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“Due to the Tender and Close Relationship”: The Italian Inquisition’s Investigations of Jews and Christians in the Sixteenth Century
Schapiro, Jacob
Schapiro, Jacob
Abstract
This thesis looks at the Italian Inquisition’s treatment of Jews and those suspected of being Jews and thus sits at the intersection of two different historical subfields: Jewish studies and Inquisition studies. Each subfield is broad but overlaps with the other. I analyze six Inquisition cases—four from Venice and two from Florence—and recount the original accusations, before delving into the likely circumstances of the people involved, based on witness testimony. By looking at these cases, I show how blurred religious identity could be, as people adopted the guise of one faith and then another, depending on the time and place. Because of this confusion, some of these Inquisition cases involve the body trying to determine whether someone was a Christian or a Jew. Other cases demonstrate the sociability of members of the Christian and Jewish communities, much to the Inquisition’s disapproval. By examining these cases, I show the gap between law and reality that existed concerning religious boundaries in early-modern Italy.
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2024-05-01
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History