During their conquest of the Holy Land, the Crusaders took prisoners for ransom, and plundered ancient synagogues for books and scrolls to sell. Someone, a Westerner, has made a neat Medieval Latin note of the content of this looted book ‘interpretacio esaya prophete’ (a commentary on the prophet Isaiah). The words probably helped indicate resale value. The book was at least 70 years old when the Crusaders seized it. An earlier owner’s note states that it was purchased by a man from Acre in 1031 CE.

Acre, Palestine, 11th century

Latin, Hebrew, parchment

T-S 12.722