This thesis examines different elements of Jewish identity viewed through the images rendered in a fourteenth century illuminated copy of the twelfth century's Guide of the Perplexed, commonly referred to as the Copenhagen Maimonides. The highly variable economic and social status of Jews in late medieval Spain demands that we carefully attune the questions that we ask regarding Jewish art, literature, and overall cultural identity. By combining the controversial theological and scientific approaches of Maimonides' Guide with its ambiguous visual narratives, this text provides a new lens through which to view fourteenth century book culture and the interconnectedness of the Jewish and Christian artistic elite.

The Copenhagen Maimonides was commissioned by a wealthy Jewish physician in 5108/1347-1348 CE and was written by a Jewish scribe in Barcelona. The artist, who is not specifically documented in the manuscript, departs from traditional Hebrew decorative practices, and instead illustrated the work in an idiom closely resembling that of the Christian artist Ferrer Bassa. The manuscript is embellished with marginal decorations that primarily consist of fantastical and hybrid creatures, as well as three half-to full-page historiated images. The marginal decorations have no discernable relation to the content of the rationalist treatise. Conversely, the historiated images reflect an intimate knowledge of the Jewish text, most visible in the third historiated scene, which displays the elements of the beasts of Ezekiel's vision. This imagery is traditionally associated with the four Christian Evangelists, but in the context of the Copenhagen Maimonides, the image upholds the integrity of the Jewish text.

This thesis posits that rather than acting as subversive commentaries on Jewish identity, both the marginalia and historiated images are the result of the growing multi-cultural visual language and the expansion of a larger, more inclusive, elite book culture.