Jews on Trial The Papal Inquisition in Modena, 1598-1638

Jews on Trialconcentrates on Inquisitorial activity during the period which historians have argued was the most active in the Inquisition's history: the first forty years of the tribunal in Modena, from 1598 to 1638, the year of the Jews' enclosure in the ghetto. Scholars have in the past tended to group trials of Jews and conversos in Italy together. This book emphasizes the fundamental disparity in Inquisitorial procedure, as well as the evidence examined, and argues that this was especially true in Modena where the secular authority did not have the power during the period in question to reject, or even significantly monitor, Inquisitorial trial procedure. It draws upon the detailed testimony to be found in trial transcripts to analyzes Jewish interaction with Christian society in an early modern community. This book will appeal to scholars of Inquisitorial Studies, social and cultural interaction in early modern Europe, Jewish Italian social history, and anti-Semitism.

Katherine Aron-Beller is a lecturer in Jewish History both at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv University. In 2006-07 she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in Washington, DC

Introduction * Part one: the Inquisition and disciplining Jews * Jews, Papal Inquisitors, and the Estense Dukes *  Procedure and reaction * Part two: a study of Jewish offences in different settings * The Jewish household: Jewish masters and Christian servants * The Piazza:  verbal offences on the streets of Modena * Part three: micro-history * The Jew’s balcony: a tale of a young Jewess’s flirtation with Christianity * The Pingolo: a locus for Jewish fantasy * Proselytizing at Purim * Conclusion * Index