Between Scylla and Charybdis : the Jews in Sicily / by Shlomo Simonsohn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simonsohn, Shlomo, 1923-2019.

Series:

Brill's series in Jewish studies ; v. 43.

Brill's series in Jewish studies ; v. 43

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Italy--Sicily--History--To 1500.

Jews.

History.

Sicily (Italy)--Ethnic relations.

Sicily (Italy).

Italy--Sicily.

Physical Description:

xiv, 763 pages, 15 pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2011.

Summary:

The history of the Jews in Sicily covers a period of over a thousand years, from Antiquity to the Expulsion, based on some 40,000 archival records, most of them hitherto unpublished. It illustrates the political, legal, economic, social and religious vicissitudes of the Jewish minority and its relations with the surrounding majority of Romans, Moslems and Christians. While the antecedents of the Jewish presence on the island are shrouded in mystery, more and more historical records surface with the passage of time. Those become abundant toward the later Middle Ages.

At that time the Jews in Sicily were citizens and suffered from relatively few disabilities. The was true in particular in the economic sphere. No discriminatory legislation forced them into moneylending and trade in old clothes. They engaged in agriculture and industry, trade and commerce, including international trade and shipping, and in most professions, which in turn enhanced their social status. There was as an unusually large number of craftsmen and physicians among them. The majority, however, were labourers, on the land and in town. In the fifteenth century the Jewish population reached 25,000 or thereabouts, over half of contemporary Italian Jewry. All this came to a sudden end with the expulsion order issued by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Some 80% of the Jews went into exile, while the remainder converted to Catholicism, only to be caught in the net of the Spanish inquisition. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 From Rome to Spain 1

Romans, Byzantines, Moslems, Normans, Hohenstaufen and Angevin

Aragon and Spain

Chapter 2 The First Millennium 8

In Antiquity ?

In the Days of Byzantium

Moslem Ride (1) and the Geniza Correspondence

Taxes and Imposts (Islam)

Moslem Ride (2)

Return to the Ride of the Cross: Nonnan Sicily

The Hohenstaufen

Tlie Angevin Interlude

Chapter 3 Jewish Settlements (1) 45

Jewish Settlements A to Z

Chapter 4 From Roman Citizens to Servants of the Royal Treasury 53

Rome and Byzantium

Under Islam

Norman Rule

Angevin Domination

Chapter 5 The Jewish Community (1) 65

From Rome to Islam

Under Normans, Hohenstaufen and Angevin

Chapter 6 Scholars and Poets 71

Chapter 7 Merchants, Artisans and Others 77

The Geniza Merchants

Ships and Shipping

Trade and Business

Goods and Merchandise

From Count Roger to King Charles I

A Rural Community: Monte San Giuliano

Chapter 8 Between Scylla and Charybdis 94

The Aragonese Conquest

The Fourteenth Century

The Martins

Alphonso the Magnanimous

Modica and Noto

More Murder and Mayhem

Chapter 9 The King's Jews 127

Individual Privileges

Collective Charters and Pardons

The Sala and Other Protégés

Old and New Privileges

Iacob Xarchi

More Charters

King John and After

The Infamous Books

Last Charters

Chapter 10 Taxation and Imposts 161

Public Finances

Gisia, Augustale and Ius Baiulacionis

Other Direct Taxes

Indirect Taxes

Jewish Share in Taxes

Chapter 11 Jewish Settlements (2) 222

Chapter 12 Migrations to and from Sicily 267

Population Movements

Aliyya to Jerusalem

Chapter 13 Demography 276

Chapter 14 The Jews and the Law 286

Servi Camerae Regis

Protector and Judge of the Jezus

The Church

The Badge

More Church Law

Direct Church Authority

Jewish Law

The Dienchelele

Jewish Courts after the Dienchelele

Chapter 15 Slay them not lest my People Forget 321

Jewish Attacks on Christianity

Conversion to Christianity: The Mendicant Orders

The Dominicans of Taormina and Elsewhere, the Inquisition

Conversions and Converts

Chapter 16 The Jewish Community (2) 337

Organization

Ordinances and Offices

Communal Finances and Elections

Institutions and Officers

Taxes and Discipline

Inter-Communal Cooperation

Social Classes and Tensions

Chapter 17 Education and Culture 369

The Educational System

Languages of the Jews

Scholars and Men of Letters

Manuscripts and Books

Minhagim and Traditions

Chapter 18 The Economy 393

General

Land, Farms, Vineyards and Plantations

Processing the Produce of the Soil: Wine and Cheese

Meat, Bread and Oil

Sugar

Tunny and Other Fish

Hides and Tanning, Candle-Making, and Wool

The Professions

Arts and Crafts: Iron and Smiths, Leather and Shoemakers, Textiles and Tailors, Dyeing and Dyers

Salt, Sweets, Corals and Jewelry

Builders, Transportation, Arms and Mining, Guilds

Labourers, Wages and Slaves

Trade and Commerce (1): Food-Stuff- Trade and Commerce (2): Fabrics, Real Estate, Money and International Trade

Chapter 19 The Individual and the Family 471

Marriage

Dowries

Divorce and Polygamy

Last Wills and Testaments

The Home

Crime and Punishment

Chapter 20 The Expulsion 504

The Edict of Expulsion

Publication in Sicily

The Expulsion Step by Step (1)

The Memorandum

The Expulsion Step by Step (2)

More Memoranda and Resolutions

The Expulsion Step by Step (3)

Some Departures

Petitions and Directives

More Departures and Mistreatment

The Exit Tax

The Expulsion Step by Step (4)

The Aftermath.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9789004192454

900419245X

9789004196049

9004196048

OCLC:

694566464