Correspondence in the Early Medieval World

How did Letters Travel?

The Cairo Geniza has preserved thousands of letters, some complete and others fragmentary, the largest share of which were written in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Jews were surprisingly mobile, traveling around the Mediterranean and farther, as far as India and beyond. Active trade networks, made up of Jewish and non-Jewish merchants transporting goods of all sorts, enabled an informal mail system. Important letters might be sent by messenger, but most were simply carried by traders, both by boat across the sea and by camel train over the deserts and through the mountains.

Who Wrote Letters?

Jews in the Islamic world spoke Arabic as their vernacular, and the ability to read Arabic written in Hebrew, or even in Arabic characters, seems to have been relatively widespread among the Jews living in the merchant economy of the early medieval Mediterranean. However, it should be noted that during the medieval period, writing and reading were not taught or learned together; not all who could read Hebrew characters could write them. Personal secretaries for the wealthy (and professional scribes for everyone else) were available to take dictation for a fee. 

While most personal letters from the Geniza were composed in Judeo-Arabic, public letters were more often written in Hebrew, as were those written to individuals in places where Arabic was not the vernacular, like southern France. In addition, many letters utilize both languages to varying degrees. For example, some Judeo-Arabic letters begin with formal openings in literary Hebrew, or biblical verses might be quoted in the original Hebrew in an otherwise Judeo-Arabic text. 

When received, letters were likely read aloud; public letters might be read in public spaces, most likely in the synagogue itself. 

Often, Geniza letters had the address in Arabic characters on the verso side, written after the letter was folded into a compact, envelope-like package, so that the (presumably Muslim) messenger who delivered the letter could read the address.

Letters by Women

Strikingly, these texts include many letters composed by women. Probably most—though certainly not all letters sent by women were dictated to scribes, who occasionally added their own comments. In them, women’s voices nevertheless are more vividly audible than in nearly any other corpus of medieval texts, Jewish or non-Jewish, and certainly more so than for any earlier period in Jewish history. We hear women writing to their children, husbands, brothers and sisters, and business associates, and to the authorities.

Letters as Historical Sources

It should be kept in mind, however, that the letters of this era often follow specific forms and linguistic conventions influenced by Islamic epistolary practices. They begin with a formulaic wish for good health and blessings, followed by an indication of the date, from one of the many Hebrew calendars that were in vogue in the medieval period. Each type of letter, in fact, from appeals for money to commercial letters to public pronouncements and more, had its own literary devices and rhetorical conventions, complicating our reading of them as unmediated historical sources.

Nevertheless, these letters give insight into the personal and economic situations of their writers and recipients. Letters appealing for financial aid, written by impoverished Jews, frequently relate tragic stories. Travelers writing home describe the journeys they have taken, by land and sea, often for trade. They report on the situation of family and friends, on the local Jewish community, and on political events, and they express their longing for their wives and children during times of physical separation. Personal letters thus convey a rich variety of day-to-day experiences: the travails of domestic life, the complications of personal relationships, and other reflections of the lives of ordinary members of the Jewish community.

Business Correspondence

Business partners especially depended on an effective mail service. Traders faced numerous challenges, such as the physical dangers of maritime voyages across the Mediterranean, borders suddenly closed by war, and market volatility influenced by constant political upheavals, as well as personal relationships gone sour. Commercial letters sent between business partners give—often in striking detail—accounts of financial dealings, and they commonly include valuable information about the diversity of goods being bought and sold, the intricacies and geographical reach of Jewish and Muslim trading networks, and the ways in which trading partners shared tasks, expenses, risks, and profits. Business letters thus cast unparalleled light on the dynamics of the market and the wide variety and movement of trade goods around the Mediterranean.

Administrative Correspondence and the Jewish Community

Many letters are part of the official administrative correspondence exchanged between leaders of various Jewish communities, illuminating the Jewish political landscape and the development of Jewish self-governance. These sources illustrate services provided by the Jewish community, show how communal authority was enacted, and reveal the political divisions of the time. They also cast light on administrative services such as maintenance of the synagogue, collection and allocation of charity, involvement with local courts, and conflict resolution. A sense emerges that Jews lived as a semiautonomous group with internal authority but also with certain obligations to the ruling powers. These obligations often fluctuated depending on the whims and needs of local rulers.

Letters in Western Europe

While most of these letters were found in the Cairo Geniza, some correspondence from the period was preserved in manuscript codices, especially from the twelfth century, which are now held in European libraries. 

Personal letters between Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) and his translator, Samuel Ibn Tibbon (ca. 1150–1232), and the correspondence between Maimonides and Jonathan of Lunel (ca. 1135–after 1210) about the Mishneh Torah, show the thirst of Jews in southern France for cultural exchange with Jews of the East and the beginning of the translation movement from Arabic to Hebrew. Such letters were treasured—copied and recopied—by medieval and later Jews who saw Maimonides or other members of the elite as Jewish heroes or their letters as literary models. 

In addition, letters exchanged among Jewish communities in response to dangerous contemporary events were evidently considered worth copying into manuscripts and transmitting as important historical records.