The Jews in early modern Venetian Crete: community and identities

Abstract

This study deals with the Jewish communities in Venetian Crete (1204–1669), with special emphasis on the last two centuries of Venetian rule: their organizational structure by comparison with the corporations of the Christians, their internal social stratification, and their relations both with Catholic Venice as a political authority and with the indigenous Christian populations. It attempts to illustrate how the discourse of self-representation on the part of the Jews – but also the Christians' view of their ‘otherness’ – were decisive factors in the strengthening of identities and the consolidation of the Jews of Venetian Crete as a distinct community within the complex political, social, and economic landscape of the island.

Keywords:

• Jewish communities
• Venice
• Candia
• Christians
• Mavrogonato
• otherness
• communal offices
• ghetto
• taxation

Notes

 1. Of the copious literature on Jews of Crete, the most comprehensive is Starr, ‘Jewish Life’. See also Xanthoudidis, ‘Eβραίoι ϵν Kρήτη’; Ankori, ‘Jews’; Santschi, ‘Communauté juive en Crète’; Jacoby, ‘Vie juive en Crète’; Tsiknakis, ‘Eβραϊκή κoινότητα Xάνδακα’, which includes a large bibliography; Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’; Arbel, ‘Jews and Christians in Sixteenth-Century Crete’.

 2. Of the extensive literature on Jews in Byzantium see Jacoby, ‘Les Juifs de Byzance’. See also the recently 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 Venetian period, see Panayotakis, Kρήτη. Of the wide range of literature on the Greek-Venetian lands, including the history of Venetian Crete, see Thiriet, Romanie Vénitienne; Maltezou, ΄Oψϵις ιστoρίας βϵνϵτoκρατoυ´μϵνoυ Eλληνισμoυ´; Maltezou, Bϵνϵτoκρατoυ´μϵνη Eλλάδα.

 4. See note 1.

 5. Theotokis, Θϵσπίσματα, 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, Aστικές κoινότητϵς, 100–3.

 7. In general, see Koumanoudi, ‘Πρϵσβϵίϵς Kρήτης’.

 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 periods of peace but also the long siege of Chandax-Candia by the Ottomans (1648–1669). Apart from the well-known ordini of Giacomo Foscarini (see Ankori,‘Foscarini’), there are also the ordini of Sindici Inquisitori in Levante Marco Contarini, Pierro Corraro, and Giovanni Capello (1635–1638). See Archivio di Stato di Venezia (hereafter: ASV.), Sindici Inquisitori in Levante, b. 67, Ordini Marco Contarini, Pierro Corraro, Giovanni Capello, fols. 73r–77r (2 December 1636–17/22 February 1636 = 1637); See also the atti of Capitano Grande Marino Bragadin (1639–1641), ASV, Duca di Candia (hereafter: DC), b. 70, Atti del Capitano Grande 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 under extensive study.

 9. Theotokis, Θϵσπίσματα, 2/1, 225, 2/II, 29; Noiret, Documents, 244–6.

10. Jacoby, ‘Vie juive en Crète’, 108–15.

11. On the term, see Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 246, 256, 260; Arbel, Trading Nations, ix.

12. Ploumidis, Πρϵσβϵίϵς, 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, Aστικές κoινότητϵς, 52–121.

15. Panopoulou, Συντϵχνίϵς και αδϵλϕότητϵς.

16. Among others, see Malkiel, ‘The Ghetto Republic’, 118.

17. For a concise yet comprehensive overview of the subject, see Liata, ‘Oι Koινότητϵς’.

18. From the rich bibliography, see Mavroidi, Eλληνική Aδϵλϕότητα Bϵνϵτίας.

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, who maintains that the Jews of the rural areas acted merely as middlemen between the local peasants and Jewish merchants and consumers in Candia (Jacoby, ‘Jews and Christians in Crete’, 251–4).

24. Lambrinos, ‘Koινωνική συγκρότηση στην υ´παιθρo’, 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.

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 1630 = 1631); 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, ‘Eβραϊκή κoινότητα Xάνδακα’, 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 movements made by Cretans. In return for his services, he, his family, and the Jewish community of Crete were granted privileges that continued to be renewed up until the seventeenth century. For David Mavrogonato, his family, and their privileges, see Manoussakas, Σήϕης Bλαστός, 46–9, 75–84; Jacoby, ‘Un agent Juif’; Manoussakas, ‘Recueil de privilèges’.

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, ‘Jews and Christians in Sixteenth-Century Crete’.