zeldes - sefardi and sicilian exiles in the kingdom of naples

8/12/2019 Zeldes - Sefardi and Sicilian Exiles in the Kingdom of Naples

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Contents

Editorial 1

English and Spanish Section

Articles

M FUENCISLA GARCA CASAR , Cielos y aguas bblicos a la medida delhombre medieval y mediterrneo 5

CYRIL ASLANOV, Yosef Caspi entre Provenza y Sefarad 33DALIA-R UTH HALPERIN, !Mira un poko de maraviyas de el ke no tenesh visto" 43ELEAZAR GUTWIRTH, The Historian#s Origins and Genealogies: TheSefer

Yuhasin 57SUSANA BASTOS MATEUS AND JAMES W. NELSON NOVOA, The Case of the

New Christians of Lamego as an Example of Resistance against thePortuguese Inquisition in Sixteenth Century Portugal 83

E NRIQUE R ODRIGUES-MOURA, El abogado y poeta Manoel Botelho de Oliveira(1636-1711): !infamado de cristo novo" 105

Research Project: The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and its

Aftermath in the Life of the Refugees and their ChildrenHANNAH DAVIDSON, Exile, Apostasy and Jewish Women in the Early 16th

Century Mediterranean Basin 133JAMES W. NELSON NOVOA, Documents Regarding the Settlement of

Portuguese New Christians in Tuscany (Part 2) 163JAMES W. NELSON NOVOA, Documents from the Secret Vatican Archives

Regarding the History of the New Christians in the Low Countries(1536-1542) 173

ALDINA QUINTANA, From the Master#s Voice to the Disciple#s Script:

Genizah Fragments of a Bible Glossary in Ladino 187 NADIA ZELDES, Sefardi and Sicilian Exiles in the Kingdom of Naples:

Settlement, Community Formation and Crisis 237DORA ZSOM, Converts in the Responsa of R. David ibn Avi Zimra:

An Analysis of the Texts 267

Book Reviews 295

Bibliography and Manuscripts 313


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Authors Guidelines and Transliteration 359

Contributors 361

Hebrew Section

SHULAMIT ELIZUR , Praise of the Creator in a Seliha of Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Levi

R EVITAL YEFFET-R EFAEL , !Beware of Hypocrites": Religious Hypocrisy inMedieval Hebrew Rhymed Prose in Spain

SHALEM YAHALOM , Deorayta and Derabanan : The Standing of the CreativePersonality in Nahmanides" Jurisprudence

YONATAN K EDEM , R. Yosef Albo: A Biographical Study

N ITAI SHINAN , On Religious Fanaticism and its Consequences: A SpanishLiberal Approach of the Expulsion of the Jews


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Research Project

The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain andits Aftermath in the Life of the Refugeesand their Children


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[ Hispania Judaica 6 5769/2008]

Sefardi and Sicilian Exiles in the Kingdom of Naples:Settlement, Community Formation and Crisis

Nadia Zeldes

A large number of Sefardi Jews and the majority of Sicilian Jews settled in the Kingdom of Naples after the 1492 expulsions. The present article attempts to analyzethe process of settlement and the founding of new communities by Sefardi and Sicilian Jews in the years 1492-1498, using an integrative approach to the various sources(Hebrew as well as Italian, Latin and Spanish). An attempt is made to understandthe events of 1494-1495 and the disasters that befell the Neapolitan Jewries duringthe French invasion. The coming of the French king unleashed a series of riots andviolent acts against the Jews perpetrated by the foreign soldiers as well as the localChristian population, resulting in mass conversions and ight from the Kingdomof Naples. The events were given mystical and messianic interpretations by Jewsand Gentiles alike. The present article argues that popular violence was mainlydirected towards the newcomers, principally the Sefardi Jews who are describedin contemporary sources asmarrani . The restoration of the Aragonese dynasty in Naples in 1497 helped the recovery of the Jewish communities.The article also offers a new interpretation on the role of the Abravanel familyamong the Jewish communities of South Italy.

The Kingdom of Naples was both a preferred destination and a land of passage forthe exiles and refugees of the expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula, and Sicily.Despite the vicissitudes suffered by the Jews in the Kingdom of Naples in the rstdecade after the expulsion, the exiles founded new communities, had spiritual and

political leaders, and also created, copied and printed scholarly works. However,the history of the immigration and settlement of the exiles in the Kingdom of

Naples has never been the subject of a separate study based on all the availablesources.

Nicolo Ferorelli!s Gli ebrei nell!Italia meridionale dall!et romana al secolo

XVIII , published in 1915, was the rst scholarly attempt to produce an amplydocumented history of the Jews in the Kingdom of Naples. Since most of itconcentrates on the period of time from the fteenth century until the expulsionof 1541, it provides important data on the migration and settlement of Spanish*

* I use the designation "Spanish# ( spagnoli ) when referring to exiles hailing from theIberian Peninsula, regardless of their actual origin, as do the Neapolitan documents whichusually do not distinguish between Aragonese, Castilians etc. Chronicles of this periodalso use the term marrani which I shall attempt to explain at the appropriate place.


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and Sicilian exiles. Despite antiquated methods and the unavoidable omissionof Hebrew sources, this study remains a keystone for further research into the

subject. Whats more, the destruction of a considerable part of the documents thatwere available to Ferorelli at the time renders his book priceless for the modernscholar. 1

A large number of studies on the Jews in the Kingdom of Naples has been published since, most of them focusing on speci c aspects or periods. As it isimpossible to cite them all, I am going to mention only those that are especiallyrelevant to the subject at hand. The article of Felipe Ruiz Martn, !La expulsinde los judos del reino de Napoles published in 1949, which despite its title spansthe whole period between 1492 and 1541, represents a different point of view thanFerorellis as the author relied mainly on Spanish sources. Viviana Bonazzolis

articles !Gli ebrei nel regno di Napoli allepoca della loro espulsione published in1979 and 1981 cover a long period, from 1456 to 1541. The articles offer an updatedstudy that takes into account the material that has been discovered and publishedsince Ferorellis book.2 However, despite its reliance on a variety of sources and publications, Bonazzolis work still omits Hebrew sources. In any case, while itattempts to provide a comprehensive history of the Jews of Naples in this period,it does not distinguish between the native population and the new immigrants.An invaluable contribution are the documents published by Cesare Colafemminaand others in the periodicSefer Yuhasin, as well as Colafemminas documentarycollections regarding the various Neapolitan provinces: Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata

etc.3 Reuven Bon l discussed the fate of the Iberian exiles in Italy, including thesouth, in his !Italia: un triste eplogo de la expulsin de los judos de Espaa.4 In

this article he argued against some of Ferorellis conclusions, such as the unlikelynumber of exiles (100,000) that reached the Kingdom of Naples. According toBon ls calculations the number of exiles (mainly those hailing from the lands of

1 Ferorellis original work is now updated in a new edition: N. Ferorelli,Gli ebrei nell!Italiameridionale, Filena Patroni Grif and D. Peerson eds., Napoli 1990. Although thisedition does not change Ferorellis original text, it includes bibliographical referencesto relevant modern studies. All references below are to the 1990 edition.

2 F. Ruiz Martn, !La expulsin de los judos del reino de Npoles, Hispania 9 (1949), pp. 28-240; V. Bonazzoli, !Gli ebrei del regno di Napoli allepoca della loro espulsione, Archivio Storico Italiano, 137 (1979), pp. 495-599; 139 (1981), pp. 179-287

3 C. Colafemmina, Per la storia degli ebrei in Calabria: Saggi e documenti, SoveriaMannelli 1996 (Hereafter: Colafemmina,Calabria); Idem, Documenti per la storia degli ebrei in Puglia nell!archivio di stato di Napoli, Bari 1990 (Hereafter,Colafemmina, Puglia).

4 R. Bon l, !Italia: un triste eplogo de la expulsin de los judos de Espaa, Judos.Sefarditas. Conversos: La expulsin de 1492 y sus consecuencias. Ponencias delCongreso Internacional celebrado en Nueva York en noviembre de 1992, A. Alcaled., Valladolid 1995, pp. 148-249.


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Sefardi and Sicilian Exiles in the Kingdom of Naples

the Crown of Aragon), was only between 10,000 and 15,000. Nevertheless, still aconsiderable number! As for the Jews of Sicily, Bon l suggested that the majority

converted and did not leave the island at all. It was a reasonable assumption at thetime, but now, given the wealth of documentary material discovered since, it isalmost certain that the majority of Sicilian Jews indeed came to the Kingdomof Naples. Only later some of them converted and returned to Sicily.5 As for therest of Italy, Bon l drew attention to the demographic crisis precipitated by thearrival of such large numbers of Jews, an aspect that was previously given littleimportance. In the same vein Michele Luzzati discussed the reasons that preventedthe integration of the exiles into the existing Italian Jewish communities, arguingthat the delicate balance between Jewish presence and political exigencies of theItalian city states could be have been endangered by an in ux of new immigrants.6

Finally, the articles of David Abula a provide new insights on the history of theJews under the Aragonese kings of Naples and their continuing presence underSpanish rule.7

But the actual process of immigration, settlement and community foundationwas never given its due consideration, and neither were the events of the catastrophicyear of 1494-1495 and their consequences for the exiles. The present article proposes to focus on the fate of the Spanish and Sicilian Jews in the Kingdom of Naples in this period.

Arrival and Settlement

In his now classical biography of Don Yitshaq Abravanel, Netanyahu drew amoving picture of the exiles sailing from port to port, in vain seeking a safe haven,unsure whether they would be allowed to stay anywhere in Italy, until "it waswith trembling hearts that this hapless human cargo surveyed the majestic Bay of Naples! would the Neapolitan government give them asylum?#8 Neverthelss,

5 On the return of the converts to Sicily. see: N. Zeldes,The Former Jews of this Kingdom: Sicilian Converts after the Expulsion (1492-1516), Leiden 2003.

6 M. Luzzati, $La marcha hacia la Italia de las ciudades y de los prncipes%, Los caminosdel exilio. Encuentros Judaicos de Tudela, Juan Carrasco et al. eds., Pamplona 1996, pp. 159-179.

7 D. Abula a, $The Aragonese Kings of Naples and the Jews%,The Jews of Italy: Memoryand Identity. Studies and Texts in Jewish History and Culture, B.D. Cooperman and B.Garvin eds., University of Maryland 2000, pp. 82-106; Idem, $Insediamenti, diaspora etradizione ebraica: gli ebrei del regno di Napoli da Ferdinando il Cattolico a Carlo V%, Archivio storico per le Province napoletane, 119 (2001), pp. 171-200.

8 B.Z. Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel: Statesman and Philosopher , Ithaca and London,5th edition, 1998, p. 63. The author relied on Abravanel%s own words describing his


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far from sailing towards an unknown fate, the exiles usually speci ed theirdesired destination before leaving the port of exit, and it was usually noted in the

embarkation contracts signed before the local notaries.Studies by Hayim Beinart, Miguel ngel Motis Dolader, Jos HinojosaMontalvo and others, identify the ports of exit from the Iberian Peninsula andthe destinations of various groups of exiles. According to the ndings of MotisDolader, the rst sailing contracts from the realms of Aragon had already beensigned in June 1492, two months before the rst arrivals in the Kingdom of Naples.9 Jewish families from Aranda de Moncayo, Saragossa, pila, Daroca,Morvedre, Xtiva, Ariza, Belchite, Albarracin, Teruel, Calatayud, Fuentes de Ebroand Illueca sailed from Sagunto (Morvedre) in the Kingdom of Valencia. Beinartnamed additional Jewish communities who departed from this port: Castello de

la Plana, Sesma and Xrica. Other communities from Alagn, Almonacid dela Sierra, Ejea de los Caballeros, Huesa del Comn, Huesca, Monzn, Quintode Ebro, Pina de Ebro and Tamarite de Litera departed through the ports ofTortosa-Ampolla and Tarragona.10 Another port of embarkation was Port dels

voyage to Naples as !seeking his way as a ship at sea" (Abravanel, #Introduction toKings$, Commentary on the Former Prophets, Jerusalem 1955, p. 422), but this should

be understood as a literary metaphor instead of historical fact. The Abravanels knewwell in advance that they were going to Naples, see below.

9 A Neapolitan chronicle named the year 1492 as the !year of the foreigners" and notedthat in August 1492 !the ships began to arrive lled with Jews coming from Sicilyand Spain, expelled by the Lord King of Spain" (Al 1492 de lo mese di augustoincominciaro a venire in Napoli le navi cariche de Judei, quali venevano da Sicilia, etda Spagna scacciati per lo signore re di Spagna don Ferrante d$Aragona re di Spagna,et d$Aragona), Giuliano Passero, Cittadino Napoletano o sia Prima pubblicazione inistampa, che delle Storie in forma di Giornali, le quali sotto nome di questo Autore

nora erano andate manoscritte, Michele Maria Vecchioni ed., Napoli 1785, p. 56,also cited by F. Ruiz Martn, #La expulsin$, p. 31. Another Neapolitan chronicle givesan exact date for the arrival of the exiles and mentions their land of origin: !And onthe August 18, 1492 the Jews who were hailing from all the Spanish nations came to

Naples; they came on various vessels; they had been chased by the most illustriousking of Spain who was ridding himself of all those who were expelled by force fromhis land, and they had also been expelled from France and the island of Sicily. Andall of them were gathered in Naples" (E li XVIII de agusto 1492 in la cit di Napoleintraro li Iudie, che venevano da tutta la lengua de Spagna; lo quale venevano con navecaravelle et barcie; lo quale le aveva caciate lo illustrissimo sig. Re de Spagna, chese liberao de caciarelle tutte da suo paiese, et perc foo cacite (sic.) da la Francza etdall$Isola de Cicilia; lo quale tutte se arredussino in Napole), Una cronaca napoletana

gurata de Quattrocento, edita e comentata da R. Filangieri, Napoli 1956, p. 80.10 H. Beinart, The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, (trans. J.M. Green), Oxford, Portland

Oregon 2002, pp. 223- 290; M.A. Motis Dolader, La expulsin de los judos del reinode Aragn, Zaragoza 1990, II, pp. 215-300; J. Hinojosa Montalvo, The Jews of the Kingdom of Valencia: From Persecution to Expulsion, Jerusalem 1993, pp. 286-299.


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Alfacs. 11 Beinart mentioned Barcelona as another possible point of departure. 12 A number of Aragonese and Catalan Jews left the ports of Catalonia for Italy and

Germany, while Valencian Jews headed to Tunis, Fez and Tlemcen.13

However,most Jews from the lands of the Crown of Aragon migrated to Italy and the Levant,and only a relatively small number to Barbary, that is, the eastern North Africancoast. Castilian Jews who did not take the land route to Portugal, sailed to thewestern North African coast, or to Italy and the Kingdom of Naples. 14 The routesand destinations of the Sicilian exiles have not been as yet subject to systematicstudy, but as far as the material at hand permits, we can conclude that immediatelyafter the expulsion the majority went to the Kingdom of Naples. 15 As this paperintends to focus on the Kingdom of Naples, other destinations will be discussedonly brie y.

Several embarkation contracts made in the Spanish ports name the Kingdomof Naples as the intended destination of the departing Jews. 16 The Abravanelfamily arranged for their goods to be transported from Valencia to Naples, well in

11 G. Secall Gell, !Noticias de judos aragoneses en el momento de la Expulsin",Sefarad 42 (1982), p. 108, no. 16.

12 Beinart, Expulsion, p. 239.13 According to the account of Andrs Bernldez, many of those who departed from

Aragon and Catalonia by way of the Aragonese ports went to Italy, Tunisia andTlemcen: Memorias del reinado de los reyes catlicos, Manuel Gomez Moreno andJuan de M. Carriazo eds., Madrid 1962, chap. CXI, pp. 256-257. See also J. CaroBaroja, Los judos en la Espaa moderna y contempornea, Madrid 1978, I, p. 199.

14 Beinart, Expulsion, pp. 238-244, 274-279; Motis Dolader, La expulsin, II, pp. 215-300;documents concerning embarkation from Valencian ports: Hinojosa Montalvo,The Jews of the Kingdom of Valencia, Nos. 840, 844, 846, 849, 850, 872, 873.

15 Most evidence for the presence of Sicilian Jews in the Levant comes from the secondhalf of the sixteenth century, that is, after the expulsions from the Kingdom of Naples.See: Giuseppe Palermo,The Passage of Sicilian Jews to the Eastern Mediterraneanafter the Expulsion, M.A. thesis, The Hebrew University, 1993(Hebrew); N. Zeldes,!Diffusion of Sicilian Exiles and their Culture as Re ected in Hebrew Colophons", Hispania Judaica Bulletin 5 (2007), pp. 302-332. For an overview of the spread ofthe Sicilian diaspora, based mainly on rabbinic responsa, see: S. Schwartzfuchs, !TheSicilian Jewish Communities in the Ottoman Empire", Italia Judaica V, Atti del Vconvegno internazionale, Palermo, 15-19 giugno 1992, Roma 1995, pp. 397-41. Morerecently, Nicol Bucaria argued that most Sicilian Jews preferred the Kingdom of Naples for several reasons: the language, culture and political situation were similarto what they they already knew; they hoped that the expulsion edict would be revokedso they wished to remain in close proximity to Sicily; the alternatives, Tunisia forexample, were not all that attractive; Jews migrated from that land to Sicily only a year before the expulsion: N. Bucaria and Paola Scibilia, !Nuovi documenti sull"espulsionedegli ebrei dalla Sicilia", Italia 17 (2006), pp. 93-125.

16 See note 14 above.


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advance of their departure. 17 A contract made in Trapani, Sicily, in August 1492,also speci ed Naples as their port of destination. 18

Were the Jews simply hoping to be allowed to land in Naples and other ports ofthe kingdom, uncertain of their welcome? Or was there a prior arrangement withKing Ferrante I? According to the chronicle of Elyiahu Capsali, Seder Elyiahu Zuta,!before the arrival of the ships the Jews sent a messenger to plead with the kingto let them come. At that time, the king who ruled Naples was a wise and mightyman"# 19 Unfortunately, no document con rming such an arrangement survived,and yet there are several that attest to the king$s goodwill towards the immigrants.For example, Ferorelli cited a privilege of King Ferrante promising foreign Jewswho came from outside the realm ( extra regnum) the same rights enjoyed by theold Jewish population, namely that they would be !held and known as his subjects

and vassals as if they were born in the Regnum#.20

An order issued by the Camera Sommaria of Naples, dated on June 27, 1492, that is shortly after the publicationof the expulsion edict in Sicily on June 18, recommended the postponement of the

punishment of a local Jew in order not frighten the Sicilian Jews who intended tomigrate to the Kingdom of Naples: !Sir, a while ago, we wrote asking you to beator give four strappados to the Jew that you denounced for criticising the Christianfaith. With this we order you to postpone the punishment until you are ordered todo differently. You know, in fact, that many Jews are coming from Sicily to the

province of Calabria and could be frightened away by such punishment#. 21 The reasons for King Ferrante$s welcome have rarely been convincingly

explained. Jewish chronicles of the period depict him as one of the !righteousamong the nations#, an explanation accepted by some modern researchers. 22

17 Hinojosa Montalvo, The Jews of the Kingdom of Valencia, no. 873, p. 697, and comparewith Netanyahu, Abravanel , p. 63.

18 The embarkation contract was discovered and cited by Angela Scandaliato: %Momentidi vita a Trapani nel Quattrocento$, Gli ebrei in Sicilia dal tardoantico al medioevo,Studi in onore di Monsignor Benedetto Rocco, N. Bucaria ed., Palermo 1998, pp.167-219.

19 Eliyahu Capsali, Seder Eliyahu Zuta, A. Shmuelevitch, S. Simonsohn, M.

Benayahu eds., Institute Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv 1975, I, p. 212.20 Archivio di Stato di Napoli (hereafter ASN) Sommaria, Com. 35 f. 106; ASN Sommaria

Partium 35, f. 116; ASN Sommaria Partium 36, f. 127, cited by N. Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, pp. 93-94, note 59. These documents had been lost since.

21 ASN Sommaria, Partium 36, 15v, cited by C. Colafemmina, %The Jews of ReggioCalabria from the End of the XVth Century to the Beginning of the XVIth Century$, Les Juifs au regard de l!histoire: Mlanges en l!honneur de Bernhard Blumenkranz , G.Dahan ed., Paris 1985, p. 258.

22 Y.H. Yerushalmi, %The Lisbon Massacre of 1506 and the Royal Image in the !ShebetYehudah#$, Hebrew Union College Annual Supplement 1 (1976). However, whereas


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Another explanation, offered by Giuseppe Petralia, is that the Jews were a nancialasset for King Ferrante and the offer of protection and privileges should only be

considered within the traditional approach of the rulers who accepted the presenceof Jews as ! servi camerae".23 But while this may have been true for the olderJewish communities of the kingdom, it would have been hardly likely for theimpoverished exiles to have been sought by the king as a source of income. A better explanation, in my view, is that Ferrante hoped to strengthen the kingdom#seconomy by encouraging the coming of skilled Jewish artisans and merchants.Such considerations might explain the king#s orders to register the skills and professions of all newcomers (see below). Such concerns were not unknown inthis period. The prospective loss of skilled Jewish artisans appears among theclauses of the memorandum composed by the Sicilian high of cials protesting

against the expulsion of the Jews.24

But there is another aspect to be taken intoaccount. David Abula a rightly remarked that it is unlikely that King Ferrantecould have acted without the full knowledge and agreement of Pope Alexander VI,much less contrary to his wishes. The kings of Naples were vassals of the pope,their lands bordered on those of the Holy See, and the Aragonese dynasty neededthe pope#s political support to protect its interests. Moreover, it can be arguedthat the king simply followed the traditional papal policy that protected the Jewsand allowed them a place in Christian society. In a way Ferrante emulated Pope

Ibn Verga projects a generalized image of the !just king", Capsali#s Seder Eliyahu Zuta (see note 19 above) speci cally describes Ferrante I as righteous and full ofcompassion towards the Jews. Interestingly, David Abula a tends to accept this view:Abula a, $The Aragonese Kings of Naples#, p. 94.

23 G. Petralia, $L#epoca aragonese#, L!ebraismo dell!Italia meridionale dalle origini al1541 C. Damiano Fonseca, M. Luzzatti, G. Tamani, C. Colafemmina eds., Potenza1996, pp. 79-114. The term !servi camerae regis", that appears in various royal

privileges from the twelfth century onwards, is not easy to translate or de ne, but itwas clearly used to indicate a special relationship between the king and !his Jews". TheJews were considered his property, under his protection, and subject to special taxes.See: G. Langmuir, $Tanquam Servi: The Change in Jewish Status in French Law About1200#, Les Juifs dans l!histoire de France, M. Yardeni ed., Leiden 1980, pp. 24-54;S. Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews, Toronto 1991, Vol. I, pp. 94-104; seealso: K. Stow, $Servi camerae nostrae#, Dictionary of the Middle Ages, J.R. Strayered., New-York 1982-1989 (but this de nition does not sit well with the status of theJews in the Mediterranean lands); For aspects particular to the Mediterranean Landssee D. Abula a, $The servitude of Jews and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean#, Mlanges de l!cole franaise de Rome, 112, 2 (2000), pp. 687-714; I. Shoval, $ !ServiRegis" Re-Examined: On the Signi cance of the Earliest Appearance of the Term inAragon, 1176#, Hispania Judaica Bulletin 4 (2004), pp. 22-69.

24 The Sicilian memorandum against the expulsion of the Jews: S. Simonsohn, The Jewsin Sicily, Brill. Leiden 2006, 8, no. 5497, pp. 4739-4744.


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Alexander VI who gave the exiles permission to settle in Rome, in spite of the protests of the Spanish ambassador. 25

The refugees were not simply welcomed by King Ferrante to fare as they willin his kingdom; instead, a bureaucratic machine was put in motion to receive them.Port authorities were instructed to register all newcomers, their lands of origin, theship they came in, their skills, number of children (males and females) and otherdetails. After registering, they were allowed to choose any city, land or place orgo from one place to another within the kingdom . 26 This procedure seems to becon rmed by the terms of embarkation contracts that allow for a few days! stay atthe port of arrival before proceeding to other destinations. One is a contract signedin August 1492 in Trapani between the ship!s captain, Jaymus Guell, a citizen ofthe city of Naples, and nine Jews of that city. These Jews acted as representatives

for a group numbering over 250 adults and an unspeci ed number of children.The captain agreed to take the nine signatories and their families on board of hisvessel, as well as other persons they would later decide to take along, food andcargo. The signatories promised to pay two hundred and twenty ve orins for the

passage of the adults and a lesser amount for minor children (the captain exceededno additional payment for unborn babies.). The captain also agreed to bring thegroup to the city of Naples, allowing for the possibility that they would continuetheir voyage to another destination:

at the request of the said Jews, he (the ship master) must sail and betake

himself to the city of Naples and there, within six days, the said Jews wouldhave to disembark and unload their goods from the said caravelle. And if,within three days that begin on the day of the arrival of these Jews, theywould notify the said ship master that they want to go to another place in thekingdom of the most serene King Ferrante of Naples, the shipmaster wouldhave to sail and bring anyone [of those Jews] that wishes to go to that placeof King Ferrante of Naples. 27

25 Abula a, "The Aragonese Kings of Naples!, p. 95. On Pope Alexander!s policiestowards Spanish Jews and conversos of 1492, see: A. Toaff, "Alessandro VI,Inquisizione, ebrei e marrani. Un ponte ce a Roma dinanzi all!espulsione del 1492!, L!identit dissimulata: Giudaizzanti iberici nell!Europa cristiana dell!et moderna,Pier Cesare Ioly Zorattini, Leo S. Olshki eds., Firenze 2000, p. 19.

26 ASN Camera Sommaria Partium, 35, f. 116, cited by Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 94, note 60and ASN Camera Sommaria Com. 35, ff. 31 t and 106 t, also cited by Ferorelli, Ibidem,note 61 .

27 ad stipulacionem requisitionem dictorum iudeorum debet veli care et se conferre incivitate Neapolis, et ibi infra dies sex dicti judei debent descendere et exonerare dictamcaravellam, et si infra dies tres mandatos a die que applicabunt, dicti judei declarabuntdicto patrono velle ire in aliquo alio loco di regno (regis) serenissimi regis Ferdinandi


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Thus, the captain promised that the caravelle would rst stop in Naples andallow its passengers to disembark and unload their goods, although some of them

intended to continue to a different place. A few days in the port of Naples were probably necessary for registering the passengers and their cargo. A contract madein Valencia in June 1492 also stipulates that the ships would remain for eight daysin the port of Naples. 28 This was probably the usual procedure followed by allthe exiles who chose either Naples or other Neapolitan ports as their destination.Ferorelli listed the main ports of disembarkation: Gaeta, Pozzuoli, Castellamare diStabia, Naples, Salerno and Reggio. 29 Obviously, these cities could not have beenthe nal destination for such multitudes and the immigrants later had to settle inother places. 30

Sicilian Jews faced only a short voyage to Naples so most of them probably

suffered less than the Iberian exiles, though several groups of Sicilians too had been robbed by sea captains and left on the shore totally destitute. 31 Chroniclesand eyewiteness! reports comment on the pitiful state of many of the exiles ontheir arrival. 32 Antonio Stanga, ambassador of Milan, wrote from Naples at the

de Neapoli quo unumquisquedictus patronus teneatur veli care et apportare quomodo judei ire voluerunt in loco dicto regis Ferdinandi di Neapoli", Archivio di Stato diTrapani, Notaio Andrea Sesta, reg. 8830 c 614-614v. The embarkation contract is cited

by Angela Scandaliato: #Momenti di vita a Trapani nel Quattrocento! (see note 18above) but the manuscript was never published in its entirety. Note: I have marked initalics words whose reading is uncertain.

28 $E les dites naus sien tengudes estar ahi per temps de huyt dies", ARV, Protocols no.2.009, fols. 299r-304r and 331r-332r, Hinojosa Motalvo, The Jews in the Kingdom ofValencia, no. 846, p. 684.

29 Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 95. Unfortunately, the lists made by port of cials do not existanymore.

30 When a ship full of Sicilian Jews landed in Gaeta, the authorities decreed that thecity could not be overrun with such a multitude, therefore $no one would be allowedto settle there without a special licence from His Majesty", Cancelleria Aragonese,Partium 6, fol. 194 t, cited by Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 95, note 65. The city of Pozzuolialso demanded that the immigrants settle elsewhere, Ferorelli, Ibidem More on thistopic, see below.

31 The tragic fate of Iberian Jews is related in Hebrew chronicles and personal accountsof refugees. See Shelomo Ibn Verga, Shevet Yehudah, A. Shohat ed., Jerusalem1947; Judah Hayat, Minhat Yehudah. Perush le-sefer ma!arekhet ha-Elohut , Mantua1558, The Introduction. A group of Sicilian Jews was robbed on their way to Valona:ACA Cancelleria Diversorum Camere Reginalis reg. 3687 c 133v-134r, A. de LaTorre, Documentos sobre relaciones internacionales de los Reyes Catlicos, Madrid1949-1966, IV, no. 32, p. 417 (partially); N. Zeldes, #The Queen!s Property: Isabel Iand the Jews and Converts of the Sicilian Camera Reginale after 1492 Expulsion!, Hispania Judaica Bulletin 4 (2004), Appendix, Doc. I, p. 81.

32 An anonymous Hebrew chronicle gives an interesting account on the arrival of theexiles and is one of the few sources that mention the coming of the Sicilian Jews:


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beginning of 1493 about the terrible pestilence brought by the Jews most of whomare poor, reduced to beggary and smelly, and as a consequence they are in such a

state and numbers [that they are] capable of infecting not only a city, but an entirelarge province . 33 One Neapolitan chronicle claimed it caused the death of 20,000

people, and another, by Tommaso da Catania, gave an even higher estimate: thirtythousand Christians and twenty thousand Jews among those who came that year,and they were the cause of this death . 34 Capsali s chronicle recorded the sameevents but praised the king for allowing the Jews to bury their dead in the darkestnight in order to conceal the deaths from the general population. Incidentally,Capsali s estimate for the total number of the dead is fty thousand, the same asthat of Tommaso da Catania. 35 Whatever the actual number of the dead, the comingof the Jews was thus associated with the spread of disease, and that probably added

to the resentment of the local population towards the newcomers, a resentment that played an impotrant role in the events of 1494-1495.

The detailed embarkation contracts, the preparations and the meticulous bureaucracy of departure and arrival demolish the somewhat romantic pictureoffered by contemporary chronicles as well as modern scholars, but it does notdetract from the fact that the Kingdom of Naples was indeed a haven for theexiles.

Many ships carrying Jews, especially from Sicily, went to the city of Naples on thecoast. And this was a king that loved the Jews and received them all and showed themmercy and gave them money. The Jews of Naples supplied them with food as muchas they could, and they sent to other states of Italy to collect money to sustain them.The Jews that converted to Christianity, who were living in the city, lent them moneyon pledges without interest, and even the friars of St. Dominic gave them charity ,A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History and Booklore, New York 1944, pp. 86-87. Mytranslation is slightly different from Marx s.

33 The text is cited by Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, pp. 97-98.34 Twenty thousand dead: Una cronaca napoletana, pp. 80-81; according to another source

there were thirty thousand dead among the Christians and twenty ve thousand amongthe immigrant Jews: nella quale moria se annumerano esservi morti delle personetrenta milia christiani, et venticinque milia judei di quilli, che erano venuti in questoregno, et questi foro causa di detta moria , Passero, Giornali, p. 56 ; and Tommasoda Catania: di gennaro icomens la moria in Napoli, et nio il mese de Settembrede lo anno 1493, dove nge morsero da trenta milla cristiani et viginta milla judeiche vennero in quillo anno, et epsi foro causa de detta moria , Tommaso de Catania,!Chroniche antiquissime dall anno DCCCCLXXXVI no al MDLII , in Raccolta divarie croniche, diarii et altri opusculi cosi italiani come latini appartenenti alla storiadel Regno di Napoli, Napoli 1780, I, p. 38.

35 Seder Eliyahu Zuta, I, pp. 212-213.


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Community and Leadership

The contracts discussed above show that most groups who embarked from Spanishand Sicilian ports were organized according to city or land of origin. Some groups,especially the Sicilians, maintained their identity as a separate community in theirnew land. It is less clear whether the Aragonese, Catalan and Castilian Jews wereable to retain their particular identity. Sometimes certain individuals are describedas Catalano, Aragonese, Spagnolo, etc., and occasionally their city of origin is stillmentioned. For example, in 1494 the authorities refer to the petition of the brothersSalamonello and Manuele Catalano of Reggio Calabria, formerly of Saragossa. 36 But most of cal documents distinguish only between Spanish Jews and Sicilians,and in the rst decade after the expulsion they are never confused with the local

Jews. Moreover, each group had their separate communal organization and sepa-rate leadership.

A Sicilian community was established in Reggio Calabria almost immediatelyafter the expulsion. In September 1493, Sicilian Jews wishing to pursue theirtrade as shermen, petitioned the Sommaria to release their nets and lead weightsthat had been con scated because of the general prohibition to import leadinto the kingdom. The Sicilians claimed that they had not intended to trade inthese implements (which was forbidden by law), instead, they already had theking!s permission to bring them as tools of their trade. As in other petitions tothe Sommaria, the shermen acted in concert, identifying themselves as Sicilian

Jews.37

Incidentally, the shermen!s complaint strengthens the assumption thatFerrante was favorable to the immigration of skilled exiles into his kingdom.The Sicilian Jews of Reggio formed a separate community and are addressed as Iodeca deli siciliani, distinct from the local Jews. 38 Other Sicilian communitieswere formed in this period. A petition from January 1494 is described as being"on the part of the nation of Sicilian Jews living in San Lucido# ( per parte dellanacione de Siciliani hebrei habitanti in Sancto Lucido).39 And in November 1494theSommaria granted a plea of the Sicilian Jews of Pozzuoli addressing the letterto the leaders of the Sicilian Jews ( pro protis Hebreorum Siculorum) in that city.40

Many of the complaints concerning the tax burden shed light on the

economic activities and the dynamics of leadership among the exiles in their newenvironment. An order issued by theSommaria in 1496 reveals that Yosef Rizzo,

36 ASN Sommaria, Partium 40, 158, Colafemmina, $Documenti per la storia degli ebreiin Calabria!, Sefer Yuhasin (hereafter SY ), I (1985), p. 12.

37 ASN Sommaria, Partium, 40, 158v, Colafemmina, Calabria, no. 32, p. 125.38 ASN Sommaria, Partium 39, f. 12r: Ibidem, no. 55, pp. 140-141.39 ASN Sommaria, Partium 37, 282r: $Documenti... Calabria!, SY , I (1985), p. 11.40 ASN Sommaria, Partium, 41, 125r-v, C. Colafemmina, $Documenti per la storia degli

ebrei a Napoli e in Campania nei secoli XV-XVI!, SY , XII (1996), p. 24.


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a Sicilian Jew, was elected leader ( proto) of the Sicilian Jews living in the city ofCapua. Rizzo!s leadership was contested by one David Pinas, who, according to a

petition to the Sommaria, was intervening too much in the affairs of the giudecca.41

Thus, it appears that the Sicilian exiles held elections and recreated communityorganization (including the quarrels) in the Kingdom of Naples on the same linesas in Sicily. 42 The leaders of the Sicilian community of Pozzuoli complained in1494 that a Sicilian Jew, Magaluf (Makhluf) Levi, offered to pay his share ofthe tax by ceding a debt owed him by a Christian. As the community could notrecover the debt by themselves, they petitioned the authorties to intervene and takeaction against the Christian. This document provides useful information on boththe internal community taxation system and the economic activities of the SicilianJews. Despite the well-known image of destitute exiles depending on charity,

some of them were apparently in a position to lend money to Christians, or sellthem merchandise on credit. 43

Spanish Jews also formed separate communities, distinct from the local ItalianJews. When the physician Yosef Alzai, a Spanish Jew of Bitonto, gave too low anestimate of his property in 1494 in order to pay a lesser tax, it was the leaders ofthe Spanish Jews ( li proti di li iudei spagnoli) who complained to the authoritiesrather than the leaders of the old Jewish community. 44 In November of the sameyear, the brothers Iosep Davit and Bonyoco, iudei spagnoli, refused to pay thetaxes set on the Italian Jews of Bitonto claiming that they had already paid theordinary and extraordinary taxes together with the Spanish Jews, in Naples. 45 The

incident may hint at strained relations between local Jews and newcomers in this

41 Rizzo is described as "proto et electo deli iudey siciliani habitanteno in quessa cit deCapua#. The case is mentioned in ASN Sommaria, Partium, 38, 230v, Colafemmina,Ibidem;SY , XII (1996), pp. 33-34. Also cited by Ferorelli,Gli ebrei, pp. 102, 111, 117,124.

42 On the organization of Sicilian Jewish communities see: H. Bresc, Arabes de langue, Juifs de religion: L!volution du judasme sicilien dans l!environnement latin, XIIe- XVe sicles, Paris 2001, pp. 275-283; M. Krasner, La comunit ebraica Palermitana,Ph.D. thesis, Tel-Aviv University 2002.

43 On business practices of Sicilian Jews and converts in this period see Zeldes,The Former Jews of this Kingdom, pp. 94-115.

44 ASN Sommaria, Partium 41, 92r (October 1494), Colafemmina, Puglia, no. 170, p.163

45 The petition is addressed "per parte de Iosep Davit et Bonyoco suo fratre, iudeispagnoli habitanti in quessa cita $ quantocha habia dicto exponente allegato che lorohanno pagato et pagano dicti pagamenti ordinarii et extraordinarii con li iudei spagnolide questa cita de Napoli#, ASN, Sommaria, Partium 38, 115v, in Colafemmina,%Documenti per la storia degli ebrei a Bitonto!, SY , II (1986), pp. 48-49; Idem, Puglia,no. 177, p. 168.


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period, probably because the former felt that the exiles did not fully share the nancial burden.

Sicilians and Spanish exiles, on the other hand, joined forces to pay the imposts.At the end of 1493 members of both communities living in Terra di Lavoro tooka loan of 600 gold ducats from Yosef Abravanel to pay the donativo (!gift" or!voluntary tax") due to the royal court. The monetary transaction was made inApril 1494 by a Siennese bank in Naples and was duly noted by a local notary. 46 This notarial act provides precious information on the identity of the leaders of theSpanish and Sicilian communities in the rst years after the expulsion. The SpanishJews are: Samuel Cavalerius, Lazarus de Alatensi, Benvenisti de Benvenistis,Johannes Frances (a converso?) and Jacob Toledanus, who are described as prothiet consiliari ebreorum ispanorum. The Sicilians are: Prosper Bonevoluntatis,

David Agena, Salamon Aczeni and David Sonina, described as prothi et iudicesebreorum siculorum. According to the notarial act, these leaders represented allthe Spanish and Sicilian Jews of the province of Terra di Lavoro; in fact, they

probably represented the leadership of their respective communities in the wholekingdom, acting in this particular matter for the Jews of Terra di Lavoro.

The Sicilians can be identi ed and they are all members of well-knownfamilies, mostly from Palermo. Prosper Bonevoluntatis (a Latinized form of thename Bonavoglia) was the son of the physician Moise Bonavoglia who held theof ce of dayan kelali (General Judge) of the Jews of Sicily in the rst half ofthe fteenth century. In 1488 Prosper, a physician like his father, obtained the

renewal of the privileges accorded to his family in his father#s time. Members ofthe Bonavoglia family lived in Messina but in June 1492, Prosper is mentionedamong the petitioners representing the community of Palermo. In October 1492he was still in Sicily but preparing to go into exile. 47 The physician SalomoneAczeni or Azeni, the son of the Palermo physician Moise Azeni, is known fromother documents as a prominent leader of the Sicilian exiles (see below). DavidAzeni was his brother. 48 The Sunina (or Xunina) were also a wealthy family from

46 Act of Notary Antonio de Arminio, preserved at the Real Casa Santa dell#Annunziatadi Napoli, no. 534. Publication: A. Leone, $Un debito ebraico del 1494#, Hebraica Hereditas: Studi in onore di Cesare Colafemmina, Giancarlo Lacerenza ed., Napoli2005, pp. 95-98.

47 On the of ce of dayan kelali (general judge), see: $Dienchelele#, Encyclopedia Judaica,2nd Edition, M. Berenbaum and F. Skolnik eds., Macmillan Reference, Detroit 2007,

pp. 648-649; Krasner, La comunit, I, pp. 54-61. On Prosper Bonavoglia, see con r-mation of family privileges: S. Simonsohn, The Jews in Sicily, Leiden 2005, 7, no.5106, pp. 4409-4410. As a petitioner representing the community of Palermo: Idem,The Jews in Sicily, 8, no. 5495, p. 4734. In October 1492 he was allowed to takeclothes, books and a slave belonging to his family: Ibidem, no. 5720, p. 4943.

48 David Agena is David Azeni, brother of Salomone (the surname Azeni [Azena]


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Palermo. Muxa Sunina was elected proto of the Palermo community in 1482. Hewas still alive at the time of the expulsion but died shortly afterwards. In April

1492 David Sunina, son of Muxa, served as sacrestano maggiore, an of cal incharge of the nances of the synagogue. In her thesis on the Palermo community,Mariuccia Krasner translated the Italianate term sacrestano maggiore as !treasurer"(in Hebrew # ).49 In any case, David was probably still young at the time and

became a leader in his own right after the death of his father.It would be worthwhile pursuing the identity of the Spanish Jews, as almost

nothing is known of the prominent leading gures of this period, except for theAbravanels.

It is not clear whether separate communal organization was con ned to mattersof taxation and leadership, or it also meant the existence of separate rabbinical

courts. The recently discovered manuscript that preserved the responsa of R.Hayim ben Shabetai Yonah the Sicilian may shed some light on the jurisdictionand competence of the rabbinical courts of the exiles. 50 Among the writings of R.Yonah there is the protocol of a session of the rabbinical court convened in 1504in Monopoli to rule on a disputed marriage promise. Some of the persons involvedare clearly of Spanish origins: Barukh Todros, Aharon Benveniste and Azariah ha-Levi known as Bona s. Abraham Meir, the father of the promised bride, and hisdaughter, the young woman ( ) named Amarusila ( ), were probablyalso of Spanish origins. The tribunal was headed by R. Hayim ben Shabetai Yonahwhom we know to have been a Sicilian, but the other dayanim were Ya$aqov ben

Yosef ha-Levi and Yehudah ben Shemuel ha-Levi, whose names do not revealtheir origins. In any case, the litigants # Barukh Todros and his son Eli$ezer,Abraham Meir and his daughter Amarusila # were not Sicilian Jews. Therefore,

is spelled here as Agena, perhaps a misreading of the letter !z"). Both brothers arementioned in various documents, for example: !David de Azeni et suo fratre", ASNSommaria, Partium 40, 182r, Colafemmina, %Documenti& Calabria$, SY , 1 (1985),

p. 13; a special permit for David Azeni and Salomone to visit Sicily after the expulsionin Simonsohn, The Jews in Sicily, 8, no. 6049, pp. 5130-5132.

49 On the leading families of the Palermo community: Krasner, La comunit, II, App. I, pp. 11-23. Muxa Sunina elected proto: ASP, Notaio Domenico di Leo, reg. 1394, c 445r,Krasner, Ibidem, p. 20. Died in 1494: Simonsohn, Ibidem, 8, no. 6040, p. 5127. Bythat time several other Palermitan leaders were dead: Moise Azeni, David lu Medicu,Aron Azeni, and Muxa Xunina. David Xunina is listed as sacrestano maggiore in hisfather$s life: ASP. Not. A. Ponticorona, reg. 1315, c 195r, Dec. 1490, Krasner, Ibidem,II, p. 22. De nition of the term Sacrestano maggiore: Krasner, Ibidem, I, p. 78.

50 Biblioteca Medicea Laurentiana Plut. 88.4, p. 20r. I thank Dr. Avraham David ofthe Institute of Micro lmed Hebrew Manuscripts for giving me a photocopy of theresponsa manuscript. On R. Hayim ben Shabetai Yonah see: A. David, %Fonti ebraicherelative alla vita intellettuale degli ebrei nel regno di Napoli tra la ne del XV e l$iniziodel XVI secolo$, Gli ebrei nel Salento, F. Lelli ed., (in press).


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the rabbinical court that convened in Monopoli and was headed by a Sicilan dayan must have had jurisdiction over Spanish Jews. But this evidence is problematic

since it comes after the disasters of 1494-1495 that wrecked havoc among all theJews of the kingdom, caused many conversions and destroyed whole communities;moreover, Monopoli was at the time under Venetian rule. As the earlier responsumof R. Hayim concerns only Sicilians, it is possible that in the rst years after theexpulsion, Sicilians and Spanish Jews had separate spiritual leaders and separatecourts.

Was there a general leader for all Sicilian exiles? I shall try now to answerthis question by providing some biographical notes on the gure of the SicilianJew known as Salomone, artium et medicine doctor , and I would also like to offeran explanation for his impressive title as consul siculorum ebreorum. His title is

mentioned in an of cial document drawn in December 1493 that mentions himas guardian of the three minor children of the late Abraham Lu Medico. 51 Thedocument in question shows that Salomone was entrusted with nancial and

juridical matters of the Sicilian exiles. Ever since this document had been cited by Ferorelli, Salomone remained a mysterious gure. Now, as more facts cometo light regarding this person, he can be identi ed almost with certainty as theson of the physician Moise Azeni of Palermo. Approximately a decade before theexpulsion, the physician Lazzaro Sacerdote of Termini Imerese (in Sicily) gave hisdaughter to Salomone, son of Moise Azeni of Palermo. According to the marriagecontract, Lazzaro, the father of the bride, promised to pay for the studies of the

groom who would go to a university outside of Sicily ( ire ad studium extra regni)without naming the place. Because of this omission, Salomone!s place of studiesremained unknown until recently. From another source it becomes apparent thatSalomone Azeni studied medicine at the University of Padua where he graduatedin 1489. He was granted his degree from the hand of Emperor Frederick III, anhonor that allowed him the right to hold the title artium et medicine doctor , a rareachievement for a Jew in this period. 52 However, it is not clear whether he returned

51 ASN Sommaria, Partium 37, 171, mentioned by Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 96. The fulltext is published in the Appendix to this paper. On Jews receiving the full honorssee: V. Colorni, "Sull!ammissibilit degli ebrei alla!laurea anterioramente al secoloXIX!, Rassegna Mensile di Israele, 16 (1950), pp. 202-216; D. Carpi, "Ebrei laureatiin medicina all!universit di Padova tra il 1520-1605!, Scritti in memorie di NathanCassuto, D. Carpi, A. Segre, R. Toaff eds., Jerusalem 1986, pp. 62-91 (Hebrew); J.Shatzmiller, Jews, Medicine and Medieval Society, University of California Press,Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1994; R. Bon l, "Accademie rabbiniche e presenzaebraica nelle universit!, Le universit dal rinascimento alle riforme religiose, G.Paolo Brizzi, J. Verger eds., Milano 1991, pp. 133-151.

52 On Lazzaro Sacerdote and the terms of Salomone Azeni!s marriage, see: A. Scandaliato,"Nuovi documenti sugli ebrei di Termini Imerese nel XV secolo!, Judaica minora


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to Sicily before the expulsion or not. Salomone later converted and took the nameFerrando de Aragona, acting as procurator for the Sicilian Jews and converts. 53 In

the summer of 1494, while still a Jew, together with his brother David, he receivedspecial permission to return to Sicily and there conduct a general inspection ofJewish property. 54 He probably commanded respect for having graduated froma prestigious university, and it stands to reason that having lived for a long timein Padua enjoying a high status in Christian society, he used his experience inhis dealings with the authorities in Naples. His later activities show that he wasfamiliar with the ways of the royal courts and it is likely that he honed these skillsat Ferrantes court while acting as consul of the Sicilian Jews. But it cannot

be excluded that the title consul siculorum ebreorum was simply another way ofsaying that Salomone was one of several leaders of the Sicilian community, as

he appears in the notarial act cited above among the prothi et iudices ebreorum siculorum, and it should be pointed out that the notarial act was written shortlyafter the document that names him consul . Was the notary of Naples ignorant ofhis supposedly special title? In other words, it could be that he was no greater, normore important, than the other Sicilian prothi et iudices listed in that document.

The notarial act registering the loan names the leaders of the Spanish Jews as prothi et consiliari ebreorum ispanorum does not include the Abravanels amongthem, except for Yosef in his role as lender. Don Yitshaq Abravanel, however,

presented himself in his commentaries as almost sole leader of the Spanish exiles.In his introduction to Passover Sacri ce, a commentary on the Hagadah (written

sicula, Firenze 2006, pp. 220-221, and Idem, !Due illustri medici ebrei nella Sicilia delXV secolo, Ibidem, pp. 129-137.

53 I have discussed the role of Ferrando de Aragona as representative of the convertedJews in my book: Zeldes,The Former Jews, pp. 75-79, 271-276. However, at the timeI was not aware of his studies at the university of Padua, therefore I couldnt identifyhim with certainty. On his graduation at Padua, see: M. J. Wenninger, !Zur Promotion jdischer rtze durch Kaiser Friedrich III, Aschkenas. Zeitschrift fr Geschichte und Kultur der Juden V (1995), pp. 413-424. Possibly he was in the Veneto province at thetime of the expulsion from Sicily. A Jewish physician named Salomone ciciliano(siciliano) doctor artibus et medicine is mentioned in the acts of a Venetian notaryin 1492: D. Carpi, !Notizie sulla partecipazione di alcuni medici alla vita sociale edintelletuale della collettivit ebraica di Padova tra la ne del !300 e linnizio del !500, L!individuo e la collettivit: Saggi di storia degli ebrei a Padova e nel Veneto nell!etdel Rinascimento, Firenze 2002, p. 222. He could have joined his Sicilian brethren before or shortly after the expulsion.

54 ASP Conservatoria di Registro, reg. 77, c. 531r-v in Simonsohn,The Jews in Sicily,Leiden 2006, 8, no. 6049, pp. 5130-5132; N. Zeldes, !The Extraordinary Career ofFerrando de Aragona: A Sicilian Converso in the Service of Fernando the Catholic, Hispania Judaica Bulletin, 3 (2000), p. 104, note 27.


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it always had been, that of a courtier, close to the mighty of the land. In fact, hecon rms in his own words that his connections and inherent wealth enabled him

to accumulate even more capital after coming to Naples. That is not to say that hedid not plead the cause of the Spanish Jews at the royal court, or that he, or othermembers of his family, did not help them nancially, as proves the loan given byYosef Abravanel. Nevertheless, in a time of crisis, when it became clear that theFrench were going to invade Naples, despite the gathering clouds of intolerancethat became evident after the death of Ferrante I, Don Yitshaq followed Alfonso IIto Sicily instead of weathering the storm with his fellow correligionists.

Although there is no doubt that the exiles had suffered greatly en route andmany landed in the ports of the southern kingdom sick, tired and pennyless, in lessthan two years they formed new communities, elected new leaders and established

themselves economically. Spanish and Sicilian Jews acted in unison for theircommon interests. They also managed to quarrel with the local Jews and amongthemselves! The recently discovered responsa of Hayim ben Shabetai Yonah, aSicilian rabbi, demonstrates that the Sicilians too had spiritual leadership. But the process of settlement and rebuilding suffered a terrible setback in the years 1494and 1495.

The Calamities of 1494-1495 and the Jews in the Italian South

The year 1494 is described by the Florentine historian Francesco Guicciardini as"a most unhappy year for Italy [!] and in truth, the beginning of those years ofmisfortune, because it opened the door to innumerable and horrible calamities#.57 Several events unleashed the "calamities# of 1494: the ascension to the throne ofFrance of the ambitious Charles VIII in 1483, the death of Lorenzo de Medici ofFlorence, who acted as a moderate but forceful in uence on Italian politics, andthe death of Ferrante I in January 1494. Charles VIII had legitimate claims forthe throne of Naples going back to the house of Anjou who ruled both Sicily andsouthern Italy in the thirteenth century. The rights of the Anjou dynasty had in fact been usurped by Alfonso the Magnanimous when he conquered the Kingdom of

Naples in 1442. Now Charles VIII intended to assert his birthright, and to quoteGuicciardini:

57 "L$anno mille quattrocento novanta quattro, anno infelicissimo a Italia, e in veritanno principio degli anni miserabili, perch aperse la porta a innumerabili e orribilicalamit#, F. Guicciardini, Storia d!Italia, Milan 1988, I, book I, ch. 4. p. 55. Forthe English translation I rely here on The History of Italy, translated with notes andintroduction by Sidney Alexander, London 1969, p. 32.


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as successor to the House of Anjou, for want of a direct descendent of CharlesI [of Anjou], decided to personally spend that year in Italy, not in order to

occupy something that belonged to others, but because he believed it belongedto him by right, for his ultimate goal was not the Kingdom of Naples in itself,

but to possess the necessary force to later turn his arms against the Turks forthe greater glory of the Christian name. 58

Modern historians doubt the sincerity of Charles!s motives, especially his intentionsto launch a crusade against the Turks, but even if this was pure propaganda, 59 thedeclarations of the French king served to create a climate of religious fervor whichwas probably a factor in the riots perpetrated by his army and the local populationagainst the Jews. Little known in this context are the incidents concerning the Jews

that are described by Andr de la Vigne in his Le Voyage de Naples, a chroniclewritten in Old French that extolls the triumphs of Charles VIII in Italy. The Frenchchronicle gives the following narrative of an encounter between the Frenchsoldiery and the Jews of Rome:

And at that time a quarrel broke in a street close to the Jewish quarter betweenthe Jews and our soldiers who belonged to the French guard and the Scottish;and so erce it was and so well managed by the galant and resolute French,that many Jews were killed then and there, and so was one of their leaderswho behaved too rashly. And after seizing their goods on the spot, they [the

soldiers] totally destroyed their synagogue.60

58 "...le ragioni le quali il re de Francia, come successore della casa di Angi e per esseremancata la linea di Carlo primo, pretendeva al reame di Napoli, e la deliberazionedi passare l!anno medesimo personalmente in Italia, non per occupare cosa alcunaappartenemente ad altri ma solo per ottenere quello che giustamente se gli aspettava;

bench per ultimo ne non avesse tanto il regno di Napoli quanto il potere poivolgere l!armi contro a! turchi, per accrescimento e esaltazione del nome cristiano",Guicciardini, Storia, I, ch. 4, pp. 59-60. Here my translation slightly differs fromAlexander!s, compare, The History, p. 34.

59 For example D. Abula a The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms: The Struggle for Dominion, London and New-York 1997, pp. 248-249, and see the bibliography citedthere. More recently: E. Belenguer, Ferdinando e Isabella: I re cattolici nella politicaeuropea del rinascimento, Roma 2001 (the Italian translation of the Barcelona editionof 1999 includes additional material that concerns Italy), pp. 209-235. But con ict withthe Turks could still have been perceived as a real threat: N. Zeldes, #The Campaignsof 1494-1495 in the Italian South: Ottoman Threat, Spanish Preparations, and JewishGold!, Mediterraneo in armi, R. Cancila ed., Palermo 2007, I, pp. 207-226.

60 $En celluy temps se leva une noise entre Juifz et noz gens de souldee tant de la gardefrancoyse qu!escossoyse, en une rue pres la place judee, et fut si grande et si tres bienfondee par les Francoys gours et esvertuez que maintz Juifz furent illec tuez, et ungde chefz de Judee trop rogue ; avec leurs biens qu!on prist la situez, on destruisit toute


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The attack on the Jews and the destruction of the synagogue in Rome by Frenchsoldiers is a historical fact reported by other sources. Andr de la Vigne, however,

reported the violent incident as one more example of the high spirited behaviourof the galant soldiery. The conversion of a Jew in Florence is described in thischronicle as another triumph of the king who personally held him over the

baptismal font and gave him his own name. 61 There is little doubt that the reigningamosphere among the supporters of Charles VIII was that of a holy campaign, andthough its declared goal was a crusade against the Turks, the Jews were the rstand immediate target. News of the coming of the king of France was enough tospread the rumor that the Jews would be plundered. 62 The events created messianicand eschatological expectations among Jews and Christians. The tensions of thistime are re ected in the work of a Franciscan friar, Angelus Terzonis de Legonissa,

the Opus Davidicum, written in 1497. This work extolls the messianic destiny ofthe French king as a descendant of the house of David, 63 thus making the houseof France rather than the Jews the rightful heirs of the Davidic dynasty. But thisauthor!s attitude towards the Jews is ambivalent: on the one hand he praises thehous e of France for "having extirpated and expelled all Jews and heretics not onlyfrom its borders, but also from within its realms#, and on the other, he praises theJews for recognizing Charles VIII as the "Messianic king# prophesied in the Bookof Daniel.64 The Franciscan, however, misunderstood the Jews. They had indeed

leur synagogue#, Andr de la Vigne, Le Voyage de Naples, Milan 1981, p. 233. On theauthor see the introduction to this edition. In my translation I relied on the glossaryappendix to this edition, as well as Frderic Godefroy, Dictionnaire de l!anciennelangue franaise du IX e au XV e sicle, Genve-Paris 1982. The assault of the Jewishquarter in Rome by the French soldiery is also mentioned by Bernldez: " zieronmuchos robos e fueras y muertes de ombres, e metieron a saco mano grand partede la judera, donde ava ms de tres mil vezinos judos#, Memorias del reinado, ch.CXXXVII, p. 347. On the incident in Rome see also: A. Berliner,Geschichte der Judenin Rom, Frankfurt am Main 1893, (New edition George Olms Verlag, Hildesheim,Zurich, New York 1987), p. 76.

61 "A Florentine, le jeudy ensuivant, il s!arresta sans tirer plus avant, car ung juf defranche volunt lui supplia en toute humilit que par luy eust, si luy plaisoit, baptesme,la quelle chose il obtint ce jour mesme; car par la main le roi tantost le print, et sur lesfons humaneyment le tint; aussi, af n de memoire et renom, il le nomma Charles parson droit nom#, A. de la Vigne, Ibidem, p. 243.

62 "se spase la fama innante la venuta di re de Francza che li iudei deveano esseresacchizati#, Ferrorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 200 n. 7.

63 The work Opus Davidicum is conserved in the Biblioth que Nationale of Paris: A.Linder, $L!expdition italienne de Charles VIII et les esprances messianiques des

juifs : tmoignage du manuscrit B.N. Lat. 5971 A !, Revue des tudes Juives 137(1978), pp. 179-186.

64 "que non solum a con nibus, sed infra regna sua omnes tam Iudeos tam hereticosextirpat ac repulit# but also : "Nam iam cognoscunt illud Danielis (sic.) esse probatum :


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identi ed Charles VIII as the king of the North of the Book of Daniel, but he was perceived as a harbinger of the End of Days rather than a deliverer. According

to kabbalistic writings, the sufferings caused by the French conquest of Napleswere the birth pangs that would bring the Messiah. This particular interpretationof the events can be found in the colophon to a copy of Sefer ha-Peliah65 written

probably at the beginning of the sixteenth century:

Colophon to (Sefer ha-Peli!ah, Book of Wonder)Vatican Biblioteca Apostolica, ebr. 187 66

Translation:And I record here what I wrote in Rome on the Iyar 26, 5255 to theCreation (1495). I think that the troubles which have beset the Jews

in all the kingdoms of Edom from the year 5050 (1490) of the sixthmillennium until the year 5255 (1495) ! it is a time of trouble for Jacob,

but he shall be delivered from it (Jer. 30:7) ! these are the birth pangsof the messianic age. And the wars that took place in Italy when theking of France named Carlo [Charles VIII] came, these are the events

prophesied by Daniel regarding the king of the North: to destroy the

Non auferetur sceptrum de Iuda, id est regale dominandi imperium per truncationemlilii in altaribus positi, scilicet Christi oris. Quo autem lilius truncatus est plantatumin terra semen perpetuo eius duraturum, de quo Karolus est". The Franciscan nishedhis work with the words: #Gaude et tu Rex Regum Isdraelita Christianissimus$Placuit Domino quando voluit Domini hanc sanctam manifestare ut Tua Majes-tas magis ac magis grata non solum Christianis sed Hebreis erit", Linder, Ibidem,

pp. 183-184.65 Sefer ha-Peli!ah (Book of Wonder), a fourteenth century kabbalistic work. The

colophon was published by S. Kraus, %Le roi de France Charles VIII et les esprancesmessianiques&, REJ 51 (1906), pp. 87-96.

66 Vatican Ebr. 187. Bibliographical reference: N. Aloni and D. S. Lewinger, List of Hebrew Photocopied Manuscripts in the Institute: Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library, Jerusalem 1968, III, p. 30. I have checked the micro lmed manuscript againstKraus&s publication.


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nations, to set up an abomination that desolates (Dan. 11:31, 12:11).For the pope sits in desolation (Dan. 9:27, 11:31, 12:11); he has left

Rome as did all the cardinals, and he went into exile in the midst ofthe land (Isa. 5:8) because of his fear of the king of France, and no oneknow s where he went. And the Lord has a sword sated with blood(Isa. 34:6), which will descend upon Edom. (Isa. 34:5) In that day, theLord will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earthon the earth, as Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 24:21)

The sentiments expressed in the colophon leave no doubt as to the Jews view of thedescent of Charles into Italy, at best he is depicted as the sword of God descendingon the nations of Edom, i.e. Christianity. The desolating abomination (

) is a quotation from the Book of Daniel, be tting the general apocalyptictheme of the colophon. As for the reference to the pope, the author probably meantthat Charles VIII was so feared, that even the pope and the cardinals ed Rome toavoid him. The pope in question was Alexander VI Borgia, in fact, one of the fewChristian sovereigns who allowed the refugees of Spain to settle on their lands (seeabove). However, it is not surprising that the author noted with glee the troublesthat befell the Church and the Christian nations. Such terrible events could not but be a sign for the End of Days, for the coming of Messiah. Indeed, the Jews madeno secret of their beliefs and the Milanese ambassador, Antonio Stanga, reportedthat on the eve of the French entrance into Naples they were expecting Messiah.67

Meanwhile, the news of the approaching French army caused King Alfonso,Ferrante s heir, to panic and he abdicated in favor of his nephew Ferrandino.Alfonso decided to ee to Mazara, Sicily, and Ferrandino was defeated by theFrench army and he had to ee too. On February 22, Charles VIII made a solemnentrance in Naples. Even before the king s arrival, on February 16,, the mobattacked the Jewish quarter in Naples and every place inhabited by the Jews and put it to the sack.68 Marino Sanudo, usually a very reliable source, reported that theworst violence was directed against the Spanishmarrani: And on the day of 18[of February] the Jews and themarrani were cruelly sacked and they especiallywanted to put the Spanishmarrani to the sack for they were very rich ( Et a d

67 Ferorelli,Gli ebrei, p. 201.68 Die 16 Februari Napolitani se levarono a remore et saccheggiaro la Judeca, et in

onne loco dove habitavano Judei , M.A. Coniger,Cronache: Raccolta di variecroniche, V, p. 30; on Jewish settlement in Naples see: G. Lacerenza, !Lo spaziodell ebreo: Insediamenti e cultura ebraica a Napoli (secoli XV-XVI) , Integrazioneed emarginazione, L. Barletta ed., Atti del convegno (Napoli 1999), Napoli 2002, pp.357-427 (esp. pp. 361-370).


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18 fo crudelmente sachizato li Zudei et Marani Demum volseno metter a saco li Marani spagnoli, erano ivi molto richissimi).69

Most non-Jewish sources of this period speak of the Jews and the marrani whowere robbed, attacked and made to ee. As yet, there has never been an attemptto nd out who exactely were these marrani. Modern historians interpreted thisdesignation to mean the converted Jews, either the old group of converted Jewsin the Kingdom of Naples that maintained a separate identity for generations, 70 orSpanish conversos who came in 1492. But all sources that mention the convertedJews of the Kingdom of Naples name them cristiani novelli or neo ti, the termcommonly used in southern Italy and Sicily. 71 The Capitoli issued in 1498 by KingFederico after the restoration of Aragonese rule also mention !the New Christianswho converted since the coming of the French to this place [i.e. the Kingdom of

Naples]" ( li Cristiani novelli baptizati dala venuta deli Francesi in qua).72

Theterm marrani is totally absent from this document.

In his now classical study of the term marrano, Arturo Farinelli remarked thatin Italy it was usually used when referring to persons hailing from Spain or theIberian Peninsula. 73 It is therefore important to take it into account that the sourcescited above are Italian rather than Spanish, and the terms marrano and marrani were used rather loosely in this period by various authors, usually referring toJews of Spanish origins, converted or not. A telling example is Machiavelli#s The Prince where King Ferdinand the Catholic is praised for expelling the marrani from Spain: !Beyond this, so as to be able to undertake greater campaigns, ever

69 Marino Sanuto, in Filangieri, Una cronaca napoletana, p. 125, note 72.70 These were the Jews who converted by the end of the 13 th century: U. Cassuto, $Sulla

storia degli ebrei nell#Italia meridionale#, Il Vessillo Israelitico 59 (1911), pp. 282-285,338-341, 422-42; Idem, $The Destruction of the Jewish Academies in South Italy inthe Thirteenth Century#, A. Gulak and S. Klein Memorial Volume, Jerusalem 1942(Hebrew), pp. 139-152; J. Starr, $The Mass Conversion of Jews in Southern Italy(1290-1293)#, Speculum 21 (1946), pp. 203-211. Despite the passage of time, in the 15 th century they still formed a distinct group, and they married only among themselves, asnoted by an inquisitor who investigated them. On the enquiry made by the inquisitorFranciscan Matteo de Reggio, see: L. Amabile, Il Santo Of cio della Inquisizione in Napoli,Citt di Castello 1892, I, pp. 80-81.

71 I have discussed this premise in an unpublished paper given at the Italia Judaicaconvention, Ebrei e giustizia, held in Trani in 2003: $ !Universitas neo torum": LegalAspects of the Mass-Conversions in South Italy and Sicily#.

72 B. Ferrante, $Gli statuti di Federico d#Aragona per gli ebrei del regno#, ArchivioStorico per le Province Napoletane XCVII (1979), p. 147. The text was also published

by C. Colafemmina in Gli ebrei a Taranto: Fonti documentarie, Bari 2005, no. 98, pp. 149-161.

73 A. Farinelli, Marrano (Storia di un vituperio), Geneve 1925 (esp. pp. 43ff.). Onthe meaning of the term marrano in Italy see also: Ruiz Martn, $La expulsin#, pp.32-35.


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making use of religion, he resorted to an act of pious cruelty by chasing theMarranos ( marrani, in the original text) from his kingdom and despoiling them:

nor could t his example be more wretched or more rare!.74

Now, the term marrani appears in many chronicles and of cial reportsconcerning the situation in Naples during the time of crisis and beyond. Writingon February 21, the ambassador Antonio Stanga reported that the Jews and themarrani had been despoiled, but the Jews had been "cut to pieces! while the"marrani escaped to sea!. 75 Marino Sanudo, cited above, also mentioned in his Diarii (Journals) that in 1496 both the Jews and the marrani of Naples were indanger of being expelled. 76 Interestingly, another source reports that in 1510, inorder to appease popular protests against the attempt to introduce the SpanishInquisition in the Kingdom of Naples, King Fernando sent a letter explaining that

the local Old Christians were in no way suspect, the Inquisition was only neededfor the following suspect groups: "Jews, New Christians ( cristiani novelli) whowere in that kingdom, and also the marrani and bad Christians that His Majestyhad expelled from Spain and the island of Sicily!. The next paragraph providesadditional details, namely that the order of expulsion only regarded "Jews,marrani and conversi of Apulia and Calabria!. 77 Why the need to spell out all thesecategories? Clearly there was a distinction between "Jews! (locals, and perhapsalso Ashkenazi Jews), the converted Jews of the Kingdom of Naples (either duringthe anarchy precipitated by the coming of the French, or those who had convertedin the thirteenth century), marrani (Spanish Jews?), and "bad Christians!, that

is converted Jews from the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily. The separation of themarrani from the conversi (the latter probably identical with the cristiani novelli)

74 "Oltre a questo, per potere intraprendere maggiore imprese, servandosi sempredella religione si volse a una pietosa crudelt, cacciando e spogliando el suo regnode# Marrani: n pu essere questo esemplo pi miserabile n pi raro!: NiccolMachiavelli, $Il Principe# Mario Banfantini ed., in La letteratura italiana. Storia e testi,R. Mattoli et als. eds., Milano-Napoli 1954, 29, ch. 21. For the English translation,see: N. Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by William Connel Bedford St.Martins, Boston, New York 2005, p. 109. For the translator#s discussion of the termmarrani: "In Italy, marrano was often applied, as here, to the Jews and Muslims whowere forced to ee Spain, rather than to converts to Christianity!, Ibidem, p. 109, note3. I fully agree with the translator#s note, except that the term marrano was rarely usedfor Muslims.

75 Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 201.76 Marino Sanuto, I Diarii, R. Fulin ed., Venice 1884, I, col. 32.77 "solo lo faceva per li Giudei, et christiani novelli, che erano in detto Regno, et anco

per li marrani, et mali christiani che sua Maest haveva cacciati dalli Regni di Spagna,et dall#Isola di Sicilia! and "le prammatiche dell#ordine che il nostro Re mandava daSpagna de lo cacciare de li judei, et marrani, et conversi di Puglia, et di Calabria!,Passero, Giornali, p. 172.


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is surely signi cant. In any case, the cited letter consistently names the marrani as a separate category. In view of the ambigous use of this term, I would like to

suggest a different reading of the various sources referring to the fate of the Jewsand the marrani in the Kingdom Naples. Instead of Jews and Spanish conversos, one should read: local Jews and Spanish Jews.

Resentment towards the immigrants manifested itself already during the rst year of their arrival. While King Ferrante welcomed the exiles, the local

population did not. They resented the Jews for bringing deadly epidemics, for thecompetition they offered as skilled artisans, and most of all, because the hated andfeared Ferrante I favored them. Eliyahu Capsali!s description of the epidemic, andmost of all, the need to secretly bury the dead, reveals that the Jews were wellaware of the danger of popular violence. The situation changed for the worse after

Ferrante!s death. In March 1494 the Jewish community of Trani petitioned theSommaria to intervene because priests and laymen were harrassing the Jews andcontravening the orders and privileges given by the late king. 78 During Easter 1494Christian youngsters of Lecce painted crosses on their foreheads to protest that theJews were not wearing the distinguishing sign. In April 1494 the Sommaria had tointervene in favor of the Sicilian Jews of Tropea who complained that Christianshad insulted and attacked them in their own houses during Lent, acting against theorders and privileges of the king. 79 In May of the same year, the Sicilian Jews ofReggio and Altomonte complained that they had been beaten and abused by theChristians and had to hide themselves, and in September the Jews of San Severino

left the city for fear of being robbed.80

It is probably signi cant that some sources speak of the wealth of the marrani

and the robbery of their houses. Although most exiles arrived pennyless, certain privileged families brought much of their property to Naples and were quicklyintegrated in the local economy. The Abravanels managed to increase their wealth,as attested by Don Yitshaq!s own words. His son Yosef was in a position to lend600 gold ducats free of interest to the Sicilian and Spanish exiles. It stands toreason that there were others who had the means to lead an ostentatious life styleand it is not surprising that the people resented it. Both newcomers and local Jewslended money on interest, took objects in pawn or sold goods on credit. Many

complaints brought after the restoration of the Aragonese dynasty (1497 and later)mention the seizing of pawns and the destruction of credits, thus proving thatresentment towards Jewish lenders was a factor in the sacking of Jewish property.In his introduction to Deuteronomy, written in Monopoli, sometime after 1496,

78 ASN Sommaria, Partium 40, 113v, Colafemmina, Puglia, no. 129, p. 129.79 C. Colafemmina, "Documenti... Calabria!, SY , I (1985), p. 28; ASN Sommaria, Partium

40, 136r, Idem, Calabria, no. 41, p. 131.80 Ferorelli, Gli ebrei, p. 199.


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Don Yitshaq Abravanel con rms the reports of Marino Sanudo and the Neapolitanchronicles, namely, that the Spanish Jews boarded ships trying to ee the riots.

Abravanel!s own property was looted:

My heart is broken over the wretched Jews, for they entered the ships: men,women and cherished children; and in every ship, there was weeping andwailing, they were sold to slavers, and the sailors were as mown thorns"and many have forsaken the faith" I too was struck by God!s wrath" andthe people of the land plundered all my wealth. 81

Abravanel!s lament on the Jews who #entered the ships$ probably re ects ahistorical fact, that the Spanish Jews crowded the ships, as reported by the Milanese

ambassador Antonio Stanga, that the # marrani escaped to sea$. Some of themsailed to Messina and remained on board ships for two months in dire conditionsuntil they were allowed to depart, as described by Capsali. 82

The French invasion and the violence and the sacking of Jewish property hadan traumatic impact on the exiles, especially coming so soon after the shock of theexpulsion. R. Yitshaq ben Hayim ha-Kohen of Xtiva who came to Naples aftermany sufferings, thinking he would nd there a safe haven, described the Frenchsoldiers in almost mythical terms: #rebels of the light, killers and destroyers"a numerous people, large as giants, their weapons bright as lightening$. 83 Aftera few more years in Italy R. Yitshaq ben Hayim ha-Kohen ed to the Ottoman

Empire.Jews and marrani ed the cities of the kingdom, either northwards to the

lands of the Holy See and the territories held by Venice, notably Monopoli, orto Mediterranean islands under Venetian occupation (Corfu, Crete, Cyprus) andto the Ottoman Empire. 84 Many converted to Christianity. Local Jews and the

81

, Yitshaq Abravanel, Commentary on Deuteronomy, Introduction, ed. A. Shotland, Jerusalem 1999, pp. 4-5.

82 Capsali, Seder Eliyahu, I, p. 219.83 Ms. Oxford Bodl. F. 16, Neubauer Catalogue no. 2770: M. Idel, %Chronicle of an Exile:

R. Isaac ben Hayim Ha-Kohen from Xativa!, Jews and Conversos at the Time of the Expulsion,Y.T. Assis, Y. Kaplan eds., Jerusalem 1999 (Hebrew), p. 263.

84 After following King Alfonso to Sicily, Don Yitshaq Abravanel stayed a short time inVenetian Corf, then went to Monopli, also Venetian territory in this period: Netanyahu, Abravanel , pp. 71-75. The Sicilian scholar Shalom bar Shelomo Yerushalmi who leftSyracuse at the time of the expulsion, wrote in 1498 in Venetian Modon the colophonto Sha!ar ha-Shamayim (the Gates of Heaven), a book on astronomy. Possibly he wasamong the Sicilians who left the kingdom of Naples in the wake of the riots. After afew years of wanderings Yerushalmi ended in Arta in the Epirus, under the Ottomans:


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Spanish exiles who converted to Christianity remained in the Kingdom of Naples.Most Sicilian converts, however, returned to Sicily. 85

Meanwhile, the political situation changed. In April 1495 an internationalcoalition, the Holy League, gathered its forces against Charles VIII. The Leaguewas composed of Venice, Milan, the Holy See, Emperor Maximilian and Fernandothe Catholic. Its of cially declared goal was defense against the Turks but itsundeclared purpose was to dislodge the French from Italy. 86 Under pretext of a

possible Turkish attack (or perhaps under the menace of a real one), Fernandothe Catholic sent armed forces to Sicily already in August 1494. In January 1495he sent a letter to Juan La Nuza, the newly appointed viceroy of Sicily promisinghim reinforcements against theTurks but hinting at the situation in the Kingdomof Naples. 87 Thus, in the summer of 1495 there was a large army and a eet in

the south of Italy at Fernando!s disposal. Meanwhile the Neapolitan forces ralliedunder Ferrante II and in February 1496 regained fortresses from the French.Spanish troops headed by Gonzalo Fernndez de Crdoba were involved in thesecampaigns. Despite the defeat of Seminara in June 1495, in the following yearsthe Castilian commander proved to be a decisive force that gained the kingdomfor Spain. An important development occurred in the summer of 1495 when theabuses and anarchy caused by the French brought an about face of the publicopinion in Naples and people now supported the return of the Aragonese. KingFerrante II died in October 1496 to be succeeded by his uncle Federigo whoreigned until 1502.

In 1497 King Federigo attempted to salvage the kingdom!s revenues by a newdecree that attempted to prevent Jewish emigration. Thus, the king ordered that"no Jew or New Christian# would be allowed to sell his property or exact debtsunless given permission, and no one should leave without a providing suretyfor his return.88 But a favorable attitude seemed to work better than threats andrestrictions. The articles of 1498 legislation in favor of the Jews represent anattempt by King Federigo to restore the former order of things. The new kingencouraged the return of the Jews and the reorganization of the communities, promising to safeguard Jewish lives and property. It should be noted that mostarticles regard both Jews and New Christians and refer speci cally to "those who

converted since the coming of the French#. The Jews diverge from the converted

Zeldes, $Diffusion of Sicilian Exiles!, pp. 324-326.85 Zeldes, The Former Jews of this Kingdom (esp. ch. 2).86 On the political situation in Italy see: J.N. Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 1250-1516 ,

Oxford University Press, Oxford 1978, II, pp. 551-559; Belenguer, Ferdinando e Isabella: I re cattolici, pp. 223-262.

87 Luciano Serrano y Peneda, $Nuevos datos sobre el Gran Capitn!, Hispania X (1943), pp. 71-72. See also: Zeldes, $The Campaigns!, pp. 219-220.

88 Bonazzoli, $Gli ebrei del regno di Napoli!, p. 507.


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only in the articles concerning Jewish wives whose husbands had converted. TheJews asked that their dowries should be returned and their husbands forced to give

them bills of divorce.89

Another consequence of the French invasion and the sack of Jewish property

was the impoverishment of formerly wealthy families. Abravanel lost much of his property and his library at the hands of the looters and so did many others. In fact,Christian debtors joined the pillage of the property of Jews and New Christiansduring the riots. By the end of 1495 the scal commissioners of Apulia reportedthat the Jews had nothing left to pay the taxes. 90 A good example is that of MoyseToledano, a Spanish Jew, formerly a banker. The capitano of Castellamare di Stabia,writing on his behalf, stated the circumstances that caused the man!s bankruptcy:Toledano, like other Jewish bankers, used to keep in pawn objects brought by

Christians and those had been lost during the sacking of Jewish property.91

Indeed, many articles of the 1498 legislation deal with the return of property andcancellation of debts. In answer to a petition by two converted brothers, the kingdecreed that all objects that had been held in pawn in Naples and other cities

before the coming of the king of France, should be restituted to them. 92 The death of Charles VIII in 1498 and a truce between Fernando the Catholic

and France created a short period of stability. Thus, despite the wars between theSpanish and the French that ended only in 1503, the Jews now faced a dozen yearsof relative prosperity in the Kingdom of Naples.

Appendix

Letter issued by the Camera Sommaria on the 3rd of December 1493 regardingthe lawsuit brought against the Jewess Anna, widow of Abraham Lu Medicu, nowrema