The Ugly Renaissance (67 page)

After the settlement of the Canary Islands:
For a useful introduction to this subject, see Fernández-Armesto,
Before Columbus
.

Girolamo Tiraboschi identified:
Tiraboschi,
Storia della letteratura italiana
, vols. 5 and 6; see Burke,
European Renaissance
, 18.

the great Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt:
Burckhardt,
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
, 183–231.

Today, when the advance of cross-cultural studies has eroded:
Burke,
European Renaissance
, 209–20.

In the first book, for example, a Jew named Abraham:
Boccaccio,
Decameron
, 1.2–3.

Thus, the reader is introduced to the sultan:
Ibid., 2.7, 2.9, 4.4, 10.3.

So, too, the deliciously lusty tale of Alibech and Rustico:
Ibid., 3.10, 4.3.

Depictions of the Cappadocian saint George:
The importance of Jacobus de Voragine’s
Legenda aurea
in establishing the central features of Saint George’s story cannot be overstated in this regard: Voragine,
Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints
, 1:238–42. For an introductory discussion of the tale’s role in Renaissance art, see Jardine and Brotton,
Global Interests
, 16–20.

11. S
ALOMONE’S
C
RIME

Salomone di Bonaventura was a prosperous:
What follows is drawn from Gow and Griffiths, “Pope Eugenius IV and Jewish Money-Lending in Florence.”

Perhaps conscious of the fact:
Ibid., 308.

But Salomone could not have been more wrong:
There have been a variety of different interpretations of Salomone’s prosecution. Here, I follow ibid., but see also Panella, “Una sentenza di Niccolò Porcinari, potestà di Firenze”; Cassuto,
Gli ebrei a Firenze nell’età del Rinascimento
.

The chancellor, Leonardo Bruni, had been kept informed:
Gow and Griffiths, “Pope Eugenius IV and Jewish Money-Lending in Florence,” 311.

By the mid-fifteenth century, it has been estimated:
Milano,
Storia degli ebrei in Italia
, 109–46.

At the time Salomone was embarking:
Shulvass,
Jews in the World of the Renaissance
, 22, 27.

“By the middle of the fifteenth century”:
Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 16.

This was, of course, no more true:
As Renata Segre has observed, “The elite elements of Jewish society—bankers, doctors, and so on—were most thoroughly integrated into the surrounding world.” Segre, “Banchi ebraici e monti di pietà,” quoted in Vivanti, “History of the Jews in Italy and the History of Italy,” 340.

Taking advantage of the city’s commercial prowess:
Shulvass,
Jews in the World of the Renaissance
, 139.

“should not encounter any prejudice”:
Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 294.

accord them the status of Roman citizens:
Simonsohn,
Apostolic See and the Jews: History
, 403; Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 291.

“should not be molested”:
Simonsohn,
Apostolic See and the Jews: History
, 69; Simonsohn,
Apostolic See and the Jews: Documents
, doc. 596; Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 295. On Martin V’s attitude toward the Jews more generally, see Vernet, “Le pape Martin V et les Juifs.”

“by the standards of the age”:
Brucker,
Society of Renaissance Florence
, 240.

“the Jews felt protected”:
Colorni,
Judaica minora
, 503; quoted in Gow and Griffiths, “Pope Eugenius IV and Jewish Money-Lending in Florence,” 285.

For the enthusiastically effusive Yohanan Alemanno:
Shulvass,
Jews in the World of the Renaissance
, 334–35.

the
Nofet zufim
, or
The Book of the Honeycomb’s Flow
:
Leon,
Book of the Honeycomb’s Flow
. A useful starting point for further reading on Jewish approaches to Renaissance rhetoric can be found in Rabinowitz, “Pre-modern Jewish Study of Rhetoric.”

“gathered a school of Jewish scholars”:
Hughes, “Bodies, Disease, and Society,” 116.

“maintained that the writings”:
Kristeller,
Renaissance Thought and the Arts
, 64.

When it came to depicting Moses:
Hughes, “Bodies, Disease, and Society,” 112; Palmieri,
Liber de temporibus
, 172–73.

In the eyes of Christians:
Voragine,
Golden Legend
, trans. Ryan and Ripperbar, 1:150.

Rarely worn by contemporary Christians:
For a fuller discussion of this altarpiece and its hidden layers of meaning, see Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” esp. 3–12.

the rabidly anti-Semitic San Bernardino of Siena:
For a survey of San Bernardino’s anti-Semitism, see Mormando,
Preacher’s Demons
, chap. 4.

Even if their influence on finance:
Hughes, “Bodies, Disease, and Society,” 110–17.

Giannozzo Manetti penned the
Contra iudeos et gentes
:
For an introduction to Manetti’s
Contra iudeos et gentes
, see Trinkaus,
In Our Image and Likeness
, 2:726–34.

Since Jews had such strict dietary regulations:
Dean,
Crime and Justice in Late Medieval Italy
, 149.

And though prosecutions for this sort of “offense”:
Ibid., 146–49.

enshrined in Paolo Uccello’s
Miracle of the Profaned Host
:
For a detailed discussion of Uccello’s work, see Katz, “Contours of Tolerance”; Katz,
Jew in the Art of the Italian Renaissance
, chap. 1.

“I hear that there are many Jews”:
Bernardino of Siena,
Opera omnia
, 3:362, trans. in Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 19.

Since the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215:
See Grayzel,
Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century
, 60–70, 308–9.

San Bernardino’s itinerant preaching:
Hughes, “Distinguishing Signs,” 20; Pacetti, “La predicazione di S. Bernardino in Toscano.”

In 1439—the same year Salomone made his fateful agreement:
The Florentine provisions of 1463 give an indication of just how seriously this was taken: “[The priors] have considered that a large number of Jews have come to settle in Florence, and scarcely any of them wear a sign, so that there is considerable confusion, and it is difficult to distinguish between Jews and Christians … They are determined to
remedy this unsatisfactory situation … [and therefore e]very Jew, male or female above the age of twelve, whether or not named in the Florentine agreement, and whether or not a resident of the city of Florence, shall be required to wear a sign of O in the city of Florence. This yellow O shall be worn on the left breast, over the clothing in a visible place; it shall be at least one foot in circumference and as wide as the thickness of a finger. A penalty of 25 lire shall be levied on every occasion that this sign is not worn, with two witnesses required.” Brucker,
Society of Renaissance Florence
, 241–42, doc. 118.

Michelangelo’s depiction of Aminadab:
On which, see Wisch, “Vested Interests.”

Money lending and usury were the greatest worry:
One thinks particularly of
The Merchant of Venice
, 1.3.123–26: “Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; / You spurn’d me such a day; another time / You call’d me dog; and for these courte- sies / I’ll lend you thus much moneys?”

In one particularly vitriolic sermon:
Hughes, “Bodies, Disease, and Society,” 119.

the Signoria promulgated a decree:
Brucker,
Society of Renaissance Florence
, 240–41, doc. 117.

Almost as soon as the decrees had been passed:
Jews were, for example, not allowed to own property above the value of 500 (later 1,000) gold florins and were permitted to lend money only on the basis of a pledge pawned. Salter, “Jews in Fifteenth-Century Florence and Savonarola’s Establishment of a Mons Pietatis,” 197.

In March 1488, a vitriolic attack on usury:
Landucci,
Diario fiorentino dal
1450
al
1516
, 54.

the
monte di pietà
was established:
Najemy,
History of Florence
, 396–97; Salter, “Jews in Fifteenth-Century Florence.”

Its goal was to undercut the city’s Jews:
See Polizzotto,
Elect Nation
, 35–37.

Jews had been integral:
Clementi,
Il carnevale romano nelle cronache contemporanee dale origini al secolo XVII
; Boiteux, “Les Juifs dans le Carneval de la Rome moderne.”

“runne starke naked”:
Wisch, “Vested Interests,” 153.

Shortly before Easter in 1475:
For what follows, see Hsia,
Trent
1475
.

In the midst of the War of the League of Cambrai:
For the background to the Venetian ghetto, see Finlay, “Foundation of the Ghetto.”

12. T
HE
R
ISING
C
RESCENT

“Barbaric” Muslims were even accused:
Munro, “Western Attitude Towards Islam During the Period of the Crusades.” More generally, see Southern,
Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages
; Daniel,
Islam and the West
.

Indeed, by 1489, three-quarters of all the cloth:
Franceschi, “Economy,” 130.

Slaves, too, were a major source of commercial interest:
For an interesting perspective on the growth of the slave trade and its character, see Origo, “Domestic Enemy.”

While the growing profitability of trade:
See Goldthwaite,
Economy of Renaissance Florence
, 180–84.

With the Mamluk capture:
Hunt and Murray,
History of Business in Medieval Europe
, 180.

Having invested 5,000 florins:
Goldthwaite,
Economy of Renaissance Florence
, 183; Babinger, “Lorenzo de’ Medici e la corte ottomana.”

Pegolotti stressed the value of a good:
Pegolotti,
La pratica della mercatura
, esp. 14–19, 21–23.

“not uncommon for men of learning”:
Borstook, “Travels of Bernardo Michelozzi and Bonsignore Bonsignori in the Levant,” 145.

Conti subsequently related his experiences:
Bracciolini,
De l’Inde
. On Fra Mauro’s cartography, see Falchetta,
Fra Mauro’s World Map
.

Cyriac of Ancona:
Cyriac of Ancona,
Later Travels
.

figures including Guarino Veronese, Giovanni Aurispa:
Borstook, “Travels of Bernardo Michelozzi and Bonsignore Bonsignori in the Levant,” 145.

Costanzo completed a series:
On Costanzo da Ferrara’s works in Constantinople, see Jardine and Brotton,
Global Interests
, 32, 40–41. Some care, however, should be taken with some of the statements made in this account. No justification is provided for the rather bold assertion that the portrait medal of Mehmed II “is a resolutely Ottoman artefact, yet in a strenuously Western European artistic tradition”: what defines “resolutely Ottoman” is, for instance, never explained.

After an unsuccessful attempt:
Freely,
Jem Sultan
.

a Latin translation of the Koran:
Trivellato, “Renaissance Italy and the Muslim Mediterranean in Recent Historical Work,” 146–48; N. Z. Davis,
Trickster Travels
.

The reignition of the slave trade in Italy:
The most accessible introduction to this topic is Origo, “Domestic Enemy.”

Particularly due to its commercial links:
See D. Howard,
Venice and the East
; Burnett and Contadini,
Islam and the Italian Renaissance
.

In a refreshingly daring and original study:
Jardine and Brotton,
Global Interests
, 132–85.

the appearance of oriental carpets:
See King and Sylvester,
Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the
15th to the
17th Century
. More generally, see R. E. Mack,
Bazaar to Piazza
.

“Renaissance thinkers adopted an attitude”:
Bisaha,
Creating East and West
, 19.

In the
De vita solitaria
:
Petrarch,
De vita solitaria
, Z II, iv, 6;
P
II, ix;
Prose
, 496; trans. Zeitlin, 247–48. Latin text for the
De vita solitaria
, ed. G. Martellotti,
Prose
, 286–593; English translation,
Life of Solitude
, trans. Zeitlin. In what follows, references to the
De vita solitaria
will indicate the relevant portion of text according to Jacob Zeitlin’s translation (Z), according to the division of the work by Martellotti in
Prose
(
P
), according to the page number in the
Prose
edition (
Prose
), and—where appropriate—according to the page number of the relevant passage in Zeitlin’s translation (trans. Zeitlin). For a reasonably enlightening introduction to this theme in Petrarch’s writings, see Bisaha, “Petrarch’s Vision of the Muslim and Byzantine East.”

“Muhammad [was] an Arab”:
Pius II,
Commentaries
, II.1, 1:211.

“took little interest”:
Meserve,
Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought
, 239.

Niccolò Sagundino:
Ibid., 107.

“protection of the faithful”:
Tyerman, “Marino Sanudo Torsello and the Lost Crusade,” 57.

Petrarch was among the most enthusiastic:
Petrarch hated traveling by sea, and hence rejected the idea of so long a journey out of hand. This did not, however, stop him from writing a guidebook to the Holy Land. Petrarca,
Itinerario in Terra Santa
.