Joseph of Rosheim, sixteenth-century leader of the Jews in the Holy Roman Empire, left historical writings that are presented here in a critical edition published now for the first time in English translation. The principal part of the book is devoted to a Hebrew manuscript--a chronicle--left by R. Joseph, in which he describes incidents from the history of his life and that of the Jews in his day and age. R. Joseph writes with extreme terseness, often in cryptic language, and therefore his chronicle appears here with prefaces, background information and a commentary. The prefaces provide...