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The Jewish Badge in Renaissance Italy

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The Jewish Badge in Renaissance Italy The Jewish Badge in Renaissance Italy: The Iconic O, the Yellow Hat and the Paradoxes of Distinctive Sign Legislation Flora Cassen, New York University ([email protected]) Introduction In all the independent city-states of Italy, both the badge Clues to the meanings of the O: 2 and its textual descriptions were identical 4 its shape, color and size ¾ 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council decreed ¾ The O represented zero, nothingness. Venice, 1394: unum O zallum that the Jews had to wear distinctive ¾ In heraldry, a round coat of arm was a symbol of bad birth, clothing. Florence, 1446: unum O ... panni vel nastri gialli vile religion. ¾ The Jewish badge was implemented in Assisi, 1456: uno .O. de colore giallo France, Germany, Hungary and Spain during the 13th and 14th centuries, but in Milan, 1451: ... ¾ In Venice, Bologna and Brescia, prostitutes had to wear a yellow sign too. Italy only in the 15th century. Cremona, 1468: ¾ In the fifteenth century, yellow was the color of treason, felony, avarice, envy, and laziness. Pavia, 1478: ¾ Across Europe, the color and shape of the Association of Jews with religious and signs varied between and within regions, sexual depravity. but in the Italian Peninsula, it was the same The badge was not verbally described but everywhere: a yellow O in the 15th century “drawn” into the text using the icon “O”. ¾ The O-badge had to be the size of a palm with a yellow rim and a yellow hat in the 16th. as wide as a finger. It was small and easy to hide. ¾ Frequent complaints that the Jews did not wear the O visibly. Daniele da Norsa, his son Isaac and their wives in the ¾ Here I use archival material on the Jewish cathedral of Mantua. They were represented below the Virgin on a painting with the heading: Insolence of the In practice, the O’s size reduced its effectiveness badge to investigate the relation between Jews humiliated. the Jews and the authorities and the discrepancies of law and practice. The icon O was visible in legal documents as well as paintings. 5 The paradox resolved? ¾ During the first decades of the 16th century, all across the Peninsula, The paradoxes of Papal and Italian the O was replaced by a yellow hat. 1The Jewish badge was different in every country 3 ¾ It was a flat hat called beretto, capello, pileus or cappuccio; policy on the badge elaborate, though sometimes confusing verbal descriptions replaced England the iconic O. 1217: “Each Jew, after he shall be seven years old, shall wear a badge on his outer garment ... in the form of two PapalPapal universaluniversal CatholicCatholic PapalPapal policypolicy inin Rome Rome tablets joined, of white felt, of the length policiespolicieswerewere dogmaticdogmatic:: andand thethe PapalPapal StatesStates of six inches, and of the breadth of three theythey repeatedlyrepeatedly andand waswas pragmaticpragmatic:: nono inches.” consistentlyconsistently insistedinsisted thatthat allall consistentconsistent enforcement,enforcement, JewsJews inin allall ChristianChristian butbut exemptionsexemptions andand France countriescountries wearwear aa sign.sign. ThatThat changingchanging rulesrules forfor thethe We used to wear the wheels upon our waswas howhow thingsthings shouldshould be.be. Jews. clothes...and my teacher, rabbi Simon of Jews. Coucy decided them to be permissible on POPE INNOCENT III the Sabbath ― Rabbi Isaac b. Moses (1219) The Italian princes too were pragmatic. When Provence, 1363: “a part-red, part- practically ruling their cities, they negotiated The yellow hat was large and always visible; it white badge, the size of the great with Jewish communities and granted bridged the gap between theory and practice. Royal seal.” exemptions from wearing the badge to Jews Paris, 1269: “a wheel of yellow cloth, sewn on the outer garment, who could afford it. They did not consistently on chest and back, so that it is enforce the Jewish badge except when faced Conclusions visible.” with religious or popular pressure. LORENZO DE MEDICI ¾ The law regulated the place of the Jews in Italian-Christian Spain Castile 1313: “A sign of society, but Jewish policy was ambivalent and paradoxical. yellow cloth on the chest When legislating, Italian princes were There was a gap between legislation and its execution. and on the shoulders.” dogmatic. Even though they were constantly at Aragon, 1317: “Their clothing war with one another, they all adopted the same ¾ The O was a universal sign understood and accepted across has to be dark and long ... with a badge and described it in identical terms in the the Italian Peninsula, but its small size combined with the part-red and part-yellow badge documents using the icon O. A visible on the left side of their chest.” separation between Jews and Christians was speed and breadth at which it was replaced by the hat in the how things should be. 16th century suggests that the ambivalence was deliberate. Germany Hungary FRANCESCO SFORZA ¾ In the 15th century, real political will to force the badge on In both Papal and Italian policy, there was a 1275: “The Jews shall wear 1279: “The Jews shall wear a the Jews was lacking. In the 16th century, with the Catholic gap between theory and practice. hats that are pointed; yellow circle as sign; Muslims a Reformation, there was a new determination to distinguish thereby they are marked of red circle.” from the Christians.” In the Italian Peninsula, the O in the documents Jews from Christians. The purpose became to align theory represented the theory. In practice, enforcement and practice; the emphasis shifted from iconicity to of the badge was uneven. visibility..
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