Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

Cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 235-242.

Cfr. Zaviziano, Un raggio di luce , cit., pp. 115-157 (doc. XIV); C. Roth, The Ritual Murder Liber and the Jews. The Report by Cardinal Lorenzo Gangarelli on Ritual Murder , in S. Buttaroni and S. Musial, Ritual Murder Legend in European History , Cracow-Nuremberg- Frankfurt, 2003, pp. 211-223. Cardinal Ganganelli's report has now been republished by M. Introvigne, Cattolici, antisemitismo e sangue. Il mito dell'omicidio rituale , Milan, 2004, pp. 83-123. Otherwise, Introvigne's work is nothing other than an encyclopaedia of the problem, accompanied by a bibliography which has been only partially updated.

Cfr. Zaviziano, Un raggio di luce , pp. 144-147.

"Dum ipse Isaac staret in dicta Civitate Burmi [...] quadam die ante festum Paschae ipsorum Judaeorum, in quadam stuba magna, in qua aderant circa quadraginta Judaei, dicti Judaei omnes adjuverunt ad interficiendum Puerum Christianum" [“When Isaac was in the said city of Worms [...] a few days before the Jewish feast of Passover, in a large parlor, in the presence of about forty Jews, who helped kill the boy”].

(cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 144). See also Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, pp. 94-96; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., p. 91. It should be noted that in the halakhah , Hebraic ritual law, the minimum unit of measurement for foods, both solid and liquid, are the olive (zait ), and the egg ( bezah ). Isacco's reference to the egg to quantify the amount of blood taken, which seemed so strange to Divina, should not surprise us.

"Quaedam mulier Christiana, nomine Elisabth dicta Paumghartnerin et quae multum praticabat in Domo Mohar praedicti, clandestine portavit tres Pueros Christianos dicto Mohar Judaeo, et quos tres Pueros sic portavit in tribus vicibus et diversis annis, quibus iste Joff stetit famulus Mohar sexdecim annis [...] et dictos Pueros sic portavit de nocte et illos tradebat dictor Mohar". The ritual of the murder and meal of blood was committed "in quadam Camera, qua tenebantur ligna, et quae apud stabulum dictae domus" (cfr. Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 142-143). On this case, see also Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 90-91.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, p. 91; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., p. 91.

"Dum ipse Moyses iret [..] ad quendam terram vocatam Franchort, quae est terra sub dominio Domini Marchionis de Brandenburg, una cum Salomon Hebraeo, cum applicuissent ad quoddam magnum nemus, ibi reperunt Salomonem et Jacob Hebraeos, et aliter nescit cognomina illorum [...] qui habebant quendam puerum, et aliter nescit cognomina illorum [...] qui habebant quendam puerum, quem jam interfecerant et jugulaverant [...] etiam habebant unum alium puerum, qui videbatur mortuus et jugulatus, et quod dicta duo corpora fuerunt projecta in preadictum flumen. Et qui etiam dixerant [...] quod ipse acceperant ipsos pueros in quadam Villa parva, in qua poterant esse quinque vel sex domus [...] et aliter nescit nomen dictae Villae" (cfr. Bonnelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 143-144). See also Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 89-90. It should be noted that Bonelli confuses Mosè da Bamberg, the author of the deposition, with Mosè da Ansbach, preceptor to Maestro Tobias' children. Po-Chia Hsia, for this part, erroneously stresses that the two "cacciatori di bambini" [child hunters] Salomone and Giacobbe, were both travel and destination companions of Mosè.

"Qui Salomon et Jacob dixerunt ipsi Moysi et Salomon, socius ipsius Moysi, quod ipsi Jacob et Salomon interfecerant dictos pueros causa habendi sanguinem et causa portandi illum sanguinem ad venendem et quod oportebat ita ipsos lucrari et ita vivere [...] et quod colligerunt sanguinem hoc modo: unuisquisque habebat suum flascum de ferro stagnato, qui habebat foramen, seu buchetum, multum latum ad magnitudinem unius pomi mediocritus grossitudinis [...] et Jacob et Salomon cum dictis flaschis colligebant sanguinem defluentem ex iugulatura per ipso facta in gutture dictorum Puerorum".

"Et cum fuisset elevatus et staret appensus, Moyses fuit interrogatus ut supra"

"In Paschate proxime praeterito fuit unus annus, dum ipse Wolfgangus esset Feltri, in Domo Abrahami Judaei, et loquetur cum Lazaro, fratre dicti Abrahame; idem Lazarus dixit sibi Wolfgango, quod Hebraei interfecerant quendam Puerum Christianum in loco Mestri, apud Venetias" (cfr. [Bonelli], Disssertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 141-142. See also Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, p. 45; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475, cit., p. 97.

Deposition of Bona dated 11 March 1476, Vienna, Osterr. Nationalbibl., MS 5360, c. 189v (doc. in of D. Quaglioni, in D. Nissim, D. Quaglioni and O. Stock, author, Simonino 1475, Trento e gli ebrei, cit. vol. II, 2001, CD ROM). See also Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, p. 46. The first news having reached us on the Jews of Masserano, apart from the Trent trials, dates back to approximately one century afterwards (cfr. R. Segre, The Jews in Piedmont Jerusalem, 1986 , vol. I, p. 475, no. 1052). It should be noted that in January of 1459, a Jewish woman from Borgomanero, named Bona, had expressed the desire to convert to Christianity with her children (cfr. Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. I, p. 270, no 579).

On this ritual murder, which is said to have been committed at Trent two or three years before that of Simon, see, in particular, Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, pp. 47-53. Cfr. moreover Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., p. 112.

"Tobias dixit sibi Sarrae, quod ipse Isaac Hebreus habitor Tridenti et socer ipsius Tobiae, dixerat sibi Tobiae quod ipse Isaac, una cum certis aliis Judaeis interfecerant quendam puerum Christianu, jam tunc annis 24" (cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 144). See moreover Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento, cit., vol. II, p. 46.

Cfr. Menestrina, Ebrei a Trento , cit., pp. 304-306.

On the personality of Alfonso de Espina and his virulently hostile attitude towards Jews and Marranos on the eve of the institution of the court of the Inquisition in Castille, see, in particular, Y. Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain , Philadelphia (Pa.), 1966, vol. II, pp. 283-299).

Alphonsus de Spina, Fortalitum fidei , Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 10 October 1485, cc. 188-192.

“Magister Symon [...] Medicus non modicum corde gavisus cepit Infantem (Christianum aetatis quattor annorum) et cum eo rediit in Civitatem Papiae, ubi domicilium suum habebat. Et cum ingrederetur domum suam, videns horam qua posset desiderium suae feritatis explere, capto Infante super mensam extendit, et evaginato gladio caput Infantis Christiani crudeliter abscidit".

"Cum etiam essem in Civitate quadam subjecta Januae, quae dicitur Savona, ut viderem sacrificari quemdam Infantem Christianum, Pater meus deduxit me ad domum cujusdam Judaei, ubi fuerant septem vel octo Judeai congregati secretissime et clausus januis diligenissime juramentum fortissimum omnes fecerunt de celando id, quod facere volebant [...] quo peracto, ecce deducitur in medium Infantulus quidam Christianus aetatis fere duorum annorum, et deducto vase illo, in quo consuerverunt recipere sanguinem Infantium circumcisorum, posuerunt predictum Infantem nudum supra praedictum vas, et quatuor Judaei illorum intendebant occisioni sub tali forma et ordine".