Jews on trial artwork 8/7/11 15:07 Page 1 J ews on tr STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY Jews on trial ‘A welcome addition to our knowledge ... the archival material has been handled with care and sensitivity’ The Papal Inquisition in Modena, Simon Ditchfield, University of York, UK 1598-1638 esearch on the Papal Inquisition in Italy has tended to centre on trials for ial Rheresy, witchcraft and possession of prohibited books, but little is known of the activities of the Inquisition with respect to practising Jews. This book explores the role of the Papal Inquisition in Modena, the status of Jews in the KATHERINE ARON-BELLER early modern Italian duchy and the fundamental disparity in Inquisitorial procedure regarding professing Jews. It also uses the detailed testimony to be found in trial transcripts to analyse Jewish interaction with Christian society in an early modern European community. Jews on trial concentrates on Inquisitorial activity during the period which historians have argued was the most active in the Inquisition’s history – the first forty years of the tribunal in Modena, from 1598 to 1638, the year of the Jews’ enclosure in the ghetto. This book will appeal to scholars of inquisitorial studies, social and cultural interaction in early modern Europe, Jewish Italian social history and anti-Semitism. Katherine Aron-Beller is a lecturer in Jewish History both at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv University. In 2006-07 she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in Washington, DC AR ON-BELLER ‘The Strappada’ From Thomas Murner Die Entehrung Mariae durch die Juden, reproduced in Jahrbuch für Geschichte, Sprache und Literatur Elsass-Lothringen 21 (1905) ISBN 978-0-7190-8519-2 9 7 8 0 7 1 9 0 8 5 1 9 2 www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Jews on trial Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 1 18/02/2011 14:22 STUDIES IN EARLY MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY This series aims to publish challenging and innovative research in all areas of early modern continental history. The editors are committed to encouraging work that engages with current historiographical debates, adopts an interdisciplinary approach, or makes an original contribution to our understanding of the period. series editors Joseph Bergin, William G. Naphy, Penny Roberts and Paolo Rossi Also available in the series Sodomy in early modern Europe ed. Tom Betteridge The Malleus Maleficarum and the construction of witchcraft Hans Peter Broedel Latin books and the Eastern Orthodox clerical elite in Kiev, 1632–1780 Liudmila V. Charipova Fathers, pastors and kings: visions of episcopacy in seventeenth-century France Alison Forrestal Princely power in the Dutch Republic: Patronage and William Frederick of Nassau (1613–64) Geert H. Janssen, trans. J. C. Grayson Representing the King’s splendour: Communication and reception of symbolic forms of power in viceregal Naples Gabriel Guarino The English Republican tradition and eighteenth-century France: between the ancients and the moderns Rachel Hammersley Power and reputation at the court of Louis XIII: the career of Charles d’Albert, duc de Luynes (1578–1621) Sharon Kettering Popular science and public opinion in eighteenth-century France Michael R. Lynn Catholic communities in Protestant states: Britain and the Netherlands c.1570–1720 eds Bob Moore, Henk van Nierop, Benjamin Kaplan and Judith Pollman Religion and superstition in Reformation Europe eds Helen Parish and William G. Naphy Religious choice in the Dutch Republic: the reformation of Arnoldus Buchelus (1565–1641) Judith Pollman Witchcraft narratives in Germany: Rothenburg, 1561–1652 Alison Rowlands Orangism in the Dutch Republic in word and image, 1650–1675 Jill Stern Authority and society in Nantes during the French Wars of Religion, 1559–98 Elizabeth C. Tingle The great favourite: the Duke of Lerma and the court and government of Philip III of Spain, 1598–1621 Patrick Williams Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 2 18/02/2011 14:22 Jews on trial The Papal Inquisition in Modena, 1598–1638 KATHERINE ARON-BELLER Manchester University Press Manchester Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 3 18/02/2011 14:22 Copyright © Katherine Aron-Beller 2011 The right of Katherine Aron-Beller to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 This electronic version has been made freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction provided the author(s) and Manchester University Press are fully cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. Details of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA, UK www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 978 0 7190 8519 2 hardback First published 2011 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Typeset in Perpetua with Albertus display by Koinonia, Manchester Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 4 18/02/2011 14:22 To my parents Ralph z”l and Diana Aron and Jonathan Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 5 18/02/2011 14:22 Shylock: What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? (William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV Scene i) Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 6 18/02/2011 14:22 Contents Figures page ix Tables x Preface xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 I The Inquisition and disciplining Jews 1 Jews, Papal Inquisitors, and the Estense dukes 17 2 Procedure and reaction 51 II A study of Jewish offences in different settings 3 The Jewish household: Jewish masters and Christian servants 87 4 The piazza: verbal offences on the streets of Modena 125 III Micro-history 5 The Jew’s balcony: a tale of a young Jewess’s flirtation with Christianity 163 6 The pingolo: a locus for fantasy 191 7 Proselytizing at Purim 219 Conclusion 239 Bibliography 247 Index 270 Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 7 18/02/2011 14:22 Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 8 18/02/2011 14:22 Figures 1 Eighteenth-century map of the duchy of Modena showing the areas where the Jews lived page xiv 2 Diagram showing the walls of the ghetto and San Domenico (the Holy Office building) superimposed on a modern map of Modena xiv 3 The Church of San Giovanni Battista in Soliera 206 4 The back left side view of the church 207 5 The front left side view of the church 207 6 View of the back of the church with its surrounding modern buildings 208 Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 9 18/02/2011 14:22 Tables 1 Types of offence for which professing Jews were prosecuted by the Modenese Inquisition in 1598–1638 page 56 2 Lists of outcomes for processi of Jews in 1598–1638 67 3 Processi 1598–1638 130 4 Dates and numbers of interrogations faced by Jews in Davide de Norsa’s trial of 1604 199 5 Days when Christians reported hearing Jewish disturbances 205 Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 10 18/02/2011 14:22 Preface From 1988, the final year of my undergraduate studies, I had the privilege of being a student of Brian Pullan, the distinguished scholar of Venetian social history. Brian instilled in me a love of Italian history and a fascination with the complex pattern of religious change and non-conformity in early modern Europe. His generous support and critique have accompanied all my years of study, and words cannot express my debt to him. But a love of learning does not usually start or end in the seminar rooms of a university campus, and I must thank a number of people who have helped me along the way. My dear mother has been my closest friend, unswervingly loyal in her support and encouragement, and my late father gave me a love of learning and, as a Holocaust survivor, showed me how one’s personal history can dominate one’s life and thoughts. At school it was Ann Woodings, my history teacher, who helped me articulate a love of history, and Dennis Samuel, my uncle, spent many a Sunday afternoon discussing my S Level history essays with me. After coming to live in Israel with a young family in 1993, my research interests eventually came to focus on the Italian Inquisition and I was able to take my studies further under the tutelage of Kenneth Stow, thanks to a doctoral grant from the University of Haifa. During this period, I became intrigued by the significant number of unknown ‘voices’ of professing Jews I uncovered in the Inquisitorial archives of Modena, and my aim became not only to get to know them but to decode their testimonies. The staff of the Archivio de Stato in Modena were most accommodating and welcoming, as were those of the many libraries and institutes where I have worked over the years. I also wish to express my deep thanks to Kenneth for his continuing support, advice and precise attention to detail, as well as to Enrico Angolini, Reuven Bonfil, Bernard Cooperman, Anna Foa, Federica Francesconi and Benjamin Ravid for their helpful suggestions and assistance at various stages of my research. My time in the Judaica Department of the Israel Museum brought me into contact with many wonderful people who helped broaden my interests and my understanding of Jewish culture and ethnography, including Nurit Bank, Lorna Carmel, Rosemary Eshel, Aron-Beller_01_TextAll.indd 11 18/02/2011 14:22 xii PREFACE Susan Hazan, Chen Mellul, Joseph Shadur z’l and Nurit Shilo-Cohen.