False alarm of Ritual Murder in Italy, 1721

It is interesting that as late as 1721, when people were more-or-less modern they were still living with accusations of ritual murder. Perhaps this helps explain Protestant disdain towards Catholicism, and perhaps why Sephardi Jews ended principally in non-Catholic countries.

In the case below, I suspect the Papal States were concerned the ritual murder rumous might be bad for business. Also, they wanted to keep control.

I can't help noticing that the Notary's name sounds Spanish.

Having in the last Register, Page 260, inserted an Account concerning the Jews at Ferrara, which appeal's altogether groundless, and Letters from that City assuring us, that no Jews of that Place have been committed to the Prison of the Inquisition, nor accus'd of the Murder of any Child, or of any other Misdemeanor, nor of any Thing contrary to the Respect due to the Christian Religion, or the Fidelity and Submission they owe to their Sovereign- the Pope : That Felix Coen, mention'd in the said Account, and all the other Jews in Ferrara, enjoy a full and entire Liberty and Tranquillity ; and, in a Word, that it was a most malicious and false Contrivance, which might have occasion'd the Death of a World of innocent People, as appears by the following Decree of the Inquisition of Sinigaglia, where the common People had begun to insult the Jews, and would, in all Probability, have proceeded farther, had not that Tribunal interpos'd their Authority, by publishing the said Decree, which is as follows:

THE Rumour spread in this City, that the Jews of Ferrara have murder'd a Christian in that Part of the Town they inhabit, with several Circumstances altogether contrary to our Holy Faith, having given Occasion to some Christians to reproach, insult, and abuse the Jews of this City, and to threaten them with farther Resentment ; and there being certain Advice, by a Letter from the most Reverend Father Inquisitor of Ferrara, dated the 2nd Instant, and directed to the most Reverend Father Inquisitor of Ancona, that the said Report is notoriously false and groundless: For these Causes we have thought fit to give Notice thereof to the Publics by these Presents, forbidding every Body to rail at, abuse, or insult the Jews in any Manner whatsoever, upon Pain of Imprisonment, and other arbitrary Punishment, as the Superiors shall think fit, even upon the Deposition of one single Witness. Therefore we exhort every Body to pay ready Obedience to this Order, that they may not incur the Penalties aforesaid. .-.

Given at Sinigaglia, July 14, 1721.

Sign'd,

Settimio Cinueh, Vicar-General
Fr. J. B. Badalini, Vicar of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
Bernando Mostrada, Notary

Source: The Historical Register, 1721

Jews in Ancona, 1766

[Ancona] “is frequented by some merchants from all parts, and about 2000 Jews arc settled there, who are distinguished by a red piece of taffaty which covers the top of their hats.”

Source: John Northall. Travels through Italy. 1766.

Sinigaglia in 1766

"SENIGALLIA [Sinigaglia]. … The town is meanly fortified, and has a small harbour, with several good houses. It is well peopled, and contains about 7000 inhabitants, including the Jews, who have their ward apart."

Source: John Northall. Travels through Italy. 1766.

Jews of Rome, 1714

"The Jews at Rome enjoy'd some Measure of Liberty, and liv'd somewhat easily before the Pontificate of Paul IV [He was Pope from 1555-1559]; but that Pope was a terrible Enemy to 'em: For whereas before they were permitted to live in any Part of the City, he confin'd 'em to one Corner of it, whither he order'd 'em to retire at the Close of the Evening. He fore'd 'em to sell their Possessions, and suffer'd 'em only to trade in old Clothes, or old Goods. He commanded 'em, for a Mark of Distinction, to wear yellow Hats, and issu'd out an express Prohibition, That no Christians shou'd either eat or converse with 'em. I am inform'd, that by a Decree of Gregory XIII, they were oblig'd, or at least a certain Number of 'em, to hear a Christian Sermon every Saturday in the Afternoon, but I have not yet had an Opportunity to see that Assembly. The Italian Jews, and particularly those of Rome, as some of them assur'd me, do scrupulously observe the Law that enjoins 'em to marry at Twenty Years of Age at farthest, under the Pain of Ignominy, and being treated as Persons living in Sin. The Number of the Jews at Rome may at present amount to about Seven or Eight Thousand, according to the vulgar Computation.
…

The Author of la Roma Santa affirms, that the Jews stink, and that their noisome Smell vanishes . after they are baptiz'd. ( Cosa maravigliosa, che ricevuto il Sto Battesimo non puzzano più ) I know not why this shou'd be reckon'd wonderful for those who are to be baptiz'd are so carefully wash d and cleans'd, that they must needs become sweet, tho' they really stunk before. But 'tis ridiculous to imagine that the Jews, as being Jews, have a peculiar Smell. The Jews at Rome are very poor; those who are poor are always nasty, and those who are nasty, usually stink: That is the Mystery. 'Tis also a vulgar Error that the Jews are all black; for this is only true of the Portuguese Jews, who marrying always among one another, beget Children like themselves, and consequently the Swarthiness of their Complexion is entail'd upon their whole Race, even in the Northern Regions. But the Jews who are originally of Germany; those, for Example, I have seen at Prague, are not blacker than the rest of their Countrymen."

Source: Maximilien Misson. A new voyage to Italy. 1714. Pages 138-139

“Mortifying Ceremony to which the Jews are subject in Rome”, 1769

I think that the Roman Jews follow their own, Italian, minhag rather than those of Spain & Portugal. The account below is fascinating; a piece of medieval theatre in Enlightenment Europe.

At the time of the possesso [I think, Papal coronation] the Jews in Rome are subject to a very mortifying ceremony, but strictly kept up. Near Titus’s triumphal arch, the rabbis and elders of the Ghetto stand in a place fitted up at their expence. As the pope is on his solumn procession to St. John de Lateran, they step forth, and on their knees offer him the Pentateuch in a basin full of gold and silver coins. The pope, making a stop, touches the basin with a wand, and performs the like ceremony on the head and shoulders of the chief rabbi, in token that he accepts of the Jews homage, and allows them to remain in Rome during his pontificate.

Annual Register, 1770. Page 169

Roman Inquisition, 1843

This is an edict from the Roman Inquisition dated 1843. This is the same year the British were launching metal hulled ships and Verdi was writing opera. All other Inquisition had been abolished, even in Spain.

The Roman Inquisition was active in the Papal States, that part of Italy directly ruled by the Pope. The Pope at that time was the reactionary Gregory XVI (right) who even opposed gas lighting and railways. The edict was an international public relations disaster for the Catholic Church. Its mean-mindedness will have made life harder for Jews in Ancona and Sinigaglia, and no doubt some of them emigrated.

We, Fra Vicenzo Salina, of the Order of Predicatori, Master in Theology, General Inquisitor in Ancona, Sinigaglia, Jesi, Osinio, Cingoli, Macerata, Tolentino, Loreto, Recanati, and other towns and districts, &c.

It being deemed necessary to revive the full observance of the disciplinary laws relative to the Israelites residing within our jurisdiction, and having hitherto without effect employed prayers and exhortations to obtain obedience to those laws in the Ghetti (Jewries) of Ancona and Sinigaglia, authorized by the despatch of the Sacred and Supreme Inquisition of Rome, dated June 10, 1843, expressly enjoining and commanding the observance of the decrees and pontifical constitutions, especially in respect to Christian nurses and domestic servants, or to the sale of property either in towns or country districts, purchased and possessed previously to 1827, as well as subsequently to that period, we decree as follows:—

1. From the interval of two months after the date of this day, all gipsy and Christian domestics, male and female, whether employed by day or by night, must be dismissed from service, in the said two Ghetti; and all Jews residing within our jurisdiction are expressly prohibited from employing any Christian nurse, or availing themselves of the service of any Christian in any domestic occupation whatever, under pain of being immediately punished according to the Pontifical decrees and constitutions.

2. That all Jews who may possess property, either in town or country, permanent or moveable, or rents or interest, or any right involving shares in funded property, or leased landed property, must within the term of three months from this day dispose of it by a positive and real, and not by any pretended and factitious, contract. Should this not be done within the time specified, the Holy Office is to sell the same by public auction, on proof of the annual harvest being got in.

3. That no Hebrew nurses, and still less any Hebrew family, shall inhabit the city, or reside in, or remove their property into, any town or district where there is no Ghetto (place of residence for Jews); and that such as may actually be there in contumacy to the laws must return to their respective Ghetto within the peremptory period of six months, otherwise they will be proceeded against according to the tenour of the law.

4. That, especially in any city where there is a Ghetto, no Hebrew must presume to associate at table with Christians, either in public houses or ordinaries, out of the Ghetto.

5. That, in a city which has a Ghetto, no Hebrew shall sleep out of the Israelite quarter, nor make free to enter into familiar conversation in a Christian house.

6. That no Hebrew shall take the liberty, under any pretext whatever, to induce male Christians, and still less female Christians, to sleep within the boundaries of the Ghetto.

7. That no Hebrew shall hire Christians, even only by the day, to work in their houses in the Ghetto.

8. That no Hebrew, either male or female, shall frequent the houses of Christians, or maintain friendly relations with Christian men or women.

9. That the laws shall remain in force respecting the decorum to be observed by the Hebrews who may absent themselves from their Ghetto, to travel in other parts of the state.

10. That all Hebrews are expressly prohibited from trafficking in sacred ornaments, or books of any kind, and from purchasing, reading, or keeping possession of prohibited hooks of any sort, under the penalty of 100 scudi and seven years' imprisonment; and they who may have such articles in their possession must surrender them to the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition; and in case of failing to do so, they will be subject to the above-mentioned penalty.

11. That the Hebrews, in conveying their dead to the place of burial, shall not observe any pomp or ceremony, and must especially abstain from singing psalms, or carrying torches or lighted tapers through the streets without the boundaries of the Ghetto, under pain of forfeiting the torches and tapers, and suffering other punishments, to which the nearest relative of the deceased will be condemned.

They who violate the above articles will incur some or all of the penalties prescribed in the edicts of the Holy Inquisition. And in order that no one may be ignorant of the dispositions above decreed, they shall be formally communicated to the deputies and representatives of the Israelite community of this Ghetto of Ancona, with the injunction that the same shall be published in the synagogue, the present edict being affixed thereto; and these dispositions are to be enforced in the same manner as if they were made known to all and every one, and notice must he given forthwith to the Hebrews residing out of Ancona, but belonging to this Ghetto.

Given at Ancona, in the Chancellery of the Holy Inquisition, on the 24th of June, 1843.

FRA VICENZO SALINA, General Inquisitor.
Don VITALIANO BURATTINI (for the Chancellor).

Ancona, 1833

ANCO’NA, a seaport town in the Papal states, on the coast of the Adriatic sea. … The population, according to the latest accounts, is about 30,000, of whom 5000 are Jews. Ancona exports wax, silk, wool, and corn. It is the best, indeed the only good harbour on the Italian coast of the Adriatic between Venice and Manfredonia, and is the common point of departure for the Ionian islands and Greece. Packets are established between Ancona and Corfu.

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Penny cyclopaedia. 1833. Page 509.