Andreas (or Andrew)In older publications, he can be referred to as Andreas II, as some lists of archbishops give an earlier archbishop named Andreas (759–761), who, in reality, is almost certainly a later invention. He may, in fact, be a figment of imagination of the 18th-century historian Alessandro Maria Calefati (see: Mazzeo 2008, p. 100) was the Archbishop of Bari from 1062 to at least 1066, and probably somewhat longer.Golb 1987, pp. 10–11 In 1066, he travelled to Constantinople where at some point he converted to Judaism. He then fled to Muslim-ruled Egypt and remained there until his death in 1078.
Life
Andreas is attested in the ecclesiastical records of the Archbishopric of Bari, but very cursorily: Anonymi Barensis Chronicon, early-12th-century Bariot chronicle covering the years 855–1118,Jakub Kujawinski, "Anonymi Barensis Chronicon", from Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, Brill, 2010 mentions his elevation to archbishop in 1062, journey to Constantinople in 1066, and dying in 1078.Holo 2005, p. 152, citing: Prawer 1976, p. 115, who cites Anonymi Barensis Chronicon, published in: Muratori 1724, pp. 147–156. Records for the relevant years are on pp. 152–153: 1) "Mill. LXI. Ind. XIIII Mortuus est Nicolaus Archiepiscopus; & a quibusdam electus est Andreas" 2) "Mill. LXIIII. Ind. II. Fecit Andreas Sinodum in ipso Episcopio" 3) "Mill. LXVI. Ind. IV. Perrexit Andreas Archiepiscopus Constantinopl" 4) "Mill. LXXX. Ind. III. Et Urso Archiepiscopus intran"
Obadiah the Proselyte, another convert to Judaism and émigré to Egypt of about a generation later, was moved and inspired by Andreas's story, and recorded it in his memoirs. This autobiography, popularly known as the "Obadiah Scroll", was preserved in the Cairo Geniza, a collection of some 350,000 documents that accumulated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, Egypt, from the 9th to 19th centuries, and since dispersed among libraries and collections around the world. In the course of the 20th century, fourteen fragments of the Scroll, now in Budapest, Cambridge and New York, were identified.Hebrew original: Prawer 1976. English translation: Golb 2004 The fragments in the Kaufmann Genizah Collection, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest,Two leaves, three separate fragments of text: Kaufmann Genizah Collection, Ms. 24 (ex 134), f. 1r-v, f. 2r, f. 2v were discovered by Alexander Scheiber, the director of the Budapest University of Jewish Studies, who published them in 1954.Scheiber 1954, with photographs, Hebrew text and a translation In one of the fragments, Obadiah tells the story that was widely discussed when he was still Johannes, young son of minor nobility, living with his parents in the small Italian town of Oppido Lucano:Golb 2004, pp. 1–2
In the Middle Ages only two high-profile cases are known of Catholic clergy converting to Judaism: From the Annals of St. Bertin we learn that in 838 Frankish deacon Bodo converted to Judaism, fled the Aachen court of Louis the Pious, and settled in Muslim Spain. While there, he engaged in a theological debate with Álvaro of Córdoba, Jewish convert to Christianity (some of the letters they exchanged still survive).Riess 2005 In De diversitate temporum, Benedictine chronicler Alpert of Metz records the story of Wecelinus, a cleric in the service of Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia, relative of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II. In the year 1005 or 1006, Wecelinus converted, went to live with the Jews of Mainz, and even publicly polemicized against Christianity; one short tract, preserved by Alpert, enraged the Emperor enough to appoint his own court cleric to refute it.Golb 1987, pp. 4–5 A few years later, in 1012, Henry II expelled all the Jews from the city of Mainz, albeit for a short time.Frassetto 2007, p. 31
Notes
References
Cesare Colafemmina (2005) "La conversione al giudaismo di Andrea, arcivescovo di Bari: una suggestione per Giovanni-Ovadiah da Oppido" in Giovanni-Ovadiah da Oppido, proselito, viaggiatore e musicista dell'età normanna. Joshua Holo (2005) "Jewish communities and personalities within Ovadiah's chronicle", in Giovanni-Ovadiah da Oppido, proselito, viaggiatore e musicista dell'età normanna google books preview Norman Golb (1987) Jewish Proselytism — A Phenomenon in the Religious History of Early Medieval Europe, 10th annual Rabbi Louis Feinberg memorial lecture in Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati. Norman Golb (2004) The Autograph Memoirs Of Obadiah The Proselyte Of Oppido Lucano, and The Epistle Of Barukh B. Isaac Of Aleppo
online Alessandro Pratesi (1961). "Andrea". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 3. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.