This article was downloaded by: [University of Stellenbosch] On: 01 May 2013, At: 05:10 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Mediterranean Historical Review Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmhr20 The Jews in early modern Venetian Crete: community and identities Anastasia Papadia-Lala a a Department of History, School of History and Archaeology, University of Athens Published online: 14 Mar 2013. To cite this article: Anastasia Papadia-Lala (2012): The Jews in early modern Venetian Crete: community and identities, Mediterranean Historical Review, 27:2, 141-150 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09518967.2012.730803 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and- conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Transcript
This article was downloaded by: [University of Stellenbosch]On: 01 May 2013, At: 05:10Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Mediterranean Historical ReviewPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmhr20
The Jews in early modern VenetianCrete: community and identitiesAnastasia Papadia-Lala aa Department of History, School of History and Archaeology,University of AthensPublished online: 14 Mar 2013.
To cite this article: Anastasia Papadia-Lala (2012): The Jews in early modern Venetian Crete:community and identities, Mediterranean Historical Review, 27:2, 141-150
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09518967.2012.730803
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representationthat the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of anyinstructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primarysources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings,demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
The Jews in early modern Venetian Crete: community and identities
Anastasia Papadia-Lala*
Department of History, School of History and Archaeology, University of Athens
This studydealswith the Jewish communities inVenetianCrete (1204–1669),withspecial emphasis on the last two centuries of Venetian rule: their organizationalstructure by comparisonwith the corporations of theChristians, their internal socialstratification, and their relations both with Catholic Venice as a political authorityand with the indigenous Christian populations. It attempts to illustrate how thediscourse of self-representation on the part of the Jews – but also the Christians’view of their ‘otherness’ – were decisive factors in the strengthening of identitiesand the consolidation of the Jews of Venetian Crete as a distinct community withinthe complex political, social, and economic landscape of the island.
specific features of Jewish life on Crete as the low population number, which strongly
contrasted with their significant economic standing, their diverse occupations (merchants,
money-lenders, doctors, lawyers, artisans, workers, and servants), their intellectual and
artistic activity, their complex relationswith theVenetian administration and theChristians of
the island, their daily life, and their communal organization.4
Given the existing wide variety of literature dealing with this last topic, the present
paper will focus on the ‘public’ sphere and aspects of the legislature regarding the Jews of
Crete. This examination is based on only some of the many categories of Venetian archival
sources: those of the island inhabitants’ delegations (ambascerie) addressed to the
Venetian Senate and the responses to these, as well as the proclamations (bandi),
ordinances (ordini), and resolutions (atti) of Venetian officials.
The ambascerie, comprised two categories:
1. The ambascerie of the Jews themselves, of which we have only three (published
either in toto or in summary), consisting of two Jewish ambascerie, of 1342 and 1356
respectively, and one joint ambasceria of the Jews and Christians of 1416.5 The
absence of Jewish ambascerie in the ensuing centuries most probably resulted from
the gradual formation of the councils of the nobles-feudatories, who acquired in
exclusivity the privilege of dispatching embassies to Venice.6
2. The numerous ambascerie of the Christians with references to the Jews, which are
attested to as from the thirteenth century.7
The proclamations (bandi), ordinances (ordini) and resolutions (atti) issued by the
Venetian administration of Crete in accordance with the policy of the mother city,8 mainly
deal with the island’s Christian population and only occasionally with Jews. The local
population was also participatory whenever bandi, ordini and atti were issued in response
to a petition presented by the Christians of Crete or by the local Jews, as was often the case.
In all the studied sources, the Jews of Crete are designated as Judei/Zudei or Hebrei.
One can tentatively propose that the term Judei was applied mainly during the first
centuries of Venetian rule,9 while in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the term
Hebrei became more prevalent.
Alongside its original core present on the island long before the advent of the Venetians,
throughout the Venetian period, the Jewish population was continuously reinforced from
western Europe but also from the east. The substantial differences as regards language,
mentality, and traditions were, needless to say, manifest among its members, and most
especially during a certain period after new arrivals. Also significant were the community’s
internal socio-economic distinctions that developed gradually on Crete.10 However, outside
the confines of their community, the all-embracing ethnic-religious, cultural identity11 of the
Jews effectively eclipsed all other distinguishing categories. The texts of the ambascerie are
illustrative of this unifying commonality of the Jews, in counterpoint to the segmentations of
the Christians into ecclesiastics and laics as well as into social classes (nobili pheudati,
citadini et borgesani, populo menuto et persone mecanice, according to an ambasceria of the
sixteenth century).12
The term ‘community’ is usually conceived on the basis of multiple perspectives,
and refers to a grouping of people organically connected amongst themselves who
mainly live in a particular geographic region; they share a specific culture and are
deeply conscious of their distinctive identity as a group while, in certain instances, they
additionally set up a statutory collective body possessing a legal framework and specific
rules of functioning. In the case of the Jews of Crete, one will find all the constituents of
this communal configuration – that is, groups of people whose members shared a common
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ethnic-religious cultural identity, whose life was governed by institutions on the basis of
constitutional rules.
The communal organization of the Jews in Crete is linked with two intersecting factors:
1) the centuries-long organizational tradition of the Byzantine and west European as well as
the non-European Jewish communities, among them the Jewish community of Venice;13 and
2) the corporations of theChristian laics,whichhadbeendevelopedon the island, according to
the metropolitan prototype, namely, (a) the urban communal councils, containing a
small number of Christian families (at first only Catholics, but later also Orthodox) who
dominated the local administration and had the right to send ambascerie to Venice;14 (b) the
confraternities of Christian laics, either Catholics or Orthodox, with common spiritual
interests; and (c) the guilds, groupingmembers of a single profession, including Christians of
both the Catholic and the Orthodox creed.15
The Jewish communities in Crete manifested similar characteristics to the Christian
corporations, but also strongly divergent ones. Thus, their administrative structure, headed
by officials elected from among their male members and serving short terms of office,
closely resembled the other types of corporations. Their similarities to the confraternities
and the guilds were even more marked, since all three types of corporation possessed
administrative competencies for their own members, guaranteed to their members both
self-identity and mutual assistance, and combined their regulation of social and economic
matters with supervision of the moral and spiritual life of their members. As the Jews were
identified with their synagogue, so too both the members of confraternities and guilds were
often identified with a particular church.16 On the other hand, the Jewish communities
stood out from the other corporations as regards the collective nature of their fiscal
obligations towards the state and, as a consequence, regarding the competency for the
apportionment of the fiscal burden to their members in proportion to the means of each
household. This institution, in fact, more closely resembled those of the Christian
communities of the Ottoman Empire.17 In sum, based on the criterion of the diverse ethnic-
religious cultural identity of their members in a prevailingly Christian environment, the
Jewish communities constitute a unique example in Crete, while at the same time
presenting analogies with the Greek Confraternity in Catholic Venice.18
The Jews of Crete formed a notional community, institutionally organized into smaller
local units. In documents of the fourteenth century there are occurrences of the term
‘universitas JudeorumdeCreta’.19Although there are nodetails as to thenature of this ‘corps’,
it may be surmised that it does not concern a structured administrative body; the term instead
appears to refer generally to the total of Jewish residents on the island. However, as from the
thirteenth century there are clear allusions to the main Jewish communities of the island,
located in the Cretan capital Candia, as well as in the cities of Rethymo and Canea.
Of considerable interest is the occasional identification of the Jewish community, the
universita, as a human collectivity with their residential district, which was marked out as
being exclusive to the Jews. For example, in the city of Candia (today – Heraklion) the
substitution of the word ‘Judei’ for the word ‘Giudecca/Zudecca’ (‘universita della
giudeca’)20 is fairly frequent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this last name
designating the quarter of the Jews in the coastal area of Dermata,21 while in the seventeenth
century the term ‘ghetto’ is associated with the Jewish community (‘diverse cariche nel
ghetto’).22
A debatable issue is the status of Jews – though this concerns a very small number – who
lived in rural areas, and mainly in the Cretan castles of Castelnuovo, Bonifacio, Belvedere,
Milopotamo, and Mirabello.23 While more recent research has revealed that the Cretan
countryside had its ownChristian corporations,24 interesting datawere also recently provided
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on the presence of small Jewish communities, some of which seem to have had their own
communal leaders. Nevertheless, their existence does not seem to have been continuous and
most probably the Jews of the countryside, owing to their small number, remained largely
unorganized.25 Undoubtedly, however, their collective identities and their overall status
within the island’sChristian societyweremarkedby their being an integral part of the notional
universitas iudeorum Crete.
As previously mentioned, each of the three urban Jewish communities of Crete
constituted a distinct collective body, its members comprising Jews of every region. Their
administrators were elected among the communal members for a specific period. The
decisions of the universita were recorded in special registers, of which portions are today
preserved in various archival series.26 In contrast to the Christian urban councils, within the
Jewish communities there appear to have been no internal institutional aristocracy-type
bodies. Nevertheless, the informal hierarchizations conferred relative power, as is attested
by the long-term tenure of communal official posts held by members of honourable Jewish
families of the island, such as the Delmedigo, the Capsali, and the Casani.27
The head of the Jewish community of Candia held the title of condestabulo/contestabile.
Among his functions were communication with the Venetian authorities and intervention in
favour of the Jews, maintenance of order within the community, notification of Venetian
ordinances to members of the community, apportionment of taxes among them, and
determination of the prices of basic foodstuffs. Also mentioned are the offices of ḥashvanin/camerlenghi and tansador, as well as the elders (gerondes in Greek). The religious leadership
was held by the rabbi, and the documents also mention the cantor, responsible for the
synagogue’s rituals, as well as the scribe.28
Holding a communal officewas a highly sought-after distinction, aswell as a testimony to
individual and familial pre-eminence. However, because these duties were also regarded as a
severe burden, extremely time-consuming, and involving great responsibility, in the fifteenth
century the Venetian sindico et provveditore Andrea Pisani decreed that the aged, the weak,
and the physicians (medici) would be exempted. In 1641 the rabbi JacobMessariti, then aged
and ailing, had recourse to this decree for his filing of a petition to the Jewish community of
Candia to be released from any administrative duty, after many years of contribution to the
community’s administration. To back up his petition, Messariti adduced extracts from the
community books recording the succession of offices that he had continually performed from
1602 until 1635, such as those of contestabile, camerlengo, and tansador. It should be noted
that in the above example, neither the number of years of office appears constant nor is the
fixedVenetian principle of the prohibition of reelecting a person for an office for a time period
equal to his previous service (contumacia) faithfully applied.29
Internally, moreover, the community oversaw the application of Mosaic law as well as
the harmonious cohabitation of its members, with the aim of preserving not only order but
also, more importantly, the continuance of the Jewish identity. The administrators of the
community demanded absolute conformity to communal rules, and this is repeatedly
stressed in the documents. For example, in 1654, the contestabile and the camerlenghi of
the Jewish community of Candia requested strict observance of the ordini and
capitulation: so that they will all be able to live in peace and cherish one another (‘affine
che si possino tutti loro conseruare in pace e carita tra essi’).30
The proclamations and ordinances of the Venetian administration in Crete regulated
the following three levels of relationships:
1. The relations of the Jews amongst themselves within their community. Thus, in
accordance with certain proclamations of 1635 and 1654, a Jewwas forbidden to cite another
Jew on a Friday.31 These proclamations possessed a religious dimension which, in parallel to
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theirmain function, underlined the role of the community as the guardian of Jewish traditions.
Furthermore, some of the proclamations of the seventeenth century dealt with the circulation
of foodstuffs, the violation of which incurred monetary fines and confiscation of goods.
According to certain proclamations of 1603 and 1654, no Jew was permitted: to act as a
butcher nor to slaughter animals in any place other than that specified for this purpose; to sell
meat, wine, or general foodstuffs without first obtaining the fixing of their price through the
contestabili and the camerlenghi; or to weigh meat using any weights other than those
authorized. Moreover, no Jew was allowed to sell wine (vini logadi) in gross; instead, the
product had to be handed over to the contestabile, who would then deliver it himself to
the taverns at retail price, with the aim of facilitating the needy among the Jews.32
The above-cited proclamations that regulated various aspects of Jewish life had
common characteristics. They all concerned the regulation of community involvement in
the handling of such basic commodities as food, while their social role is clearly apparent in
their commitment to the weaker members of Jewish society.
2. The relations of the Jews with the local Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox.
These regulations were concerned with cementing the distinctiveness of the Jewish way
of life. Of the ordinances issued by the provveditore Foscarini in the 1570s, particularly
well-known are the bans on socializing between Christians and Jews.33 The divide
between the two religious groups is registered, inter alia, in certain proclamations of
the seventeenth century (1631, 1635) prohibiting any Jew to eat, drink, or gamble at the
taverns of Christians.34
These measures were intended to preclude tensions in any environment conducive to
violent flare-ups, such as taverns. Yet another aspect of the powerful tradition of
reinforcing the sharp divisions via external labelling were the frequent proclamations
according to which Jews were compelled to wear, apart from the yellow badge, barete or
caps of yellow and not black, as were worn by the Christians.35
3. The relations between Jews and the state. In conformity with the model of other
European regions, the obligations of the Jews of Crete to the Venetian state were mainly
economic. The community was obliged to disburse high levies from time to time that
frequently amounted to one quarter of the extraordinary taxation of Crete. Thus, in 1521,
during the critical period of Ottoman expansion in the eastern Mediterranean, the Jews of
Candia – men and women – were obliged to submit within three days to the Venetian
authorities all particulars about their property, both immovable and movable, for the
imposition of extraordinary taxation. Despite the great difficulties, this order was duly
carried out.36 The interventions of the Jewish community in favour of its members were
constant and in certain cases successful. Thus, in 1389, the community managed to bring
about a reduction of the Jewish tax contributions.37
While the Jewish community presented a united image to the outside world, within its
confines discriminations did nevertheless exist among its members at multiple levels: these
were both extrinsic, such as origins and language, as well as internal, designating their
particular status in the local Jewish society. Owing to the lack of an institutionally recognized
social stratification among the Jews, as was the case among the Christian populations, the
main internal distinction was economic status. Two instances of this are here mentioned as
being particularly instructive. In a proclamation of 1654 there is reference to the time-
honoured purchase of meat on the day of the Sabbath by the entire Jewish community ‘both
rich and poor’, aswell as to the ‘poueri hebrei’, whowould receive a part of the fines imposed
upon any butcher of the community contravening the laws regarding their profession.38
In addition, special distinction was conferred on any person possessing a communal
office, which carried with it elevated social standing, this in turn bestowing further stature
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on the individual and his family. On the other hand, in a society that honoured the elderly,
seniority was a point of prestige.
One further categorization among the Jews concerned the division between the ‘non-
privileged’ and ‘privileged’. The latter enjoyed privileges that carried authority onlywithin the
interior of the community, together with those that did so in the broader Cretan society. These
privileges were connected to the administrative position of their possessors, both familial and
particularized, and were either short-term or long-term, and even lifelong and hereditary.
To cite one example, certain Jews had the exclusive right to purchase meat from Jewish
butchers without requiring the prior obligatory price control of the commodity from the
camerlenghi.39 In addition, it is to be noted the exceptional permission granted to certain Jews
(among other references, there is the known case of the Mavrogonato family),40 to wear the
black bareta, like Christians.41 Needless to say, this constituted a severance of such privileged
Jews from their religious brethren, which must have had psychological repercussions both on
themselves and on the rest of the Jewish community.
A Jew’smanner of participation in a local community, andmore particularly the existence
or not of admission criteria, on the basis of residency or of social parameters, is not specified.
It can, however, be assumed that the general rules of Jewish life, as well as the specialized
obligations of a local community, strongly bonded the Jewish population which, either
permanently or intermittently, residedwithin the area of the community’s quarter, evenwhen
they were not continuously members of it. On the other hand, there were powerful informal
hierarchizations inside each community, while participation in the communal administration
constituted a right for only one segment of the Jewish population; that is to say, adult males of
repute, possessing wealth and family influence, and also a high intellectual level.42 The
responsibility that lay on the shoulders of the community, as well as the increased duties
attached to it – such as collective taxation – conferred on the community added prestige,
while also demanding of its members absolute respect.
David Jacoby has proposed that the Jews of Crete formed a segregated community by
choice.43 The sources under study indicate indeed that, within the framework of the
suffocatingChristian prohibitions, frequently the Jewish communities themselves reinforced,
or even promoted, the separation of their members from the Christian communities.
Their ‘otherness’ had as its basis the ethnic-religious cultural difference between Jews
and Christians. It is important to stress at this point that our sources underscore the Cretan
Jews’ general perception of the Christians as a unified whole, despite the deep antagonisms
between the Orthodox and the Catholics in Crete, as well as the frequent tensions between
the Jewish population and, in particular, the populous Orthodox of the island. By contrast,
on a political level, the Jews of Crete appear to have been faithful subjects of the Venetian
state, while their total acceptance of Christian Venice as the political authority is
indisputable.
Based on all of the above evidence, it is clear that the Jews of Crete developed complex
identities that interwove their status as inhabitants of the island, and more broadly
speaking of the eastern Mediterranean area, with that of their citizenship of Venice and,
most essentially, with their participation in a broader, supra-local Jewish community.
On the other hand, the Jewish communities in Crete constituted a typical corporation of the
Greek-Venetian East, possessing, however, distinctive characteristics.
These communities themselves functioned as mechanisms of cohesion, solidarity, and
protection among their members, contributing to the shaping and further consolidation of
the Jewish identity based on the constant cultivation of the elements of Jewish unity, as
well as of its ‘otherness’ within the setting of the Christian world.
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Notes
1. Of the copious literature on Jews of Crete, the most comprehensive is Starr, ‘Jewish Life’. Seealso Xanthoudidis, ‘Ebraίoi 1n Krήτh’; Ankori, ‘Jews’; Santschi, ‘Communaute juive enCrete’; Jacoby, ‘Vie juive en Crete’; Tsiknakis, ‘Ebraϊkή koinότhτa Xάndaka’, whichincludes a large bibliography; Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’; Arbel, ‘Jews andChristians in Sixteenth-Century Crete’.
2. Of the extensive literature on Jews in Byzantium see Jacoby, ‘Les Juifs de Byzance’. See also therecently published collective work by Bonfil, Irshai, Stroumsa, and Talgam, Jews in Byzantium.
3. Among the numerous studies on the history of Crete, including chapters on the Venetianperiod, see Panayotakis, Krήτh. Of the wide range of literature on the Greek-Venetian lands,including the history of Venetian Crete, see Thiriet, Romanie Venitienne; Maltezou, ΄Oc1i6isτorίa6 b1n1τokraτoym1noy Ellhnismoy; Maltezou, B1n1τokraτoym1nh Ellάda.
4. See note 1.5. Theotokis, Q1spίsmaτa, 2/1, 224–6, 2/II, 29–30, and Noiret, Documents, 244–59. One
other delegation is mentioned in 1314 (Jacoby, ‘Venice, Inquisition and Jewish Communities’,132–8).
6. Papadia-Lala, Asτikέ6 koinότhτ16, 100–3.7. In general, see Koumanoudi, ‘Pr1sb1ί16 Krήτh6’.8. For early proclamations, see Ratti-Vidulich, Bandi. In this paper, emphasis will be placed on
proclamations relating to the Jews of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including periodsof peace but also the long siege of Chandax-Candia by the Ottomans (1648–1669). Apart fromthe well-known ordini of Giacomo Foscarini (see Ankori,‘Foscarini’), there are also the ordiniof Sindici Inquisitori in Levante Marco Contarini, Pierro Corraro, and Giovanni Capello(1635–1638). See Archivio di Stato di Venezia (hereafter: ASV.), Sindici Inquisitori inLevante, b. 67, Ordini Marco Contarini, Pierro Corraro, Giovanni Capello, fols. 73r–77r(2 December 1636–17/22 February 1636 ¼ 1637); See also the atti of Capitano GrandeMarino Bragadin (1639–1641), ASV, Duca di Candia (hereafter: DC), b. 70, Atti del CapitanoGrande Marino Bragadin, 1639–1641. Estraordinario primo, 1639–1640 (hereafter ASV, DC,Atti), regarding Jewish issues of the seventeenth century which have not as yet come underextensive study.
9. Theotokis, Q1spίsmaτa, 2/1, 225, 2/II, 29; Noiret, Documents, 244–6.10. Jacoby, ‘Vie juive en Crete’, 108–15.11. On the term, see Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 246, 256, 260; Arbel,TradingNations, ix.12. Ploumidis, Pr1sb1ί16, 60.13. From the vast literature on Jews of Venice, see Jacoby, ‘Venice and Venetian Jews’; Pullan,
Jews of Europe; Davis and Ravid, Jews and Venice.14. Papadia-Lala, Asτikέ6 koinότhτ16, 52–121.15. Panopoulou, Synτ1xnί16 kai ad1lwότhτ16.16. Among others, see Malkiel, ‘The Ghetto Republic’, 118.17. For a concise yet comprehensive overview of the subject, see Liata, ‘Oi Koinότhτ16’.18. From the rich bibliography, see Mavroidi, Ellhnikή Ad1lwότhτa B1n1τίa6.19. Jacoby, ‘Venice, Inquisition and Jewish Communities’, 143.20. ASV, DC, Bandi, b. 16, reg. 11, fol. 44v (10 November 1603) (hereafter: ASV, DC, b. 16).21. For Cretan Jewish quarters, see Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 3; Ankori, ‘Jews’, 316–38.22. A.S.V., D.C., Atti, fol. 629v (12 August 1641).23. Ankori has argued that Jews permanently resided in the Cretan countryside and were directly
involved in rural production (Ankori, ‘Jews’, 355–61). However, this view is contested by Jacoby,whomaintains that the Jewsof the rural areas actedmerely asmiddlemenbetween the local peasantsand Jewish merchants and consumers in Candia (Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 251–4).
24. Lambrinos, ‘Koinvnikή sygkrότhsh sτhn ypaiuro’, 140–50.25. Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 251–4.26. For example, ASV, DC. Atti, fol. 630r.27. Concerning the community of Candia, see the most important work by Artom and Cassuto,
Statuta Iudaeorum Candiae, which unfortunately I was unable to research.28. Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 95–102; Maltezou, ‘From Crete to Jerusalem’, 191. For contestabile and
camerlenghi, see also ASV, DC. b. 16, fols. 44v–45v; ASV, DC, Bandi, b. 17, reg. 18, fols.26v–28r (13 November 1654) (hereafter ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 18); ASV, Sindici, b. 67, fol.75r. For tansador, see ASV, DC, Atti, fol. 630r.
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29. ASV, DC, Atti, fols. 628v–630r.30. ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 18, fol. 26v.31. ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 17, fol. 34r–v (21 July 1635); ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 18., fol. 28r.
For analogous ordinances of an earlier date, see Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 96.32. ASV, DC, b. 16, fol. 45r–v; ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 18, fols. 27r–28r. For the Jews butchers, see
also ASV, Sindici, b. 67, fols. 75r, 77r. For analogous ordinances, see Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 101.On wine, see Arbel. ‘Jewish Wine of Crete’.
33. Ankori, ‘Foscarini’.34. ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 16, fol. 54r (6 February 1630¼1631); ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 17, fol. 33v
(21 July 1635).35. For example, see ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 15, fols. 124r–v (9 November 1623). See also Arbel,
‘Jews and Christians in Sixteenth-Century Crete’, 285–6.36. Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 76–81; Tsiknakis, ‘Ebraϊkή koinότhτa Xάndaka’, 736–7.37. Regarding the levy and the names of the Cretan Jews, see ASV, DC, Bandi, b. 15bis, reg. 6,
fols. 46r, 47r–48v (3,9 May 1521).38. ASV, DC, Bandi, b. 17, reg. 18, fol. 27r. See also Borsari, ‘Ricchi e poveri’.39. ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 18, fol. 27v.40. David Mavrogonato, a Jew of Crete, was a merchant, agent, and spy of Venice in the Ottoman
Empire. In 1461 he turned over to the Venetians information on conspiratorial movementsmade by Cretans. In return for his services, he, his family, and the Jewish community of Cretewere granted privileges that continued to be renewed up until the seventeenth century. ForDavid Mavrogonato, his family, and their privileges, see Manoussakas, Sήwh6 Blasτό6, 46–9, 75–84; Jacoby, ‘Un agent Juif’; Manoussakas, ‘Recueil de privileges’.
41. ASV, DC, b. 17, reg. 15, fols. 124r–v.42. Starr, ‘Jewish Life’, 105–14.43. Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 248–9, 256. On the forms of segregation, but also of
integration, in the framework of Jewish-Christian relations in Venetian Crete, see Arbel, ‘Jewsand Christians in Sixteenth-Century Crete’.
Notes on contributor
Anastasia Papadia-Lala is Professor at the Department of History, School of History andArchaeology, University of Athens. In 1976–1977 she was a Research Fellow at the HellenicInstitute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice. She specializes in early modern Greekhistory, particularly the social and cultural history of the Greek-Venetian East and the history of theHellenic Diaspora. She has published three books on the ‘Monte di Pieta’ of Candia (1613–1650),the hospitals of Venetian Crete, and the civic communities in the Venetian-ruled Greek lands(thirteenth to eighteenth centuries), as well as numerous articles.
Archival Sources
Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASV), Duca di Candia (DC), busta (b.), 15bis, 16, 17, 70.ASV, Sindici Inquisitori in Levante, b. 67.
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