This volume provides an innovative guide to the study of the Jewish past from the late Middle Ages to the Enlightenment that is designed for both students and seasoned scholars. It makes available sixteen contributions published between 1872 and 1974, which are veritable landmarks in the scholarship on Jewish history in early modern Europe but have so far remained little accessible. Many are here translated into English for the first time, while none is currently available in English online. The editors¿ introduction situates these classic essays in relation to the growing perception that the early modern period in Jewish history possesses its own distinctive features and identity. Accompanied by a rich bibliography, this volume highlights the many changes that academic study of this vital phase of the Jewish past has undergone in academic scholarship during the last hundred and fifty years.