage)

For more details, please contac:
Alessia Bellusci
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
École Pratique des Hautes Études - PSL
@email