This article describes the book by Lion Feuchtwanger

Lion Feuchtwanger

Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....

. For the play by Franz Grillparzer

Franz Grillparzer

Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who is chiefly known for his dramas. He also wrote the oration for Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral.-Biography:...

, see The Jewess of Toledo

The Jewess of Toledo

The Jewess of Toledo is a play by Franz Grillparzer. Written in 1851, it was first performed in Prague in 1872, after Grillparzer's death.The play is based on the love affair between King Alfonso VIII of Castille and Rahel la Fermosa, a Jewish woman....

.

Die Jüdin von Toledo is a 1955 novel by German-Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger

Lion Feuchtwanger

Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....

. The story focuses on the "Golden Age

Golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula

The golden age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, a period of Muslim rule throughout much of the Iberian Peninsula. During that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed.The nature and length of this...

" of learning in medieval Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The novel also describes the affair of Alfonso VIII with the Jewish Raquel

Rahel la Fermosa

Rahel la Fermosa was a Jewish woman who lived in Toledo, Spain in the twelfth century. She was the paramour of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, husband of Leonora of England, for almost seven years. Under her influence a number of Spanish Jews were appointed to positions within the royal court. This...

 in Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

. In Lion Feuchtwanger's prologue to the story, he mentions that the ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 was originally written by Alfonso X of Castile in regards of his Great-Grandfather (Alfonso VIII).