The peshat school of Northern France was founded by Rashi, who wrote his commentary according to the way of peshat alongside the Sages’ interpretations. Those who followed in his footsteps — R. Yosef (Mahari) Kara, the Rashbam, and R. Yosef Bekhor Shor of Orléans took this idea of peshat to an extreme, shunning use of the Sages’ words for purposes of biblical interpretation.
The distinctions between the biblical exegesis of northern France and the biblical exegesis of Spain is that the Jewish exegetes of northern France based their approaches, for the most part, on sources and ideas from Jewish tradition, which we may describe as internal concepts. These are not based at all on the ideas and outlooks of the Christian culture amidst which the exegetes resided. In contrast, the Jewish exegetes of Muslim Spain drew their tools from internal sources as well as external sources. The many domains to which the scholars of Spain had been exposed left their mark on the character of the Spanish commentaries.
