- I am a senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters at Ben Gurion Unive... moreI am a senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters at Ben Gurion University in the Negev. I received my PhD from Tel Aviv University (1997), and am the author of "The Former Jews of this Kingdom: Sicilian Converts after the Expulsion (1492-1516)" (Leiden: Brill, 2003). In 2020 I published "Reading Jewish history in the renaissance: Christians, Jews, and the Hebrew Sefer Josippon" (Lexington books, 2020). My main areas of interest, on which I have published a number of articles, include the intercultural encounters in the Mediterranean worldedit
Fernando Ciaramitaro’s Santo Oficio imperial, Dinámicas globales y el caso siciliano offers a comprehensive approach to the study of the Spanish state Inquisition from its origins to the spread of that institution to all Spanish dominions... more
Fernando Ciaramitaro’s Santo Oficio imperial, Dinámicas globales y el caso siciliano offers a comprehensive approach to the study of the Spanish state Inquisition from its origins to the spread of that institution to all Spanish dominions in Europe, in the New World, and in Asia. Ciaramitaro’s choice to include the Sicilian branch of the Spanish Inquisition in his global perspective as a telling case-study sheds light on the dynamics of government from afar.
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Christian reception of the Book of Yosippon in the Middle-Ages and Renaissance rested on the assumptions that it was authored by Josephus, that it could serve to confirm the historicity of Christianity, and that it could be used in... more
Christian reception of the Book of Yosippon in the Middle-Ages and Renaissance rested on the assumptions that it was authored by Josephus, that it could serve to confirm the historicity of Christianity, and that it could be used in religious polemics against the Jews. Yosippon’s account of the destruction of the Second Temple was considered proof that Christianity had superseded Judaism, demonstrating how divine punishment had been meted out to the Jews for rejecting Jesus. Christians were also interested in Yosippon for its opening chapter’s narrative, loosely based on Virgil’s Aeneid, depicting the fictitious biblical hero Zepho ben Eliphaz as the founder of Rome. Modern scholarship interprets this narrative as an attempt to create a Jewish historiography of the Roman Empire. For Jewish writers, the myth of Zepho serves to create founding myths that confirm and validate Jewish presence in Christian Europe by attributing the founding of cities and lands to this biblical figure. The article explores these facets of Yosippon’s reception in Christian circles.This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
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Paper examines the process of immigration of Jews and conversos from the Iberian kingdoms to Sicily, focusing on those of Catalan origins. The timeline encompasses a long period, from the 11th century to the expulsion of 1492 and beyond,... more
Paper examines the process of immigration of Jews and conversos from the Iberian kingdoms to Sicily, focusing on those of Catalan origins. The timeline encompasses a long period, from the 11th century to the expulsion of 1492 and beyond, while attempting to examine both integration and conflict between the newcomers and the local Jews.
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... Mediterranean Historical Review Vol. ... In his book Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renaissance, Eric Cochrane included the figures of Pietro Ranzano ... at the universities of Padua, Bologna, Siena, and Pavia and served... more
... Mediterranean Historical Review Vol. ... In his book Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renaissance, Eric Cochrane included the figures of Pietro Ranzano ... at the universities of Padua, Bologna, Siena, and Pavia and served the duke of Milan before joining Alfonso's court. ...
Research Interests: History, Ancient History, Classics, Arabic, Judaism, and 3 moreHebrew, Historical Studies, and Legend
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... NADIA ZELDES ... 10 tari and 15 grana when sold at auction.48 A shoemaker's shop in Salemi held several pieces of leather, three different knives, 18 pairs of furmi (forms), probably wooden models, and a cutting table.49 The shop... more
... NADIA ZELDES ... 10 tari and 15 grana when sold at auction.48 A shoemaker's shop in Salemi held several pieces of leather, three different knives, 18 pairs of furmi (forms), probably wooden models, and a cutting table.49 The shop of the Palermitan merchant Manfredo La Muta ...
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The migration and resettlement of Jewish exiles after 1492 and the successive expulsions of the early sixteenth century was a long and drawn-out process. In fact, the majority of the exiles did not go directly to the Ottoman Empire, and... more
The migration and resettlement of Jewish exiles after 1492 and the successive expulsions of the early sixteenth century was a long and drawn-out process. In fact, the majority of the exiles did not go directly to the Ottoman Empire, and even those who finally reached it as first-generation immigrants did so by staggered waves of migration. The Venetian colonies in the Mediterranean played an important role in this process, both as relatively safe destinations and as ports of transit on the way eastward. Nevertheless, Venetian attitudes towards the arrival of Sefardi, Sicilian, Apulian, and Portuguese Jews in the Stato da Mar have rarely been considered in this context, independently from the topic of Jewish presence in the colonies in general. Corfu offers the opportunity for a case study. The present article examines Venetian policies towards Jewish refugees, immigrants, and conversos who came to Corfu in the aftermath of the expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula and southern Italy. It also attempts to tackle some questions related to the chronology of the successive waves of Jewish settlement on the island in this period.
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The article examines R. Elijah Capsali's description of the plague that spread in Naples in 1493. Capsali's account, written around 1525, represents an effort to place Jewish history within the framework of general history. The... more
The article examines R. Elijah Capsali's description of the plague that spread in Naples in 1493. Capsali's account, written around 1525, represents an effort to place Jewish history within the framework of general history. The description of the epidemic of 1493 is part of Capsali’s narrative on the expulsion from Spain and the fate of the exiles as they came to the Kingdom of Naples. Guided by humanistic standards, the author attempts to explain events and occurrences in terms of cause and effect, emphasizing the roles of the king, the court, and the populace in the conflict created by the outbreak. The article also sheds light on contemporary attitudes towards disease, containment, and contagion.
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L'articolo si concentra sull'attività rabbinica e sul ritratto intellettuale di Rabbi Chayim ben Shabbetai Yonà, un esule siciliano che visse nell'Italia meridionale all'indomani dell'espulsione del 1492. La fonte principale di questo... more
L'articolo si concentra sull'attività rabbinica e sul ritratto intellettuale di Rabbi Chayim ben Shabbetai Yonà, un esule siciliano che visse nell'Italia meridionale all'indomani dell'espulsione del 1492. La fonte principale di questo studio è la raccolta di responsa di Rabbi Chayim, sopravvissuta in un manoscritto inedito conservato a Firenze, presso la Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. La raccolta copre il periodo tra il 1497 e il 1504 e riguarda le comunità ebraiche di Trani, Barletta, Tropea, Monopoli, Oppido e Valona. I quesiti rivolti a Rabbi Chayim fanno luce sul tipo di problemi affrontati dagli esuli dell'Italia meridionale, da cui la loro importanza storica. Altre fonti rivelano diversi aspetti della personalità di Rabbi Chayim: il suo inrelazione con Don Isaac Abravanel. Sebbene vi siano pochi indizi sulle origini e le radici familiari di Rabbi Chayim, l'articolo cerca di rintracciarne legami e relazioni familiari in Sicilia prima dell'espulsione.
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Colophons are the “personal voice” of the copyist and as such they offer glimpses of individual histories that complement the information provided by other, more “objective” sources. In fact, Hebrew colophons offer considerably more... more
Colophons are the “personal voice” of the copyist and as such they offer glimpses of individual histories that complement the information provided by other, more “objective” sources. In fact, Hebrew colophons offer considerably more information on their authors than their parallels in Latin medieval manuscripts. Whereas most medieval codices were copied in monastic scriptoria (later also by university stationers), and circulated mainly among clerics and aristocrats, in Jewish society literacy was widespread and the books were copied and used by private persons. Malachi Beit Arié distinguished between copyists, persons who copied books for their own use, and scribes who worked for a fee. However, this is not always a clear cut distinction as the same person could at times copy books for his own use and at times produce copies for others. Scribes and copyists usually attempted to produce as faithful a copy as possible, only rarely did they consciously change anything or add remarks of their own, except for colophons, the personal inscriptions written at the end of a manuscript, a book, or part of a book. Colophons usually provide the name of the copyist, title of the work, the date of completion of the copying, and the place where it was copied. It was also customary to include certain formulas or biblical quotations in the colophon. However, sometimes the copyist also referred to historical events or mentioned his personal circumstances. Not all these details are included in every colophon, but even so, colophons can offer invaluable historical information. Another matter, before the era of printing producing a book was a lengthy laborious process and every copy made is proof of the importance accorded to the book, the willingness of someone to spend time copying it, or alternatively, to pay a competent scribe to produce a copy.
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Article examines the decision of Jewish women to divorce their husbands who converted to Christianity. The study focuses on religious, emotional, and economic considerations and presents several cases from Sicilian documentation.
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... The leader of the opposition, Andrea Chiaramonte, was executed; his lands passed to the leader of the invading army, the Catalan Bernat '' Until recently the first census of the... more
... The leader of the opposition, Andrea Chiaramonte, was executed; his lands passed to the leader of the invading army, the Catalan Bernat '' Until recently the first census of the Sicilian population was thought to have been taken in 1501; see: KJ Beloch, Bevolkerungsgeschichte ...
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The case of Colau Aragones, who was sentenced by the Inquisition of Zaragoza in 1510, represents a sample of micro history which embodies many of the aspects of the process of migration, settlement and conversion in the post expulsion... more
The case of Colau Aragones, who was sentenced by the Inquisition of Zaragoza in 1510, represents a sample of micro history which embodies many of the aspects of the process of migration, settlement and conversion in the post expulsion period. Colau Aragones and his family left Aragon at the time of the expulsion and headed for the Kingdom of Naples. After the death of his father, Colau sailed to Trapani (Sicily) where he converted to Christianity. While in Sicily Colau met with local converted Jews and considered sailing to Tunis in order to return to Judaism, but failed to do so. Later he returned to Aragon and lived there as a Christian. The accusations meted by the Inquisition of Zaragoza are representative of inquisitorial notions of Jewishness and Judaism but at the same time they offer a glimpse into the world of beliefs and attitudes of a first generation New Christian.
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Clothes in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period denoted legal status and social standing. Jews (and other minority and marginal groups) were distinguished by clothing regulations, sometimes supplemented by the wearing of a special... more
Clothes in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period denoted legal status and social standing. Jews (and other minority and marginal groups) were distinguished by clothing regulations, sometimes supplemented by the wearing of a special badge. However, beyond custom and law, there were subtle cues that signaled marginality such as the wearing of certain fabrics and colours etc. In Mediterranean Europe, that is in Italy, Sicily and the Iberian kingdoms, Jews wore more or less the same fashions as the surrounding society though there were restrictions and distinguishing marks imposed by either the ruler and the Church or the Jews themselves. A text from fifteenth century Sicily describes the clothes worn by Jews during a festive procession; but beyond the explicit information it provides, the text’s language and the subtext hint at the marginality and restrictions imposed on the Jews. Converting to Christianity meant, according to Church doctrine as well as missionary propaganda, tot...
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The presence of large numbers of unassimilated Jewish converts to Christianity in southern Italy and southern France in the later Middle Ages led to the creation of a legal anomaly as the neofiti (the New Christians) came to be regarded... more
The presence of large numbers of unassimilated Jewish converts to Christianity in southern Italy and southern France in the later Middle Ages led to the creation of a legal anomaly as the neofiti (the New Christians) came to be regarded as a legal entity. At first, there was no special designation for this group, but in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries some official documents from southern Italy mention the term universitas neophitorum. Universitas, in the terminology of medieval legists from the twelfth century onwards, usually designated a group of people having juridical existence, and it was also used to denote “collectivity.” Universitas neophitorum can therefore be understood to refer to a group of converts forming a legal body. The present article supposes a causal link between mass-conversions, the ensuing doubts as to the sincerity of conversion, and the relegation of new converts and their descendants to the status of an unassimilated minority group regarde...
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Paper examines the process of immigration of Jews and conversos from the Iberian kingdoms to Sicily, focusing on those of Catalan origins. The timeline encompasses a long period, from the 11th century to the expulsion of 1492 and beyond,... more
Paper examines the process of immigration of Jews and conversos from the Iberian kingdoms to Sicily, focusing on those of Catalan origins. The timeline encompasses a long period, from the 11th century to the expulsion of 1492 and beyond, while attempting to examine both integration and conflict between the newcomers and the local Jews.
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Colophons are the “personal voice” of the copyist and as such they offer glimpses of individual histories that complement the information provided by other, more “objective” sources. In fact, Hebrew colophons offer considerably more... more
Colophons are the “personal voice” of the copyist and as such they offer glimpses of individual histories that complement the information provided by other, more “objective” sources. In fact, Hebrew colophons offer considerably more information on their authors than their parallels in Latin medieval manuscripts. Whereas most medieval codices were copied in monastic scriptoria (later also by university stationers), and circulated mainly among clerics and aristocrats, in Jewish society literacy was widespread and the books were copied and used by private persons. Malachi Beit Arié distinguished between copyists, persons who copied books for their own use, and scribes who worked for a fee. However, this is not always a clear cut distinction as the same person could at times copy books for his own use and at times produce copies for others. Scribes and copyists usually attempted to produce as faithful a copy as possible, only rarely did they consciously change anything or add remarks of their own, except for colophons, the personal inscriptions written at the end of a manuscript, a book, or part of a book. Colophons usually provide the name of the copyist, title of the work, the date of completion of the copying, and the place where it was copied. It was also customary to include certain formulas or biblical quotations in the colophon. However, sometimes the copyist also referred to historical events or mentioned his personal circumstances. Not all these details are included in every colophon, but even so, colophons can offer invaluable historical information. Another matter, before the era of printing producing a book was a lengthy laborious process and every copy made is proof of the importance accorded to the book, the willingness of someone to spend time copying it, or alternatively, to pay a competent scribe to produce a copy.
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A bio-bibliographical sketch of Shlomo Simonsohn (1923-2019) as remembered by Nadia Zeldes.
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In a letter written in October 1510 addressed to the viceroys of Sicily and Naples, King Ferdinand the Catholic expresses his concerns regarding the passage of Iberian conversos through the Strait of Messina, and orders the officials in... more
In a letter written in October 1510 addressed to the viceroys of Sicily and Naples, King Ferdinand the Catholic expresses his concerns regarding the passage of Iberian conversos through the Strait of Messina, and orders the officials in charge of the Strait to watch for the ships and bring the passengers before the Holy Office (presumably, the tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition in Sicily). These conversos, probably of Castilian origin, had found refuge in Portugal several years before. The letter also refers to King Ferdinand’s prior correspondence with King Manuel I of Portugal on this topic, stressing his displeasure at Manuel’s lenient or negligent policy on the question of these conversos. The letter has interesting implications for both King Ferdinand’s relationship with Portugal and his religious policies in his Italian dominions. The present article attempts to shed light on King Ferdinand’s religious policies with a close examination of his attitudes towards the converts of...
The writings of the Sicilian born Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533) provide important information on the construction of political and religious propaganda in the age of the Catholic monarchs. Two of Lucio Marineo’s historical works, De... more
The writings of the Sicilian born Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533) provide important information on the construction of political and religious propaganda in the age of the Catholic monarchs. Two of Lucio Marineo’s historical works, De Laudibus Hispaniae (printed ca. 1496) and his Opus de rebus Hispaniae memorabilibus the conversion of the Jews in Spain and explains the reasons for their reverting to Judaism (giving several examples for Judaizing).
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... NADIA ZELDES ... 10 tari and 15 grana when sold at auction.48 A shoemaker's shop in Salemi held several pieces of leather, three different knives, 18 pairs of furmi (forms), probably wooden models, and a cutting table.49 The shop... more
... NADIA ZELDES ... 10 tari and 15 grana when sold at auction.48 A shoemaker's shop in Salemi held several pieces of leather, three different knives, 18 pairs of furmi (forms), probably wooden models, and a cutting table.49 The shop of the Palermitan merchant Manfredo La Muta ...
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Forced mass conversions were relatively rare in the Middle Ages but they have a central place in both medieval narratives and modern historiography. A distinction should be made between conversions ordered by Christian rulers, and... more
Forced mass conversions were relatively rare in the Middle Ages but they have a central place in both medieval narratives and modern historiography. A distinction should be made between conversions ordered by Christian rulers, and pressure to convert coming from popular elements. Some well-known examples of the first category are the baptism ordered by the Visigothic rulers in Spain and the forced conversion of the Jews in Portugal. The mass conversion of the Jews of the kingdom of Naples in 1495 belongs to the second category.The article proposes to analyze the causes leading to the outbursts of violence against Jews in 1495 and the resulting mass conversions by making use of primary sources such as contemporary Italian and Hebrew chronicles, rabbinic responsa, and Sicilian material. Finally it proposes a comparison with other events of mass conversion, and principally that of 1391 in Castile and Aragon.
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The writings of the Sicilian born Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533) provide important information on the construction of political and religious propaganda in the age of the Catholic monarchs. Two of Lucio Marineo’s historical works, De... more
The writings of the Sicilian born Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533) provide important information on the construction of political and religious propaganda in the age of the Catholic monarchs. Two of Lucio Marineo’s historical works, De Laudibus Hispaniae (printed ca. 1496) and his Opus de rebus Hispaniae memorabilibus the conversion of the Jews in Spain and explains the reasons for their reverting to Judaism (giving several examples for Judaizing).
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Lucas Marinis or Lucio Marineo Sículo (1444-1533) a Sicilian humanist who held the chair pf Grammar at the university of Salamanca. He left an interesting biography written by Antonio Segura, one of his students. This brief compilation... more
Lucas Marinis or Lucio Marineo Sículo (1444-1533) a Sicilian humanist who held the chair pf Grammar at the university of Salamanca. He left an interesting biography written by Antonio Segura, one of his students. This brief compilation gives the story of his education from ignorance to mastery of Latin. His biography demonstrates some of intrinsic notions important to humanistic education in the Renaissance. His success in Spain sheds light on aspects of Spanish humanism. Marinis is the author of several chronicles and histories, among them Opus de rebus Hispaniae memorabilibus printed in 1530. His letters are an important source for his biography and relations with various figures of his times.