Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

Cfr. Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 97-98.

“Rizzardus Hebraeus habuerat de sanguine cujusdam Pueri Christiani interfecti Ratisbonae, jam ab alisquibus annis et quod illum habuerat a Jossele, vitrico ipsius Rizardo; quem sanguinem sibi detulerat Salomon filius cuiusdam soriris Rizardi et quod ipse Wolfgangus dixit eidem Rizardo, quod ipse Wolfgangus interfuerat, quando ille puer fuit interfectus Ratisbonae" [“Rizzardo the Jew had already possesed blood from that Christian boy killed at Regensburg for several years, and that he had received it from Jossele, Rizzardo’s step-father, and that this Wolfgang told Rizzardo, that he, Wolfgang, had been present at Regensburg when the boy was killed”] ([Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 141). See also Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trent , cit., vol. II, 43-45.

"Et tunc Rizardus esset in Civitate Paduae, adjuverat ad interficiendum quendam Puerum Christianum, quem Puerum interfecerat ipse Rizardus, una cum certis aliis Judaeis habitantibus Paduae et in loca circumvicinia [...] et illum interfecerant in eorum scholis, sive Synagogae") [“And when Rizzardo was in the city of Padua, he helped killed the Christian boy, and that the person who killed the boy was this same Rizzardo, with certain other Jews living at Padua or other adjacent localities [...] and that they killed the boy in their school, or synagogue”] [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 141). It should be noted that at Padua in 1472, a "hostaria da judeai" [Jewish inn] located at Sant'Urbano, was kept by a certain Rizzardo di Michele, who must not, however, be confused with Rizzardo di Brescia. In fact, the latter was the son of Lazzaro, and practiced medicine and money lending, not tavern-keeping (ASP, Estimo 1418, vol. 92, c. 43, ss: “Rizardus hebreus qm Michele sta a Santo Urban, non a altro nisi la persona e soa mogliere e tri fioli. Et dice far hosteria da zudei in la ditta contra: et paga de fitto da le hostaria a missier Archoan Buzacharin ducati XI" [“Rizzardo the Jew, son of the late Michele, at Santo Urbano has only himself and his wife and three children. And he said that he kept a Jew inn in the same district; and that he rented the inn from a certain Messer Archoan Buzachazin for eleven ducats”]; in this regard, see also C. De Benedetti, author, Hativiwa:il cammino della speranza. Gli ebrei a Padova , 1998, vol. I, p. 16). In 1472, Rizzardo received a certain sum due to him from the bank owned by Salomon da Piove, represented by the son Marcuccio (ASP, Notarile, vol. 249, c. 59v. 11 March 1472). A son of Rizzardo, Abramo, lived at Padua in 1485 in the Volto dei Negri district (ASP, Notarile, Agostino delle Conchelle, vol. 2056c, c. 23r 4 August 1485).

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit. vol. II, pp. 43-45.

"Interrogatus quod dicat veritatem et non mentiatur, (Wolfgangus) audicissime loquendo dixit quod quae supradictum Rixardum dixisse, ipse Wolfgangus narrabit coram quocumque Domino et Principe; dicens etiam, quod per Deum, quando ipse Wolfgangus ducetur ad justitiam, ut decapitetur, vel aliter interficiatur, affirmavit hoc quod supradixit" [quoted in text], ([Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 141).

Cfr. Straus, Urkunden und Aktestücke zur Geschichte der Juden in Regensburg , cit., pp. 64-66.

Cfr. ([Bonelli], Disssertazione apologetica , cit., p. 141; Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, p. 42.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, pp. 29-30.

This Abramo, a banker at Piacenza, seems to have been active from 1455 until the end of Feburary 1476. Cfr. Sh. Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , Jerusalem, 1982, vol. I, pp. 183, 653, nn. 391, 1585).

On 7 August 1479, Falcone, "hostero de li hebrei in la città de Pavia" [“inkeeper for the Jews in the city of Pavia”], asked the Duke of Milan for authorization "de tenere zoghi [...] in la casa de la sua habitatione, et che cadauno hebreo gli possa zugare tam de nocte quam de die a suo piacere, libere et impune" [“to run gambling games [...] in his dwelling, and that each Jew may gamble there by night or day, at his pleasure, without punishment”]. The Duke consented, on the condition that gambling with Christians in the tavern would be prohibited (cfr. C. Invernizzi, Gli ebrei a Pavia , in Bollettino della Societa Pavese di Storia Patria", V (1905), p. 211; Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. II, pp. 773, 789-799, nn. 1870, 1917).

Cfr. Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. I, pp. 506-507, no. 1200; vol. II, pp. 798-799, no. 1917.

Colon, Sheelot w-teshuvot , cit., resp. no. 160. In support of Colon's authoritative opinion came two other well-known rabbis, Yehuda Minz da Padova and Jacob Mestre di Cremona. On the matter as a whole, see J.R. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World. A Source Book (315-1791), New York, 1974, pp. 389-393.

Cfr. Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. II, p. 702, no. 1701. Our Falcone is not identical with the Jew of the same name who had taken part in the conspiracy hatched in 1476 by the banker Manno da Pavia and other influential Jews from the Duchy of Milan to poison the bishop of Trent in revenge, as the priest Divina seems to believe ( Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit. vol. II, p. 30, no. 1). The personage in question is in fact, explicitly called Falcone da Monza and had a house in that city (ibidem, pp. 161-165). In the spring of 1470, Falcone da Monza was arrested, on the denunciation of a converted Jew, with the accusation, later revealed to be unfounded, of disfiguring an image of the Virgin Mary and throwing it in the flames (cfr. L. Fumi, L'Inquisizione Roman e lo Stato di Milano , in "Archivio Storico Lombardo", XXX (1903), p. 307; Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. I, pp. 518-519, 526, nn 1266, 1244). A native of Udine, Falcone was active in the money trade at Monza from 1472, while his money lending permit was renewed in 1479. In 1473, he was appointed tax collector for the Jews in the Duchy and on 4 December 1480 he appears among the representatives of the Milanese state, who paid into the ducal strongboxes the huge fine of thirty two thousand ducats, to which he had been sentenced for having kept Hebrew books containing injurious expressions with regards to Jesus and Christianity (cfr. Simonsohn, The Jews of the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. I, pp. 599, 619, nn. 1440, 1494; vol. II, pp. 781, 849, nn. 1881, 2035).

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento, cit., vol. II, p. 29. Manno, who, in 1441, had a stable residence at Padua, where he managed the main bank owned by him, from 1462 also had a house at Mestre, probably in concomitance with the opening of the Venice branch of the Paduan bank (cfr. R. Segre, The Jews in Piedmont , Jerusalem, 1986; vol. I, p. 289, no. 630; Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy, cit., vol. I, p. 342, no. 768).

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, pp. 27-29.

Cfr. Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., vol. I, p. 515, no. 1217.