The history of the Jews living in the State of the Church in the 16th century has been investigated at length, by adopting different approaches and consulting several sources in different languages. Despite numerous studies and continuous research in archives and libraries, many documents still lie hidden, especially in places where the traces of Jewish history have not been as thoroughly investigated as elsewhere. One of these places is definitely Rimini (and its archives), a city that from the 11th century onwards hosted an important community, whose uninterrupted presence lasted until its expulsion in 1593. While some research has investigated the history of the Jews in Rimini up until the 15th century, almost nobody has gone so far as to study what happened to them in the following century. One of the reasons for this is perhaps the absence of sources in Hebrew. Mauro Perani has studied the only remaining source, a remarkable inscription, dated 1510, which probably commemorates the inauguration of one of the city's synagogues. As often happens, however, in the absence of Hebrew sources, one can turn to Christian ones and in particular to notarial acts. As far as the 16th century is concerned, a cursory survey in the local State archives has made it possible to identify hundreds of documents that record the activity of the Jews living in the city of Rimini, and which are also significant for the history of the Jews in northern Italy more broadly. Among these documents, for example, is a notarial act attesting to the meeting of the council of the Universitas of the Jews of Rimini to appoint a prosecutor in 1525 to deal with certain tax issues with the Pope: the choice fell on Yacob Mantino, the famous physician and translator, who was in Bologna at the time. Among the papers of Melchiorre Battaglini, the notary to whom the members of the community would more often turn in this period, there is a document that allows us to move beyond the city walls and to shed light on the wider history of the Jewish communities living within the boundaries of the State of the Church (and even beyond them, as we shall see), at a particularly tense time in the relations between the Jews and the Pope, since the document is dated 18th March 1555, a few months before Cum nimis absurdum. The text, in Latin, contains the ratification of the decisions taken during the meeting held in the city of Rimini, which was attended by the representatives of many Jewish communities in the Pontifical territory (Bologna, Romagna, Ancona and Marca Anconetana), as well as of the communities of Urbino and Pesaro. In particular, the document records the task that these delegates entrusted to two representatives of their communities in order to strike an agreement with Pope Julius III. The text does not specify what the issues at stake were; as we shall see, the act was simply a ratification of the appointment of two emissaries, which provided for the payment of a fine of 100 scudi in the event that a member of one of the communities involved violated the agreements made.

Bartolucci, G. (2024). A New Document for Studying the History of the Jews in the State of the Church: The Assembly of Rimini, 1555. Leiden : Brill [10.1163/9789004704169_008].

A New Document for Studying the History of the Jews in the State of the Church: The Assembly of Rimini, 1555

Bartolucci, Guido
2024

Abstract

The history of the Jews living in the State of the Church in the 16th century has been investigated at length, by adopting different approaches and consulting several sources in different languages. Despite numerous studies and continuous research in archives and libraries, many documents still lie hidden, especially in places where the traces of Jewish history have not been as thoroughly investigated as elsewhere. One of these places is definitely Rimini (and its archives), a city that from the 11th century onwards hosted an important community, whose uninterrupted presence lasted until its expulsion in 1593. While some research has investigated the history of the Jews in Rimini up until the 15th century, almost nobody has gone so far as to study what happened to them in the following century. One of the reasons for this is perhaps the absence of sources in Hebrew. Mauro Perani has studied the only remaining source, a remarkable inscription, dated 1510, which probably commemorates the inauguration of one of the city's synagogues. As often happens, however, in the absence of Hebrew sources, one can turn to Christian ones and in particular to notarial acts. As far as the 16th century is concerned, a cursory survey in the local State archives has made it possible to identify hundreds of documents that record the activity of the Jews living in the city of Rimini, and which are also significant for the history of the Jews in northern Italy more broadly. Among these documents, for example, is a notarial act attesting to the meeting of the council of the Universitas of the Jews of Rimini to appoint a prosecutor in 1525 to deal with certain tax issues with the Pope: the choice fell on Yacob Mantino, the famous physician and translator, who was in Bologna at the time. Among the papers of Melchiorre Battaglini, the notary to whom the members of the community would more often turn in this period, there is a document that allows us to move beyond the city walls and to shed light on the wider history of the Jewish communities living within the boundaries of the State of the Church (and even beyond them, as we shall see), at a particularly tense time in the relations between the Jews and the Pope, since the document is dated 18th March 1555, a few months before Cum nimis absurdum. The text, in Latin, contains the ratification of the decisions taken during the meeting held in the city of Rimini, which was attended by the representatives of many Jewish communities in the Pontifical territory (Bologna, Romagna, Ancona and Marca Anconetana), as well as of the communities of Urbino and Pesaro. In particular, the document records the task that these delegates entrusted to two representatives of their communities in order to strike an agreement with Pope Julius III. The text does not specify what the issues at stake were; as we shall see, the act was simply a ratification of the appointment of two emissaries, which provided for the payment of a fine of 100 scudi in the event that a member of one of the communities involved violated the agreements made.
2024
"Habent sua fata fragmenta". Festschrift in Honour of Mauro Perani Offered by Friends and Colleagues
96
114
Bartolucci, G. (2024). A New Document for Studying the History of the Jews in the State of the Church: The Assembly of Rimini, 1555. Leiden : Brill [10.1163/9789004704169_008].
Bartolucci, Guido
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/1000973
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