Ariel Toaff - Blood Passover

The inn alla Rosa , "a good inn", among the most popular of Trent, was located in the district of the German inns beyond the northern gate of San Martino, was managed by the Bavarian family of Michael di Konrad and his son Michael (cfr. E. Fox, Storia delle osterie trentine , Trent, 1975, pp. 84-87; S. Luzzi, Stranieri in città. Presenza tedesca e società urbana a Trento, secoli XV-XVIII , Bologna, 2003, pp. 229-236).

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 73, 86.

Ibidem, pp. 78-79; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 98-100.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 79-80.

Cfr. ibidem, pp. 87-90. On the interrogation and tortures to which Roper Schneider was subjected, see A. Esposito and D. Quaglioni, Processi contro gli ebrei di Trento, 1475-1478 . I: I processi del 1475 , Padua, 1990, pp. 38-40.

cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 84-85.

Cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 148; Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., vol. II, p. 95.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 81-83.

"Wolfgangus interrogatus a dicto Monoculo (the one-eyed notary), illo Notario interprete D. Commissarii, respondit quod delato sibi juramento [...] nec ipsi, nec alii Judaei interfecerunt dictum puerum [...] et ideo dixit et testificatus est quia ipse Wolfgangus volebat adjuvare Judaeos si potuisset" ] (cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 147).

"(Salomon) rogabat ipsum Wolfgangum quod debebat cogitare modum aliquem, per quem posset ulcisci. Et cum ipse Wolfgangus respondisset quod erat contentus quod ulcisceretur, si modo posset, praedictus Salomon dixit sibi Wolfgango quod deberet bene advertere et diligenter considerare castrum, videlicet bene advertere quem modum servabat Reverendissimus Dominus in bibendo; et si aliquo modo idem Reverendissimus Dominus posset venenari et quod bene debeat considerare ista et in reditu ejusdem Salomonis postea referre sibi Salomoni. Cui Salomoni ipse Wolfgangus ita promisit facere" [Approximately: “(Salamone) told Wolfgang that he should think of some way to get revenge. And when Wolfgang told him he would be happy to get revenge, Salamone told him that he should take great care and study the castle carefully, and see who served His Most Reverend Lordship his drink, and see if there was any way that that he might be poisoned, and that he should think about this, and report back to Salamone later. Which Wolfgang promised to do”] (cfr. ibidem, p. 145). In this regard, see Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 127-145; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 101-102.

"Salomon dixit sibi Wolfgango an posset venenare Reverendissimum D. Episcopum Tridentinum, cui Salomoni ipse Wolfgangus respondit quod praefatus Reverendissimus Dominus faciebat sibi fieri magnas custodias, faciendo sibi facere credentias, et quod ipse Wolfgangus tamen tentaret et videret si posset illum venenare. [...] Wolfgangus cogitaverat de venenando ipsum Reverendissimum Dominum et alios hoc modo, quia volebat conterere dictum venenum et postea se approximare credentiae, super qua deferentur fercula, quae postea deferuntur in mensam Reverendissimi Domini et tentare, si illud venenum poterat proijcere vel in vinum vel in fercula, et hoc interim dum dicta fercula starent super credentieria, pincerna aut aliis ibi existentibus non advertentibus" (cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica, cit., p. 146).

"Wolfgangus vidit dictum frustum veneni super disco in Cancellaria et accepit tantum de dicto veneno, quantum esset una avellana, et illud portavit ad dictum Salomonem, qui Salomon respondit quod illud non erat de bono veneno ad interficiendum et quod idem Salomon bene portaret de bono veneno pro interficiendo" (cfr. ibidem, p. 146).

The apostolic commissioner also lamented the true and proper climate of Trent, humid and rainy, which is said to have reduced him to a state of infirmity for three weeks (see Battista de' Giudici, Apologia Iudaeorum. Invectiva contra Platinam , by D. Quaglioni, Roma, 1987, pp. 49-59).

In the missive, Hinderbach stressed that "Iudei et quidam doctores qui apud Rovredum, oppidum nobis vicinum, sunt, ubi etiam legatus ille seu commissarius se pretextu adverse valitudinis que illum et suos hic invasit pridem se reduxit" (Esposito e Quaglioni, Processi, cit., voI. I, p. 17).

In this regard, see Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 93-94.

Cfr. ibidem, pp. 101-104; Esposito e Quaglioni, Processi , cit., voI. I, pp. 19-21.

"Verum, exponitur nobis pro parte ludeorum, quod illic adhuc nonnulli pueri et femine, de quorum innocentia nullum dubium esse dicitur, detineantur infirmi, non absque vite, propter infirmitatem huiusmodi, periculo, carcerati. Hortamur in Domino fraternitatem tuam, ut, si carcerati predicti circa eiusdem pegni negocium culpa carent, eosdem relaxare, et operam suam etiam apud ducem ipsum, si necessarium fuerit, in hoc efficaciter impartiri velit, ut pro iustitie debito relaxentur" (cfr. Sh. Simonsohn, The Apostolic See and the Jews . III: Documents, 1464-1521, Toronto, 1990, p. 1232). See also W.P. Eckert, Aus den Akten des Trienter Judenprozesses , in P. Wilpert, Judentum im Mittelalter , Berlin, 1966, p. 300.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 112 -113, n. 6.

The lawyer, Raimondi, hastened to write to Hinderbach a few days later, on 12 October 1475, informing him of Salomone Fürstungar’s report during the meeting. "Nonnulli Judeorum hic commorantium, oblato non parvo pondere auri, patrocinium meum habere quaesierunt et dietim sedulo aureos tres pollicebantur, subjungentes quod apud Summum Pontificem favores plurimos Praelatorum consequebantur et Delegatum Apostolicum impetrasse magna exposita pecunia. Haec et alia verba, quae mihi somnia videbantur, percepi a Salomone, hic commorante". The letter was published by Bonelli ( Dissertazione apologetica , cit., p. 145) and is reproduced by Divina ( Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, p. 105).

In this regard, see Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 114-117; Po-Chia Hsia, Trent 1475 , cit., pp. 99-100.

On the 1488 trial of Samuele, a resident of Castelnoveto, and the other German Jews living in the Duchy of Milan, see Simonsohn, The Jews in the Duchy of Milan , cit., voI. II, p. 897; A. Antoniazzi Villa, Un processo contro gli ebrei nella Milano del 1488 , Milan, 1986, pp. 107-108.

Cfr. Divina, Storia del beato Simone da Trento , cit., voI. II, pp. 116-117.

Cfr. ibidem, p. 135.

Cfr. ibidem, pp. 57-60.

"Quod ipse Wolfgangus tenet et firmiter credit quod sit bene factum interficere pueros christianos et comedere et bibere sanguinem [...] et quod si ipse Wolfgangus posset habere de sanguine pueri christiani in festo Paschae ipsorum Judaeorum, etiam de illo biberet et comederet, dummodo posset illum secrete comedere et bibere; et quod, licet sit baptizatus, tamen intendit et in animo suo statuit velle mori ut realis Judaeus, et ipse Wolfgangus fecit se baptizare, quia vidit se captum et dubitavit ne condamnaretur ad mortem, credens se illam evadere, ut evasit [...] et ipse Wolfgangus nihil credit de his quae fides Christiana tenet et observat et quod tenet pro firmo quod fides Judaeorum sit justa et sancta" [Approximately: “That Wolfgang held and firmly believed that it was a good thing to kill Christian boys and eat and drink their blood […] and that if he could obtain the blood of Christian boys during the Jewish Passover feast, he would eat and drink of it, as long as he could eat and drink of it in secrecy; and that it was lawful to be baptized, but that he intended and wished in his soul to die a real Jew, and that he had himself baptized because he saw he had gotten caught and was afraid he’d be condemned to death, and thinking he could get off, which he did […] and that he didn’t believe there was any truth in the Christian faith and that he firmly held that the faith of the Jews was holy and just.”] (cfr. [Bonelli], Dissertazione apologetica , cit., pp. 147-148).