Processi del S. Uffizio di Venezia contro ebrei e giudaizzanti (1642-1681) ed. by Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini (review)

BOOK REVIEWS111 Processi del S. Ufflzio di Venezia contro ebrei e giudaizzanti (1642—1681), Volume XI. Edited by Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini. [Fontes S. Officii Venetiarum ad Res Iudaicas Spectantes, Vol. 11. Storia deU'ebraismo in Italia, Studi e Testi, XV, Sezione Véneta, 12.] (Florence: Leo S. Olschki Editore. 1993. Pp. viii, 258. Lire 75.000 paperback.) This is the eleventh volume in a distinguished series which prints the complete texts of aU the Venetian Inquisition trials dealing with Jews and accused judaizers from 1548 through 1681. The cases in diese last forty years were not of great significance, which is part ofthe story. There were several denunciations concerningfeigned, forced, and/or sincere conversions. For example, a Jew converted to Christianity divorced his Jewish wife, then married a Christian for financial reasons. The Christian wife accused him ofcontinuing to be apracticingJew and attempting to persuade her to become a Jew. Eidier the Venetian Inquisition took no action, or else die documents are missing. Anotiier case involved die accusation diat a Ferrara Jew had kidnapped his sister, who intended to become a Christian, had taken her to the Venetian ghetto, and promised her in marriage to a Jew. The outcome is unclear. A Christian servant woman working for Jews in the Venetian ghetto ceased to be a practicing Christian, went to the synagogue and foUowed Jewish dietary laws, and was promised financial aid to flee to the Levant. When she repented, the Holy Office absolved her widiout a formal trial. A couple of cases dealt widi accusations of magical practice. Abraham, who worked for a Christian printing press, cooked in oU the heart of a rabbit for nine mornings while pronouncing curses over it in order to free his wife from infernal spirits. The remedy did not work. The Holy Office sentenced him to spiritual penances for engaging in magical practices. The often incomplete investigations and the mUd inquisitorial actions suggest two conclusions, according to Ioly Zorattini. First, die Venetian Holy Office had lost interest in pursuing accused judaizers. The Venetian ghetto was now an integrated center of Jewish life where New Christians were reabsorbed into the Jewish community and lived quietly. Second, whereas a hundred years earlier die Inquisition would have had considerable jurisdiction when Jews were accused of iUegal activities, now Venetian civil magistracies took charge. It appears diat the Venetian Republic had consolidated everything having to do with Jews into the hands of civU organs, thus leaving the inquisition widi little to do. FinaUy, the documents show considerable social interaction between Jews and Christians. The trials and supplementary documents are meticulously transcribed and accompanied by good notes and comprehensive bibliography. This has been a distinguished series since die first volume appeared in 1980; indeed, this reviewer praised volumes 1, 2, and 10 in diis journal (Vols. LXVIII [AprU, 1982], 365-366; LXXII [January, 1986], 145-146; and LXXX [January, 1994], 112BOOK REVIEWS 164-165). In a brief preface Professor Ioly Zorattini congratulates tiiose who have assisted in the preparation of diese volumes and the organizations which subsidized research and publication. Professor Ioly Zorattini also deserves congratulations for conceptualizing and realizing a fine project. Paul F. Grendler University of Toronto Inventaire analytique de documents relatifs à l'histoire du diocèse de Liège sous le régime des nonces de Cologne: Giuseppe-Maria Sanfelice (1652— 1659). Translated from Italian and Latin with introduction by Frédérique Donnay. [Analecta Vaticano-Bélgica, deuxième série, Section B: Nonciature de Cologne, VIL] (Rome: Institut Historique Belge de Rome; Turnhout : Brepols Publishers. 1991. Pp. 427. 1050 BF.) La correspondance d'Andréa Mangelli, Internonce des Pays-Bas (1652— 1655). Translated from Italian and Latin with introduction by Lambert (Henri) Vos, O.S.B. [Analecta Vaticano-Bélgica, deuxième série, Section A: Nonciature de Flandre, XV.] (Rome: Institut Historique Belge de Rome; Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. 1993. Pp. 451. 2100 BF.) Although die nuncio was at Cologne and the internuncio at Brussels, dieir relatively brief careers at their respective posts saw diem confronted with similar administrative tasks. There was the perpetual conflict between secular and ecclesiastical audiority, in die instance of Cologne between the nuncio and die elector, in...