Il Seder Eliyyahu Zuta di Elia Capsali: Un esperimento di scrittura storiografica del Cinquecento

After a brief excursus on the significance of the word “history” in Jewish culture and the development of the “Jewish historiography” during the Renaissance period, the article presents some commented passages involved in the first book of Eliyyahu Capsali’s Seder Eliyyahu Zuta (1523). Eliyyahu Capsali (ca. 1490 - ca. 1555) was a condestabulo, rabbi and historian who lived in Crete under the Venetian rule. The chronicle covers the years 1280-1522, a period of great historical significance as it marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and the unstoppable development of the Ottoman one. The selected passages concern a detailed description of the capture of Constantinople by Ottoman army on 1453 and the good relations between Sultan Mehmet II and some members of the Jewish community, especially with Rabbi Mošeh Capsali who became a loyal friend of him. An examination of the Seder’s contents reveals that on the one hand, much of the chronicle is historically accurate, on the other hand, there is material which is clearly legendary. The Seder Eliyyahu Zuta represents one of the most important sources, written about seventy years after the conquest of Constantinople, concerning Jewish-Ottoman relations.