Michael Toch (born 1946) is professor of medieval history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specialises in the

history of the Jews Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah, two ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the

early modern history The early modern period is a historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There is no exact date ...

of Germany and Europe, the social and economic history of

medieval Germany The concept of Germany as a distinct region in Central Europe can be traced to Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as ''Germania'', thus distinguishing it from Gaul. The victory of the Cherusci, Germanic tribes ...

, the history of farmers and agriculture, and the history of technology and communication.

Early life

Michael Toch was born in London in 1946. His family returned to Austria in 1948 where Toch received his basic education. In 1964, he moved to

Kibbutz Magen Magen () is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert and covering 8,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In , it had a population of . History During World War I British forces ...

, Israel. From 1965 to 1969 he completed his military service, and from 1969 to 1975 he studied history, philosophy and sociology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

.Michael Toch's website.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Retrieved 30 November 2016.

Career

From 1974 to 1975, Toch was tutor in history at

Ben-Gurion University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder David Ben-Gurion, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has f ...

, Beer-Sheva. He completed his PhD thesis on "The Middle Classes of Nuremberg in the 15th Century" at

Erlangen University Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

in Germany which was awarded in 1978. He lectured in history at the Hebrew University before becoming Alexander von Humboldt-Research Fellow at Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich. From 1986 he was a senior lecturer in medieval history at the Hebrew University and associate professor in medieval history there from 1992, and full professor from 1998. A leading medieval historian, Toch's research focuses on the history of the Jews in the Middle Ages, the early modern history of Germany and Europe, the social and economic history of medieval Germany, the history of farmers and agriculture, and the history of technology and communication.

Selected publications

* ''Die Nürnberger Mittelschichten im 15. Jahrhundert.'' Nürnberg, 1978. * ''Die Juden im mittelalterlichen Reich.'' München, 1998. * ''Peasants and Jews in medieval Germany. Studies in cultural, social and economic history.'' Ashgate, 2003. (

Variorum Collected Studies Variorum Collected Studies is an academic book series in the humanities published by Ashgate Publishing. The aim of each volume is to bring together, for the first time, a selection of articles by a leading scholar on their particular area of expert ...

) * ''Wirtschaftsgeschichte der mittelalterlichen Juden. Fragen und Einschätzungen.'' München, 2008.
Rezension
* ''The Economic History of European Jews: Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages''. Brill, Leiden, 2012. ''The Economic History of European Jews''.
Brill. Retrieved 30 November 2016.

References

External links

Michael Toch at academia.eduThe Economic History of European Jews: Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages by Prof. Michael Toch.The Economic History of European Jews.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toch, Michael 1946 births Living people Israeli medievalists Jewish historians Israeli historians Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Erlangen University alumni Israeli people of Austrian-Jewish descent British emigrants to Austria